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The Everdark stepped forward—only a few steps away from her now.

“I helped them escape through the gateway in the forest near your mate’s castle,” he said. “I held the gateway closed as I expedited your growth in your mother’s belly. She’d only been three months into her pregnancy. In moments, she was swollen with child and going into labor. I pulled you from her. But your mother went back on her word and attacked. The magic of our bargain killed her at once. Her human lover lashed out in a fit of rage, but he was a mere speck of sand. He died in the forest, consumed by the soulless, becoming one of them.”

For a moment, it felt like her heart stopped.

She’d never longed to meet her parents, not truly. But somehow, hearing they’d died horrible deaths—that her father had become a demon—struck something deep within her. A strange sense of despair swelled in her chest and tightened her throat.

The shadows around the Everdark trembled as he continued, “But your mother did something with her magic before dying that I’d missed. She’d used every last drop of her abilities to lock your demon magic away and place a curse on me. I couldn’t speak to you nor could you see me. So, I guided you to the human village, clearing a path through the forest. This way, you could grow in power with the humans until I could contact you. During that time, I returned to the shadow fae in the Abyss. I knew you’d need an army when you took your place on the shadow fae throne.”

Swallowing thickly, her mind reeled with this onslaught of information. “Why would a demon want a fae throne? Can’t you rule over one of the underrealms?”

“With a shadow fae on the throne who possesses demon blood, I can bring demons into the fae realm,” he said. “The fae have kept my hordes out with their magic. Only I, as a greater demon, can move as I please between realms. And I intend to claim the magic of their world. For us.”

She shook her head. “If Princess Myla placed a curse on you, preventing you from speaking to me, how are you doing so now?”

“The amplifier didn’t just awaken your shadow fae abilities,” he rumbled. “It created the smallest fissure in your demon magic that had been locked away. In so doing, it broke the curse and allowed you to tap into some of your magic—and for us to communicate directly.”

The Everdark stood before her then, and she started to take a step back. His magic wrapped around her, dark bands of ebony, forcing her to remain in place.

“How does that make you my grandfather?” she demanded, trying—and failing—to disguise the fear filling her voice. “It just sounds like you’re some power-hungry bastard.”

The shadows tightened, pinning her arms to her sides.

“I brought Myla’s mother, the shadow fae queen, to this place many years ago,” he said, and she felt his eyeless gaze scrape over her. “Your mother is a product of our union. She was one of my many offspring with mortal females—fae or human. Some resemble their mothers and others are creatures of shadow.”

“And Prince Arden?” she pressed.

“A child of the former king and queen.”

So, her mother was only a half sister of Arden, then.

Without willing it, she pulled against the shadows holding her as anger fractured her senses. “You killed your daughter?Father of the year. Why not have her sit on the throne you want so much?”

You didn’t have to kill her,some distant part of her thought, raging against the finality of her parents' needless deaths.

After all they’d done to find this place, her mother hadn’t been here after all. She had, however, been trapped in the Twilight Court until three decades ago. That meant she would’ve been a prisoner for hundreds of years in the court responsible for the genocide of the shadow fae, forced to work as an assassin.

“Your mother was captured by the Twilight Court before she could ascend to the throne,” the Everdark said. “When she fell in love with a human, it became obvious she wouldn’t be sympathetic to my ends.”

“And why would I be any different?”

The Everdark extended a shadowy arm, and the darkness wrapped around her neck, feeling like long, cool fingers. Slowly, those fingers tightened around her throat even as they caressed her neck in languid strokes.

“You want to save your mate,” the greater demon said in a tone as cool and emotionless as death at midnight. “I can unlock the magic within you. Abilities you need to save him.”

“What magic?” she demanded as she angled her head away from those stroking fingers.

The fingers around her neck loosened, releasing her.

“I am the master of the dead,” the Everdark said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Once someone has passed from the land of the living, they are mine to use. To control.”

“Necromancy,” she choked out, her mind swirling. “Your power isnecromancy?”

“I cannot raise the dead and return them to life,” the greater demon said. “But I can bring the dead into a… state of living. And if I impose my will on them, they will do as I bid.”

“This is the power Arden spoke of,” she realized.

“All of my offspring have this ability,” the Everdark said, confirming her suspicion. “But I can enable the shadow fae with enough control over the shadows to use dark magic.”