Demon Empress

Chapter 1 - Ambition

“And no one opposed her after that?” Luracin demanded. “She was just some nobody. The nobles of the First Ring just sat by and watched it happen? What happens if Emperor Silvan comes back?”

“But he hasn’t,” Dominic replied with a raise of his brows, “Not for five hundred years. Beer?”

Luracin rolled his eyes. “The demon bastard ruled for two thousand years and lived another millennium. Five hundred years doesn’t leave a scratch on a demon’s lifespan.”

Dominic met his gaze. “It’s an eighth of their lifespan. Even if he does return, he’ll be old by the time he returns. Beer?”

Luracin frowned. “But it seems the older a demon gets, the more powerful he gets. The passing years won’t do him any injustice.” Suddenly perking up, Luracin’s dark head shot up. “Do you think she lives her days fearing his return, or she lives her days scorning gossipers like us? She hasn’t done anything since taking the Bone Crown and the Ebony Palace. She hasn’t taken a single step out in five hundred years. The First Ring nobles are going rampant with power.”

Dominic sighed impatiently. “I don’t think she spends her days thinking about what any of us thinks at all. She is the master of the Bone Crown, and therefore the master of the Eight Rings of Hell. Her orders are absolute, and she does not have to care until a Challenger for the Crown rises. Luracin, beer?”

Luracin grinned. “Yes, beer.” Taking the glass from a very annoyed Dominic’s hands, he happily took a swallow before continuing on his own tangent of discussion. “But I’m discontent. Her negligence has only consolidated Silvan’s pre-existing society. Why is it that we got a new master five hundred years ago, but I feel as if the guard dogs have been growing in influence instead? A master like this is not good enough.”

Dominic was exasperated. “I don’t even know why you complain. You are the firstborn son of a First Ring noble house, the respectable Lord Luracin l’Hase.”

Luracin smiled bitterly. “An invisible prince is as useless as an invisible Empress. For as long as that mistress and her son dare to parade around my house as if they are my mother and brother, I will be useless. So Empress El’Iaris l’Rhanar should either make a move now, or wait quietly in her Palace for my Challenge.”