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Most of the newcomers were men, a few women were with them, one was holding an infant, and another put a protective hand on the head of a toddler clinging to her leg. A cold shiver ran through me when I realized that some of these people had to be the winners of Behlial's contest, left on this dying planet for a quest that nobody besides the Daemons observed.
"The Nayphyllym?" I asked in a shaking voice.
Seth shook his head. "Nobody knows. They left this planet long ago."
Incredulously, I stared at the pitiful group. Math had never been my strong suit, but this one was easy to figure out. Some of these people had been stranded on Tartarus for millennia, their immortality suddenly a cruel curse.
Since Lilith seemed as in much shock as the others, I rallied. "Stephania, Blanche, find more servants and prepare chambers for these people," I ordered the only two Tainted servants who had followed us.
Seth, looking more tired than his relatively short journey justified, nodded his head and jerked his chin toward the exit. "Let's talk."
We followed him into a large chamber we had redecorated into a conference room, preferring it for meetings instead of the throne room, which stood mostly empty now.
Things had changed aboard theAsphodel. Mostly it was us, the royals—I still had a hard time believing I was part of this—who met. The nobles were treated as tolerated guests, and we didn't mingle with them often.
The servants and guards stayed to themselves as well, seeing to their duties like they had under Behlial.
We filed into the large conference room that had a viewing window and didn't give me a claustrophobic feeling like some of the other areas did.
Curiously, I looked from Seth to the man he called his father and the two other men who had followed us.
"Asmodeus, Demogorgon, and Forcas, the leaders of the small village the princes built on Tartarus," Seth introduced the men before pointing at each of us to give them our names.
Incredulously,Istaredatthe three males. Their names were well known to us since they were etched in the wall of victors. Behlial had taken us to that wall more times than I cared to recall, reiterating how honorable these males had been and that one of our names would be added soon.
Well, at leastthathad never happened. Asmodeus had been the last name carved into the wall.
And now I stared at males I had never thought I'd ever meet and was filled with more questions now that they were here than I'd had before.
"I don't know what else to tell you, son. There isn't any more than what I already told you," Asmodeus said after we all took a seat.
Fay clasped my hand, as dumbfounded as I.
"Fair enough. Let me summarize it for my brothers and their karamias then, and please interrupt me if I'm off," Seth said.
"According to Asmodeus, the Nayphyllym haven't been on Tartarus in more than twelve thousand years. Demogorgon was the first to find the planet void of life when Behlial dropped him off."
A low rumble of murmurs and expressions moved up and down the oval table and all eyes turned toward Demogorgon, and I wondered how, or even if, he had remained sane after all this time on this cursed planet.
"I know you are all wondering, but I can assure you, I'm still in possession of my wits. I haven't plunged into the deep end yet, although it was close for a while," he said with an expression looking haunted enough to believe him.
"There was no sign of them?" Grigori asked.
Demogorgon shook his head. "Other than abandoned cities, there was nothing. Trust me, I spent many years searching for them or answers. Nothing."
"Nevertheless, we will take the time to have the guards sweep the cities one more time and salvage anything that might offer a clue before we make course for Elysian," Seth commanded.
"I would like to oversee this," I offered, intrigued by the opportunity.
"I will help you," Fay offered, squeezing my hand.
"So will I," Lilith spoke up, unsurprisingly. In her life on Adama, she had been a historian so this opportunity would appeal to her.
"What do you want us to do?" Grigori asked.
"We will need to send scouts out to search the surrounding planets for any trace of them," Seth said.
"I'm on it." Grigori rubbed his hands together, giving his mate an apologetic look as she shook her head.
