THE FANTASY BOOKTOK SENSATION! For fans of Uprooted and For the Wolf comes a dark lushly gothic fantasy about a maiden who must unleash the monster within to save her kingdom--but the monster in her head isn t the only threat lurking. Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her. Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie mist-locked kingdom she calls home--she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare an ancient mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets. But nothing comes for free especially magic. When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception she joins a dangerous quest to cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it. Except the highwayman just so happens to be the King s own nephew Captain of the Destriers...and guilty of high treason. He and Elspeth have until Solstice to gather twelve Providence Cards--the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly darkly taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.