"Are you ready?" Syn's glowing eyes search my face, expression unreadable.

Already breathing hard, I haul in another gulp of air and nod.

"Alright. Here we go."

The door slides open at his silent command. I gasp as the hall beyond reveals itself to me—entirely transformed.

Leaves, vines and flowers in every shade of violet and blue cascade from the ceiling and down the walls, aglow with millions of tiny motes of fuschia light. The floor is covered over with a carpet of plush moss—and I have to fight the urge to kick my shoes off on the spot. Taking Syn's proffered arm, we cross the threshold together.

Foregoing the elevator, we follow the mossy path down the corridor and around a corner, and suddenly we're not alone. People await us there, lining either side of a stair that leads downward. Rhea and Hecate flank the top, and are the first to reach out to embrace me as Syn leads me past them—each one tucking a flower into the ornate crown of braided hair at the top of my head. By the time I've reached the bottom the crown is full, and the flowers after that are placed in the cascades of curls trailing from the back of it—and then into the silky mesh of my dress's train.

The stair reaches a landing, where it curls around and continues downward. It happens again and again as we spiral ever deeper, with each person I pass joining the procession of those following behind me. At last the stair comes to a true end—opening up into a part of the palace I've never seen.

No—I correct myself—not a part of the palace. A cavern far below it, deep within the plateau its built from. At first, I can't believe it's not man-made. My eyes range over its rocky walls, its ceilings dripping with stony spires and spears of crystal—finding what I at first think are sculptures—thousands of them. But whenever I focus on one, it reveals itself to be a natural formation; folds and swells of stone so complex they trick me into seeing faces, figures, animals and plants out of the corner of my eye.

The only true sign of sentient tampering here is the path that wends its way through the forest of rocks. The moss gives way, leaving nothing but cold smooth stone beneath my feet. The only light is a broken blue glow coming from somewhere towards the center of the vaulted, tangled space.

Its source reveals itself as the formations grow sparser and then give way entirely to a plane of stone surrounding a natural pool at its center. I can see the eel-creatures twisting in its luminescent waters from here. What's more, tendrils of something in the exact same shade as the water hang in clusters above it like the tentacles of glowing jellyfish.

And I'd thought the rooftop pool felt sacred.

This place—it's on another level. Beyond ancient. Sculpted by the forces of Elysia itself—ages before any human eye ever beheld her, before any human hand could change her.

More people await us, already gathered in a ring about the pool, their many-colored eyes fixed on me. My procession streams to either side, joining them as Syn continues to lead me directly forward.

We come to a stop at the edge the pool, where a shallow stair extends outward, leading gradually down into the water. And to the other side of the pool—waiting at the top of an identical stair—is Aidoneus.

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Syn's arm drops away as he steps back, leaving me with a light touch to the shoulder. The world narrows down to just me and the magnificent man standing to the other side of the water. Our eyes lock, and together we take our first steps into the water.

As with the first time I'd touched the Blue, there's a sensation like gentle lightning filling my veins from the point of contact upward. But it's so, so much more this time. New information, new memories flood my mind. Then the desire—no—the need to be near Aidon overpowers me completely, and I'm dashing through the water towards him. The train of my silvery, shimmering dress flows behind me, a stream of fluid fabric and flowers.

Aidoneus strides forward with an intensity of purpose that borders on desperation. He's drenched in black, almost from head-to-toe—his clothes clinging to his form in all the right places, made of the same leather-like materials as Syn's. It makes the pale crown of bones he wears stand out even more sharply in comparison.

The dark mirror of my train, his cloak flares behind him to trail across the top of the water. His stubble has grown into a short beard—expertly and artfully trimmed to accentuate the hard angles of his face. His hair—more blue than black in this light—falls forward into his face in his urgency to get to me.

It takes me a moment to realize it's not just my emotions I'm feeling, either. It's not just my need for him driving me forward, but his need for me.

Finally we close the distance between us. Unthinking, instinctive, I throw my arms around his waist, burying my face against his chest as he sweeps me into his embrace. For almost an entire minute we stand there like that—wrapped up in each other, oblivious to the world.

Then he pulls back, just a little bit—his eyes searching mine—looking for permission even now.

For a half a heartbeat, I freeze. This is it. Syn's prepared me for this moment. My heart batters my rib cage as I reach up to cradle the back of Aidon's head, and he kneels obligingly to make it possible. Our lips meet one another's flesh at the same time—right where the neck meets the shoulder, both our attire having been designed to leave the spot exposed. Pain—sharp and delicious—blooms at the twin points where his fangs plunge into me. He shivers with immediate pleasure as my own pierce his skin.

And then absolutely everything else drops away. The cavern. The other Variants. The water. Even my vision. There's just Aidoneus and myself—stripped down to our absolute essence, exposed to one another completely. Flowing into each other as though it's one another's souls we're swallowing with the desperation of two people dying of thirst. His blood—it's different than artificial human blood. Completely different. The former was nourishment. This...this is a liqour. A drug.

A delicious drug.

Comparisons race through my mind—but this defies them all. I can't liken it to any other flavor I've ever sampled. I can equate it only to absolute bliss. An explosion of pure ecstasy. I know both instinctively and intellectually that I can't drink too much, but stopping is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

Aidoneus withdraws first. Regains his words first.

"Kore. Kore, it's time to stop,"

But I can't. It's impossible. My jaw continues to work as I draw his essence out of him and into myself. I can never get enough. Never.

Then a new pain jolts me back to myself. Aidon's hands—one clenched firmly around my shoulder, the other in my hair—pulling me back, forcing me to retract my fangs or risk tearing his flesh. I peer up at him, sudden panic clutching at my heart.

"I'm so sorry, Aidon. I—"

"Don't apologize. You've only just turned, it's to be expected."

But I just shake my head, unable to meet his eyes now for shame. My awareness of the others returns as their murmuring grows louder, more excited.

Lightly, he places his fingertips beneath my jaw, tilting my head upward.

"My Queen," he begins, opening his mouth to say something else. But the instant my eyes meet his, his pupils expand and I see myself mirrored in their darkness. I feel what he feels, when he looks at me. I turn my face up to his, and in the next heartbeat we come together in a kiss. His lips are soft, working against mine slowly—sensuously—as our arms wrap vice-like about each other. Then the wicked barb of his fang teases my lower lip for the briefest of moments, and he pulls away.

The cavern echoes with sudden cheering, applause and shouts. His left arm twines with my right, and together we turn to go back the way I'd come.