With true eyes, Aidan can see the rotten darkness that pervades life on Devil’s Ridge, contaminating the food, the property, and especially the well. However, his mother and little sister seem blind to the taint as they struggle to keep their chins up in Grandfather Patrick’s house.

Though Aidan is a prisoner in Grandfather Patrick’s house, he schemes to get a job with one of the only businesses in town not associated with The Clan. The other bright spot is Asher Vane himself, who appears at Aidan’s window at night.

Both Aidan and the Dark Prince are irresistibly drawn to the other. Though Asher tries to restrain his feelings for the adopted boy, Aidan allows himself to dream of what could happen.. especially as Asher leads him into the woods.

Volume 5 contains the extra short story “Under a Boundless Sky.” Asher remembers how he and Kyranna, Aidan’s Sidhe father, first started to become friends in the very same campsite he brings Aidan.