Page 42 of Claimed By her Alien Prince

"Touché," I conceded, and because he appeared like he was about to have a stroke, I took pity on him and summed up what I had read so far. "This appears to be an account of how Ishtar came to be queen."

"Ishtar?" Seth looked torn between disappointment and curiosity, probably having hoped to find something else, but still interested in learning his mother's story.

"What were you hoping to find?" I asked.

Seth ran his hand through his thick, dark brown hair. "Anything about mine and my brother's purpose."

I snuggled back up against his chest on his lap, which was becoming my favorite spot in the entire universe.

"How do you mean?" I asked confused.

"You already know that we're supposed to fight each other to the death."

I nodded, and waited for him to continue.

"What we don't know is why. We don't know why we have to do this, or what happens to the victor."

I swallowed my coffee down, which suddenly tasted too bitter. "Whatdoyou know?"

He shrugged. "Not much, only that theAsphodelhas been taking the same route for thousands of years, she takes us from Adama to Tartarus, during which time we are—"

"Wait, Tartarus?" I interrupted him, recognizing the ancient Greeks' name for their version of hell.

"Yes, does this mean something to you? Our styx—"

Again I interrupted him, this time with a thick clump of anxiety sitting inside my chest. "Styx?"

"That's what we call our journey."

Coincidentally, it was also the name the Greeks had given the river over which the souls of dead were taken to Tartarus.

"Are there any other stops in between?" My voice was subdued, as if I already knew the answer.

"Yes," he drew his eyebrows together, "what's wrong?"

"Where?" I breathed.

"Elysian."

Elysian. Elysium! A wave of dizziness overcame me, and had I not already been sitting on Seth's lap, I was sure I would have sunk to my knees. I managed a weak, "Seth."

Alarmed his arms wrapped around me. "What is it?"

I shook my head, "I don't know, but the ancient Greeks had this legend, where a god named Charon would transport the souls of the dead over a river named Styx. Eventually they would come to a fork, where the souls would be judged before going either to Elysium, Tartarus, or Asphodel."

"We have visited Adama many times, Lil, and every time Behlial wrought hell over the Adamas. It is only natural they made up legends about us." His words sounded logical and calm and some of his calmness transferred to me.

"You're right, this is probably only important to me as a human."

"No, please continue, they might have known more about this than me or my brothers. What was the Greek's definition of Tartarus, Elysium, and Asphodel?"

I took a deep breath. "Tartarus was where the bad people went, a sort of hell, Elysium was the opposite, all the good, noble people went there, to live under eternal sunshine, what we call heaven now."

"And Asphodel?"

"Asphodel was an in-between place, for people who didn't live quite good enough to deserve to spend eternity in Elysium and who hadn't been bad enough to go to Tartarus."

Thoughtfully, Seth rubbed the back of his neck. I could see his mind working, trying to make sense of the story I told him and to figure out how it related to his task.

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