“I don’t believe you.” Malachi’s voice was low. “This was more than political.”

“Perhaps it is more correct to say it began as a political move.” Jaron’s hand tightened on his daughter’s back. “But he became… curious.”

A knot formed at the pit of Ava’s stomach.

Malachi asked, “About?”

“It was the Irin who gave him the idea.”

“What idea?”

Jaron shook his head. “Volund—”

“Nooooo!” A shriek from the formerly silent woman startled them all. Even Jaron.

She shouted and scrambled away from her father, huddling in a corner, her eyes sweeping the room. She was frantic. Ava wasn’t sure her grandmother saw anything more than the demons in her mind.

“Stop!” she shrieked. “Stop it. Don’t speak his name.” The words poured out of her, a river of tormented pleas. “Please, Bâbâ, no!”

“Ava—”

“Bâbâ, Bâbâ, no.” A torrent of what sounded like Farsi poured from her lips. Ava wasn’t fluent enough to decipher it. But the strange energy pouring from her grandmother was familiar. Ava knew she could reach her if she could only catch her attention.

Ava crawled forward, ignoring Jaron’s warning to crack open the door in her mind.

“Grandmother?” she said. “Ava.”

Their eyes connected.

Jaron’s daughter held a trembling finger over blood-red lips. “Shhhh.”

Ava listened, but the only thing she heard was a twisted cacophony of pain.

Her grandmother stared at her, gold eyes transfixed on Ava’s face.

“It’s a secret,” she whispered. “Like me. You can’t tell a secret.”

“You can tell me.”

The tormented woman tore at the shining hair that fell over her face and shook her head. “Demons play tricks,” she muttered. “Don’t. Can’t hide. Not even in my mind.” A haunting singsong voice. “My mind, my mind.” A bitter laugh. “If I lose myself, not even he can find me. Hide in the woods—don’t dream! Don’t sleep. He can’t see the visions I keep.” A high, keening laugh. “Bâbâ…”

“I’m here, Ava.” But Jaron stayed in place, as if touching his child might hurt her. A low hum filled the air, and Ava’s grandmother rocked back and forth, hitting her head against the wall.

Ava moved closer.

Malachi said, “Canım, be careful.”

“She’s hurting herself.”

The woman stopped rocking. Her eyes rose to Ava’s.

She stared at her, and for a brief moment, Ava knew her grandmother was completely sane.

“Be careful,” she said, her voice low and calm. “I cannot force him out. Do you understand?”

“I have your blood,” Ava said. “Don’t tell me. Show me.”

Ava caught the dark flicker in her grandmother’s eyes a moment before her vision went black. Her body froze and her muscles locked as her mind raced through the vision Ava sent her.

A lively street market in Beirut. A boy with seductive eyes.

Temptation.

“Just for the night. My father…”

Ropes. He had tied her. Why had he—?

Bâbâ!

Gone.

Where were her brothers? They were gone. Her father…

Why couldn’t she feel her father? She could always feel her father.

“Let me see her.”

A darker, deeper power hovered over her, blocking her from the light.

“Beautiful child…”

Such darkness.

Anger.

Pain.

“Mine.”

NO!

It ripped through her. The tearing of innocence and hope and light and nothing—

Nothing would be light again.

He was in her.

In her body. Her mind.

The darkness trampled over the flowers of her soul and crushed them with his power and everything…

“Everything is dark.”

“Ava.”

No.

Violation was only the beginning.

“Ava.”

Her dreams a torment. She ran but could not escape.

“Ava.”

Hissing laughter bruised her mind.

The dark angel had marked her.

His laugher twisted as he called her mate.

He came again when she closed her eyes. Every night. Every day. Even when her body was taken back to her brothers, he was there. When the child was born, he was there.

His power lived in the child who bore the face of her nightmare.

Love and hate and light and darkness.

“You’ll hurt him, Ava.”

Take him away…

“Ava.”

There was no escape.

Ava rocked back, gasping. Hoarse cries broke from her throat. She could feel Malachi’s arms around her, holding her steady as she trembled.

“Ava!”

The sound of her name only made her sob.

“Oh God!” She clung to Malachi. “It can’t… she can’t…”

Jaron pulled his daughter’s shaking body into his arms. Her eyes were closed again, her mind shut down to anything but her sire’s touch. And Ava knew from looking into her grandmother’s mind that Jaron’s presence was the only thing that gave her any kind of peace.

Because her dreams were nightmares she couldn’t escape.

“Ava, what was that?” Malachi held her tightly, his arms almost crushing her ribs. “I couldn’t see. You have to tell me.”