Page 73 of Claimed By her Alien Prince

Thankfully he didn't smirk, because I think I would have killed him if he did. "And in seven hundred years I would be expected to walk up here and greet whoever comes next?" Seth clarified.

"Not would, you will," Asmodeus said, before his face scrunched up in suspicion. "Unless something has changed?" A light of hope played around his eyes. I wouldn't want to be stuck on this planet for a seven hundred years like he had been. Or longer, like the others.

I wondered if those others were even still rational. Especially the first one, maybe even the first few. I had lived for a little over two hundred years so far, which wasn't long compared to these people, and to be stuck here for thatlittleamount of time… I couldn't even begin to imagine what thousands had been like for them.

"You better sit for a moment, father," Seth suggested. "This story will take a few minutes."

We settled in, me all snuggled up to Seth, his arm around me in a possessive gesture just in case his father should get any wrong ideas.

Seth observed and assessed the man who had a part in creating him. Asmodeus seemed to be oblivious to the mixed feelings from us toward him; he sat leaned back against a giant boulder. The cold didn't seem to bother him at all.Maybe it was something you got used to, I mused.

I stared at the flames while Seth filled his father in on how he and his three brothers conspired to take Behlial down.

Seth and his brothers had conspired for some time, knowing their moment would come once their brides arrived, because their arrival would divert Behlial's attention somewhat in anticipation of the coming violence, and because he had new people he could terrorize and measure.

Every time Seth left me during our first days, it was to put the final, finishing touches to the coup d'état he and his brothers were planning. Unbeknownst to me, he was risking his life to change all our destinies.

Asmodeus listened quietly, raised an eyebrow here or there or adjusted his pose, but never interrupted until Seth finished. At the end, Asmodeus smiled widely and clapped. "So the old devil is dead then?"

Seth shook his head. "Not yet, he is locked up on theAsphodel. We couldn't take the risk of killing him yet. We needed to find out about Tartarus, and later about Elysian, to see how our fellow Daemons will react."

At this, Asmodeus laughed. So hard, I worried he would choke.

"This is just wonderful," he finally managed, his eyes alight with mirth. At our questioning looks, he broke out into a new round of laughter. "Well, theKing of Darknesswas finally defeated, and the newKing of Darknessis stuck on a dying planet with his ancestors." He slapped his knee.

My heart sank at his accurate assessment. We were immortals, we would be doomed to stay on this planet until the sun finally completely puttered out. Immortals who would die a slow death of starvation. Could we even starve? Or would we be doomed to live in agony forever on this godforsaken planet?

A cold hand grabbed at my heart and squeezed it, fearful I took Seth's hand, needing his comfort, as tears rose in my eyes. All this had been for nothing. There were no Nayphyllym here to talk to.

Seth smiled widely at me, making me doubt his sanity for a second, before he pulled out a small, black object. "Well, maybe not just yet."

My heart pounded with hope—a transmitter. I flung myself at Seth and kissed him deeply. My ever-planning husband. How did I not think of this?

"I love you," I exclaimed happily.

"You think your brothers will answer and come to rescue us?" Asmodeus asked with wide eyes, daring to hope to leave this planet.

"Only one way to find out." Seth grinned at us, making my stomach flip.

EPILOGUE

Therewasneveradoubt in my mind that Azazel and the others would come and pick us up. And they did.

We took a few days to retrieve the other Daemons and Nayphyllym and explore the dead planet Tartarus. Ruins of once sprawling cities dotted the planet's surface.

The Nayphyllym left a wealth of knowledge behind, as well as technology they developed after their return to Tartarus, but no indication of where they went or when or why.

Neither did we find out what happened to the earlier princes, the ones left on the planet while the Nayphyllym stilled lived on it, but we hoped that, with the materials we harvested, sooner or later, we would find out.

For now, our course was set to Elysian. The last hurdle we had to climb before we would truly be free.

Although we weren't sure what that meant yet. Few among us had any attachment to Elysian, besides some of the nobles, servants, and guards, of which, not all wished to return.

We would have to wait and see what the future would hold. But none of us were keen on waiting for the Nayphyllym to reappear and make a surprise attack.

As far as we were concerned, once we dropped off the people who wished to return to Elysian, theAsphodelwould be ours.

There was a vast universe out there, ready to be explored. And maybe one day, we would settle on another planet.

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