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“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 is necromancy ?”

“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.”

For a moment, she couldn’t speak. She could hardly think straight.

The very thing Genoveva had been afraid of and went to war over had come true. And all because she’d attacked the shadow fae and forced them into the Abyss. Without the fae wars, they may have never learned how to use dark magic.

But necromancy… Well, fuck.

In the darkest parts of her, the thought of being able to summon the dead to do her bidding—to fight Magnus and his army—was more than a little appealing.

She knew she should feel guilt at taking away the free will of the dead and summoning them from their place of rest—just as she should feel guilt at using the syphen to control the erox.

But this sounded like the very edge she sought.

And like the syphen, she could utilize their assistance to rescue Elias before returning them to their place of rest. She didn’t intend to take anyone’s free will indefinitely.

An increasingly distant part of her railed against the potential that she—an enchantress—could be the very thing she’d been taught to protect humankind from.

“Even if I believed you and agreed to let you unlock this magic,” she began carefully. “We need a way out of the Abyss.”

The Everdark made a rumbling sound that she thought might have been a laugh. “And who do you think helped you find the shadow fae? To make the map work when you failed to do so?”

She gaped. “What I felt outside the gateway… The reason I wasn’t ill passing through it… The map suddenly working… That was all you?”

“Yes.”

It should be a knock to her pride, her capability as a magic wielder. But rather than feeling shame for not being able to use the map properly, all she felt was unfettered shock.

“You’re the key to leaving the Abyss,” he continued. “Only creations of the underrealms can open the gateway to leave this place—and only those strong enough.”

“What’s the catch?” she said past the tightness in her throat. Damn it. This wasn’t the time to feel fear. Not when so much was at stake. “Power is never free. Using my shadow magic has made me become less human. What does unlocking demon magic do?”

The greater demon seemed to pause for a moment. She could have sworn it studied her intently before saying, “What differentiates demons from the other races?”

Eyes narrowing, she said, “Demons feed on life—consuming souls, essence, blood, or some other fundamental part of the living—in order to sustain their own lives or to wield magic.” Realization dawned. “No. You can’t mean I’d…”

The shadows that were the Everdark moved, seeming to nod.

“If you fully unlock your magic, you’ll awaken the part of you that is a demon.

The part of you that needs to feed . I’ll give you one day to consider.

One day to choose me willingly. Until then, perhaps you need to see just what your refusal will cost you. ”

Sudden horror burned through her.

Before she could respond, to demand to know more, a shadow struck her in the chest. Gasping, she flew backward across the dark landscape. The Everdark grew smaller in the distance until she could no longer see him.

Eventually, she crashed into the not-ground and rolled to a stop. It didn’t hurt, exactly. But she gasped, struggling to regain her breath.

What the fuck ? —

Then the darkness stirred, and another shape appeared.

Sudden tears filled her eyes, and she blinked them back. “Elias?”

When her mate turned to her, he didn’t reach for her. There wasn’t happiness or even relief in his gaze. Instead, his face grew pale, and he flinched away.

Her heart dropped. “What have they done to you?”