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said.
    “How many brothers do you have?”
    “Two full brothers, Cronus and Xander, and one half brother,
Pharic.”
    “So you have to fight them for the throne?”
    He stared at her. “Why would I do something that stupid?”
    She shifted and looked down. “If all four of you are up for
the position, isn’t there some sort of campaigning or contest that needs to
happen?”
    “That is not for us to decide. It is the will of the Prince
of Darkness, who shall follow him.”
    “Do you want to inherit the throne?”
    “No,” he said so softly she almost didn’t catch it. Before
she could respond he started walking away. She hurried to catch up.
     
    Damn that woman. Karnon strode over the bridge to the other
side of the cavern, uncaring if the witch followed him or not. She had a way of
making him want to open up. And the unexpected reaction he had had to watching
her looking up at the Spirit Stars, her skin glowing like the moon, had shaken
him.
    She’s an innocent , he reminded himself. But he wasn’t
so sure. Ferr’s reaction to her was not unfounded. Blood-witches hadn’t been
seen in Hell for years and as much as he wished it different, these days even
he felt more comfortable without them around.
    He heard her come up behind him. She touched him gently on
the shoulder. His skin burned for more but he shrugged her hand away. He needed
to get a grip, needed to put some distance between them. He remembered the
mission she had unwittingly contracted him to do. Or maybe she knew what she
was doing. Maybe he played the idiot blinded by the Calling passion and a
pretty face. He sighed. Either way he was under contract to hunt for her
missing mother.
    “Let’s continue on,” he said.
    She didn’t say anything.
    They left the Guiding Space with its dancing spirit stars
and fiery pit to roam through the many smaller caves and tunnels. He showed her
where the glowing waters of the Styx rippled and told her about the many myths
that originated from there. They caught a glimpse of the ghostly ferry used by
the living to visit Hell. They passed the judgment room of Osiris with its
crook and flail, dusty from disuse.
    Karnon watched Mira as she struggled to use her sense
ability with every new landscape. Her strength continued to impress him, if only
she knew how to use it. With more experience maybe she could cast out a hunting
spell thread to find her mother. But that was advanced magic and for some
reason this witch was untrained. It troubled him that she had been left behind,
someone of her power. Down here she crackled with energy. If he hadn’t added
that binding spell when he’d Called her, every demon in Hell would be chasing
them down right now.
    She caught him staring. “I can’t feel her anywhere.”
    The slump of her shoulders made him want to gather her in
his arms. He shook the notion away.
    “Let’s keep looking.”
    They passed the mountains of Mictlan and the deserts of
Hetgwauge. He was pleased she showed the respect due to these places. Her
expressions of wonder were hard to disbelieve. They turned to horror when he
took her to the other sites, the torture chambers for those that had tortured
in life, or the place that housed the black hole, waiting to suck in the
spirits that wished for oblivion. They passed more demons. Some watched them
angrily, some hungrily, but none approached as Ferr had.
    She began to look desperate. Still no sign of her mother’s
energy.
    “You’re tired,” he said.
    “No.” But her worn eyes betrayed her response.
    “Come, we will take a break.”
    He took her back to the Guiding Space and up to a lookout
where they could rest with a view out over the stone pathway bridges and
observe demons guiding spirits.
    He brought some bread and water and fascinated, she watched
a demon guiding a spirit across the obsidian bridges down into the abyss. The
spirit, a wisp of smoky white tendrils, wove around the demon’s head. The demon
had fat cheeks and a jolly nose and he