Page 43 of Desired By her Alien Prince

Behlial waved Abaddon and Seth forward and the look Abaddon threw toward Judith didn't escape me. Even though they had chosen the wrong path, they, too, were bonded.

Lilith removed a golden ribbon from her hair, and I heard Seth's sharp intake of breath as she stepped toward him. "Please accept this token of my affection and may you fight strongly and bravely."

"Thank you, my lady, " Seth replied, bowing deeply to her, and in that moment, I realized that he and she would make a powerful King and Queen of Darkness. The only thing that surprised me was that I didn't envy Seth for the honor.

I had never given any thought to somebody succeeding Behlial, and my lack of desire to be the next King of Darkness astonished me. But then I realized that, should we succeed and free the universe of Behlial's poisonous presence, all I would want was to be free with Fay at my side. Free to choose where to go next. Which would be as far away from theAsphodelas possible.

Marduk, Grigori, and I took the other maidens and moved to the back of the room where they would be safe while Behlial handed the mortferrym swords to Seth and Abaddon.

"Begin," Behlial ordered.

The ensuing fight was brutal and vicious. Seth and Abaddon hated each other even more than any of the rest of us, and it showed as powerful thrusts created sparks when the swords crossed each other.

It didn't take long though before Seth dispatched Abaddon.

"No!" Judith screamed and ripped herself from my embrace to rush to her fallen headless mate's side.

With a derisive sneer on his face, Seth threw his sword to the side. "Are you pleased, my king?"

"Either outcome would have suited me just fine." Behlial's voice gave nothing away, and I believed him. He truly did not care one bit for the males he forced to call him father and who he liked to call sons.

He cared more that the swords were replaced in his throne than anything else. And rightly so. If any of us had been able to remove the swords, it would have been Behlial's head rolling down the hall, not Abaddon's.

Unfortunately, only Behlial, as the one true King of Darkness, could retrieve the swords from their rocky sheaths. I tried and failed when nobody was in the throne room, and I suspected my brothers had too.

I wondered if I could finally return to Fay and impatiently tapped my foot as I watched emotionlessly as Lilith cut herself to seal Seth's wounds. She was a brave soul indeed.

"And then there were four," Behlial announced.

"How can you just stand there and watch your sons die?" Judith cried, kneeling next to her dead mate.

I shook my head as a vision of that body being me and Fay accusing Behlial struck me. My heart constricted, and I vowed I would take care of the girl.

"My sons?" Behlial cackled, honestly amused. "Have you still not figured this out?"

"We are not his sons," Seth stated flatly.

"If anything, they are my great, great, great, great…. you get the idea… grandsons," Behlial added with another chuckle. Then he explained to the Nayphyllym maidens, "Since before time was remembered, I have been making this journey. From Elysian to Adama, from Adama to Tartarus, and from Tartarus to Elysian. Over and over, ever since the cursed Nayphyllym decided to hide themselves on Adama after wreaking havoc on my planet.

"Every styx, journey as you may call it, costs the lives of six of my great, great… grandsons. After a while, you get somewhat detached from the whole process and start to enjoy it." He cackled again.

"What happens to the seventh son?" Marduk asked and something in his tone froze my blood.

"Only he will find out," Behlial snorted and slapped his knee as if this was the most hilarious part and missed the growing tension inside his throne room.

But I didn't. The tension was almost palpable, not only between Seth and Behlial though. I felt it coming off Marduk and Grigori as well. Something was about to happen. Was this it?

Were we about to overthrow the hated King of Darkness?

My heart sped up in anticipation and excitement.

"Are you ready to take me on, pup? Go ahead, you wouldn't be the first," Behlial snarled at Seth, finally picking up on the growing tension in his sons.

Seth shot forward, toward Behlial's throne, and I coiled.

"Aren't you forgetting something,son?" Behlial taunted.

"I don't think so," Seth said, then put his hands on the hilt of one of the swords inside Behlial's throne.

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