Page 29 of Immortal Throne

I blinked at him. “Wait. How did you find any of this out? How do you know where my room is? You’ve been with me this entire time.”

Chupey huffed and looked away.

“Chupey!”

“I can communicate telepathically with other familiars when I’m in the Underworld. I just found out about the trials, okay?” He snorted. “And now my head is full of excited voices, but no one knows anything more, or if they do, they’re not the ones talking. All I know is the Inferno starts tomorrow.”

Ryker. His pretty face flashed in my mind, and I instantly wanted to smash something. He’d set me up. If I had taken two weeks to get here, I would’ve missed the Inferno altogether.

I stopped walking and took a deep breath, trying to center myself.

I still wore my white shirt from work today with the missing buttons. Still wore the pressed pants and shoes and part of me felt like I should be giving tours of this place rather than contemplating if I had what it took to rule it.

“Are you okay?” Chupey asked.

“I wasn’t aware a throne existed until today. And if my father was…” I couldn’t even say the word. “It makes sense the power vacuum created some healthy competition with his absence.”

“Healthy or not, there is competition.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice,” I muttered. But how did he know for sure my claim was challenged? He didn’t sound like he was guessing. More chatter in his head with the other familiars?

Apparently, Chupey felt he did, in fact, need to tell me twice, because he kept going, explaining things to me as if I was a child.

Maybe to him, I was.

According to Chupey, if I wanted this throne, if I actually wanted my father’s title, I had to push myself to the limit and deal with others doing the same.

What kind of creatures would be battling for my father’s throne?

The thought stumped me. Well, actually, two specific words did.

Myandfather.

I hadn’t had a lot of time to process all the information I’d received tonight, including my father’s death and what that meant exactly. Oh, I knew I had to fight for his throne, but the personal implications were harder to wade through. I never knew my father, and now I had to accept I never would.

Chupey stood still, ears pinned back, the hair on the top of his head bristling as the sound of footsteps from behind us.

“Normally we charge for gawking, but I guess in this case we can make an exception,” a male voice called out. Followed by a completely out-of-place laugh.

I turned to find a demon standing a few feet away with sharp snow-white colored horns curling above his ears and on top of his head. He wore head-to-toe black leather that clung to sculpted muscles and left his arms bare. He had a dagger strapped to one thigh and held a nasty looking spear in one hand. When his eyes, no more than red slits, settled on me, I took an automatic step in the opposite direction.

A demon.

A real demon stood in front of me.

I guess I still hadn’t come to terms with being one myself.

My hindsight tingled, the same ones that kept me winning my fights in the Underground.Danger,danger!

No shit.

“Just taking in the sights,” I said with forced ease.

Chupey shifted to my side, but he wasn’t growling, which spoke in the demon’s favor, at least.

“What do you think of the place?” The guy gestured toward the throne, his leather bodysuit creaking from the movement. “I bet it’s a lot to take in, right? And all of this is yours!”

“I’m not sure I’d call it mine yet, but I’m definitely—”Do not tell him that you’re overwhelmed, “adjusting.”

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