Elizabeth gave her a look, and Fiza chuckled. “My mother came around, but my father may never be on speaking terms with me again. It’s surprising, though. I thought it would be the other way around.”
“I am sorry. You mentioned you and your father were close.”
“It is what it is,” Elizabeth said, shrugging. “Anyway, tell me more about your family and your life growing up. I know nothing of the Underworld besides what Asmodeus and Caspian have told me.”
Fiza hesitated for a moment, then said, “It is as beautiful as it is harsh. We live in a part of the Underworld that is covered in water and ice. Our cities are built entirely underwater. They are made of rock and coral and polished until they are like this.” She rapped her knuckles on the hard, polished wood of the table.
“How big is your family? Do you have any brothers or sisters? I don’t think I’ve ever asked.”
“Vast,” Fiza said with a smile. “We do not have families, like humans do, and are not particularly attached to our offspring. When we are young, our elders leave us in the wilderness to see if we survive. My elders put me on the surface where my gills seized up, and I couldn’t breathe. I had to learn to shift as an infant or die. Then, I had to hunt demons off the surface or become the hunted. Maud is my sister of heart, as all the water demons are, but we are not related like you are thinking.”
Elizabeth gulped. “Do many demons live very long then? If that’s how they must prove themselves?”
“The place I grew up prized survival of the fittest. Many places in the Underworld are like this. The strong survive. There are so many demons that it must be so,” Fiza said. “The Underworld would grow overpopulated if we were allowed to create offspring at will and all survived their first century. The lows we keep, because we need servants and underlings, but their life expectancy is rather short.”
“Lows?”
“Iago, the butler, and most of the servants are low-level demons.” Fiza shrugged. “Usually small and incapable of human possession. They are not very powerful. Meant to be loyal to their house and serve as entertainment for us.”
Elizabeth kept her expression neutral but was taken aback by the knowledge that demon lows were basically considered worthless.
“I don’t mean to pry, but you said your home was covered in ice … but isn’t the Underworld, well, hot? It’s usually described as fiery pits of chaos, torment, and doom.”
Fiza laughed. “Is Earth entirely green and covered in land? There are many different regions and climates here too. In the Underworld, it is mostly hot, but there are parts of it that are covered in ice. The waters I call home are inky black and cold like ice.”
Elizabeth shuddered. “How do you see in black water?”
“We are born there. How do you see with blue skies and so much light in the air?”
Elizabeth had never considered this. Creatures born of darkness, that’s what they were. Fiza’s eyes were a warm, pleasant brown. It was easy to forget she had not grown up in this realm at all.
“Do you miss home?”
“Do you mean where I’m really from?”
“Yes, the town or place you grew up?”
“The village I grew up in stands no more. But if you mean all of the Underworld, and the icy domain, yes, I miss it sometimes.” Fiza took another bite of the lemon square, cringing. “Alas, I don’t think these are for me.”
Elizabeth leaned in. “What do you mean the village you grew up in isn’t there anymore?”
“I was born in a small village in the caves by the sea.”
She paused, curious. “What happened to it?”
“The city was half destroyed in one of our wars.”
“What war?”
Quietly, Fiza asked, “Do you know about the demon princes to whom we owe our allegiance?”
“Yes, well, sort of, I know that Caspian is one.”
“Caspian is a lesser prince, but still one of the six. Asmodeus is a demon prince as well, and Lucifer is the demon king. He is the highest ranking among us, as he was the first.” Seeing her confusion, Fiza clarified, “Lucifer, and the six demon princes, rule over the seven circles of Hell.”
“But wait—sorry—how can Asmodeus be a prince?” Elizabeth interrupted. “His eyes are not silver like Mammond’s, and also, he’s in Caspian’s house. Doesn’t that mean he answers to him?”
“Asmodeus was stripped of considerable power when he was cursed to look like a demon forever. The witch who did it somehow shackled his powers too. He can barely touch his magic. Her curse effectively stripped his spirit of the title.
