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“Let him in.” It was Arden’s voice, but it sounded distant. “Submit.”

She wanted to scream, to fight, but she couldn’t move from where she lay on the altar. Soon, her entire body started shaking as the darkness filled her. It felt like every cell was splitting in two.

You’re everything I hoped you’d be,came the voice of the Everdark in her mind, rumbling like a great presence had awoken from the deep. His voice sounded like the rippling waves from a collision of stars—and the desolation that remained in its wake.

She struggled to remain conscious as her body continued to seize.

Elias,she thought as her mind grew hazy, wanting his face to be the last thing she saw if she was to die in this place.

You’re my blood,the Everdark hissed.You must accept that you are part demon if you’re to survive my entry.

That was impossible. She was human and fae and nothing more.

“The shadows don’t speak to the shadow fae,” came Arden’s voice. “At least, not those who are fully fae. The Everdark taught me this. It’s how I knew you were different. Only those who also possess demon blood can awaken the shadows. That was how we knew you were here when the zaol chased you. You’d spoken to the dark, which summoned us.”

The darkness billowing through her hummed as though in agreement.

Her mind reeled, and she wanted to ask just what it meant to speak to the shadows. But she forced her mind to focus on the present.

Allow me to unlock the demon magic within you, and you will have more power than you ever dreamed, the Everdark said.All it needs is a key to unleash the torrent of your potential.

Again, the darkness pressed into her, and it felt like her veins swelled with the onslaught of power.

Suddenly, her head smacked against the stones and her body began seizing. Spots formed in her vision. She was going to lose consciousness, and soon.

I’m not a demon, she thought.I’m nothing like you.

“You’re going to kill her,” Arden said, his voice closer now. Was that a hint of concern in his tone? “You must go slower. If you don’t, she’ll die.”

The darkness blasted out into the cavern, filling every space until there was nothing but the impenetrable dark.

She heard a thud on the stones and wondered if the fae prince had been blasted backward.

She can take it,came the voice of the Everdark.Shewillaccept me.

Distantly, she realized the greater demon must be able to speak into both her and Arden’s minds at once.

Slowly, she slipped into unconsciousness, barely clinging to the will to fight this presence—this greater demon.

Mygrandfather?

Then the torrent closed over her.

One moment, she was on the cool stone altar, and the next she was in a place of darkness—just like where she’d dreamed of Elias.

Black stretched in every direction. There was no horizon and no end.

Similar to her other dreams, her skin glowed with a gray-white light.

“Granddaughter.”

The Everdark’s voice was as fathomless as deep space. If she wasn’t careful, she knew she’d fall into that dark and never find her way out.

As she glanced around, she couldn’t see him in this formless landscape.

Just what kind of greater demon was he? What sort of powers did he have? She’d never heard of the Everdark before nor had she faced anything like this. Had he just tried to kill her? Was she already dead? And why was she in this dreamscape again?

“I’m not your granddaughter,” she said as she turned again. But when she looked around, there was nothing but unending darkness.