Page 38 of Immortal Throne

CHAPTERTEN

“I’m not traveling with him.” I shook my head, lips rounding as I ground my teeth. “I’m not goinganywherewith him.”

Maybe I sounded like a petulant child, but my reaction was justified considering what Ryker planned to do. What he’d always planned to do. I glared at him like I could somehow perform magic and kill him on the spot.

It would save me a lot of hassle in the end.

He’d manipulated me from the start. I’d reacted badly to the information about my father and the Inferno, and he made sure to run off and rat me out to the council right away. If I had hesitated for even a day, he would’ve had a clear path to the throne, and I would be heading straight to the grave.

Asshole.

I refused to give Ryker the satisfaction of backing down, and like hell I’d go anywhere with him now. He’d touch me when my back was turned and use his powers on me. Maybe I could resist his magic like last time, maybe I couldn’t, but he’d try to make me skip the Inferno and hand the crown over to him with a smile on my face.

Not happening.

“You’re not going to have a choice. All eligible contestants must travel to the trials in a single group,” Zane said.

“What?” I turned to him. “Why? Does Ryker need to hold his mommy’s hand?”

Ryker chuckled somewhere behind me.

“It’s to help deter cheating.” Zane looked apologetic. He adjusted his grip on his spear, the point reaching higher than the horns on his head. I was grateful to have him with me, even if that spear probably wouldn’t do shit against Ryker. Zane’s sympathy meant I had someone else in my corner besides my familiar, who kinda had to have my back, considering we’d been together for ten years.

Several other demons stood together, and their gazes bore through me. The same thing I’d been trying to do, but way more effective. I could take a few notes from them. If I made it through these trials, I’d be their boss, which meant I not only needed to match their scathing expressions but do them better.

Ryker stepped up beside me and waved at a portal already called into existence. “Now, if you please.”

“Idoplease, thank you,” I muttered under my breath.

But I held back, watching the others despite the niggling desire to stride to the head of the group and show these jerks it wasn’t just my bloodline that would help me win the title. It was me, personally, and all the crap I’d been through in my life.

Ryker didn’t care about any of those things. He didn’t care about me, period. We were both after the same thing. Why did he come to my apartment? Maybe it had nothing to do with feeling out my intentions to claim the title but to intimidate me into not trying at all.

Either way, Ryker, for his part, looked as happy about this situation as a kid facing a root canal. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared down Chupey with his lips zipped the way I’d wished they’d been before. A Chupacabra bumped into Ryker’s leg before looking up at him adorably.

“Good luck, Ryk,” a demon growled. He stepped up to punch Ryker in the shoulder.

Ryker pointed down at the familiar leaning into his leg. “You’ll take care of her?”

The demon nodded. “Of course.”

I blinked. Was this a…friend? And why did the idea of Ryker having friends seem so preposterous?

Right.

Because he was a dick.

Along with poor taste in friends, this demon had long black hair with the scalp underneath shaved. Two black horns protruded from just behind his forehead and curled toward the back of his neck. He narrowed his piercing blue eyes on me and scowled, revealing white teeth and long fangs.

“Come on, Zi,” the demon said.

The familiar whined but straightened from Ryker’s leg to follow the demon through the crowd.

“Never pegged you as a family man.” I studied my nails. “Why can’t Zi go with you?”

“I don’t want her to.”

“Why?” I didn’t understand it. Though Chupey couldn’t accompany me to the actual trial, he could go through the throne room portal and travel to the trials with me. As long as Chupey was allowed, I wanted him with me. He knew more about what was going on; he was my anchor during the stormy seas. Just as he had been in the living realm for all those years. I needed him with me.

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