Page 21 of Immortal Throne

CHAPTERSEVEN

My apartment was the perfect size for me and Chupey. I knew it was small, but it never felt smaller than it did with Ryker standing in the middle of my living room with his arms stretched out wide, grinning like an idiot. I’d had men over before, but somehow, Ryker had a way of taking up space and stole all the air in the room with his sheer presence.

“My father is dead?” I whispered, not understanding the swirl of thoughts bubbling up from the news. I’d just discovered my father cared enough to protect me, only to find out moments later, he’d died. I turned to Chupey. “Did you know?”

“No.” Chupey lowered his head. “I didn’t know. Not until now.”

I should’ve been upset, right? Angry, maybe? Hurt? But all I felt was this heavy emptiness, a void where all my feelings should be. “How? When?”

Ryker dropped his arms and flopped down on the armchair. The cushion moved and Chupey growled before hopping off the back of the chair.

“About a month ago, and I’ll spare you the grisly details since we don’t know who was responsible. You should’ve felt the effects of his death,” he said and spread his legs out.

I frowned as I tried to think back to a month ago and any strangeness I could remember feeling then. Besides some food poisoning after Chinese food one night, nothing else sprang up from my memory. But I didn’t plan to tell Ryker that. “So?”

“So?” Ryker frowned and glanced over at Chupey.

“She doesn’t know.”

Darkness shadowed Ryker’s expression. A mask slid over what had been clear arrogance, leaving something cold and emotionless. “I see.”

Chupey turned to me. He plunked his butt down on the rug and lifted his muzzle, so I got a great view of his sharp canines. “Your father was the King of the Underworld.”

“Hades?” That…that was kind of badass.

Chupey shook his head. “No, that was your great-grandfather’s name. The Immortal Throne has been passed down each generation, but it’s not like we announce that shit to mortals, and your father wanted you to have a normal life. He wanted to keep you out of the Underworld.”

“Why?”

“Because he loved your mother, and she couldn’t survive in his world.”

“But why not tell me? Why not know me?” Oh, wow. All the daddy issues were spiraling up for Show-and-Tell.

“He tried. He was in your life when you were little, you just don’t remember. One night, when they were both drunk, he showed your mom his powers. She thought he was joking at first, but when you started showing signs of magic and developed the demon mark, she knew he wasn’t. When she confronted him, he admitted the truth of who he was.”

“As expected, she freaked out and ran,” I finished for him. I’d run too if my boyfriend claimed to be the King of the Underworld. “And then he sent you?”

Chupey bobbed his head up and down.

“While this is all very touching,” Ryker interrupted with a hard roll of his eyes. “I’m here to deliver this.” He reached inside his leather jacket and pulled out a sealed envelope.

I snatched the stiff black envelope from his hand. It was smooth to the touch, and a glob of red wax with a crest sealed the back.

A crest that looked uncomfortably similar to the scar near my hip bone…

I looked up to find Ryker and Chupey watching me intently.

“What’s in the envelope?” I asked. And why did the thing feel like it was buzzing in my hands? Vibrating?

“A letter from your father to be delivered upon his death.”

“Did you read it?”

Ryker’s face twisted as if he’d smelled something foul. “Of course not.”

“It’s been sealed with dark magic, Sloane,” Chupey added, probably trying to be helpful. “No one can open it but you.”

Feeling nauseous, I stared at the envelope.

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