“What happened?” I’m sick of asking the question, but the last thing I remember is trying to fool the mating magic during the fourth ritual with the demon king. Clearly, I failed. Maybe because I intend to kill him?

In the wake of ritual I feel… different. My single-minded drive to save my son becomes less important with each passing day. But when I’m captured by my savage mother-in-law, I learn that a four-legged nismus is hiding more than a toddler with an empty cookie jar. Turns out I’m nothing more than a buzzing mosquito to the two ancient cults I’ve stumbled upon.

Their war has everything to do with the supernatural battle playing out between four races. The chaos that each of us barely scraped through has always been part of a bigger game. And in this age-old game between ancients, we’re the pawns.

More than ever, Carmine needs to end up ash and bone, and as the walls close in, I really could do with a plan. Any plan. Or will the solution only become clear when four supernatural races combine under a common goal?

Or perhaps when I’m brave enough to admit that my mating has never been entirely as it seems.