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Back Cloak of Night Save as PDF
Chapters (73)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Map
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Chapter Three
  7. Chapter Four
  8. Chapter Five
  9. Chapter Six
  10. Chapter Seven
  11. Chapter Eight
  12. Chapter Nine
  13. Chapter Ten
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Chapter Fourteen
  18. Chapter Fifteen
  19. Chapter Sixteen
  20. Chapter Seventeen
  21. Chapter Eighteen
  22. Chapter Nineteen
  23. Chapter Twenty
  24. Chapter Twenty-One
  25. Chapter Twenty-Two
  26. Chapter Twenty-Three
  27. Chapter Twenty-Four
  28. Chapter Twenty-Five
  29. Chapter Twenty-Six
  30. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  31. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  32. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  33. Chapter Thirty
  34. Chapter Thirty-One
  35. Chapter Thirty-Two
  36. Chapter Thirty-Three
  37. Chapter Thirty-Four
  38. Chapter Thirty-Five
  39. Chapter Thirty-Six
  40. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  41. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  42. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  43. Chapter Forty
  44. Chapter Forty-One
  45. Chapter Forty-Two
  46. Chapter Forty-Three
  47. Chapter Forty-Four
  48. Chapter Forty-Five
  49. Chapter Forty-Six
  50. Chapter Forty-Seven
  51. Chapter Forty-Eight
  52. Chapter Forty-Nine
  53. Chapter Fifty
  54. Chapter Fifty-One
  55. Chapter Fifty-Two
  56. Chapter Fifty-Three
  57. Chapter Fifty-Four
  58. Chapter Fifty-Five
  59. Chapter Fifty-Six
  60. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  61. Chapter Fifty-Eight
  62. Chapter Fifty-Nine
  63. Chapter Sixty
  64. Chapter Sixty-One
  65. Chapter Sixty-Two
  66. Chapter Sixty-Three
  67. Chapter Sixty-Four
  68. Epilogue
  69. Acknowledgments
  70. About the Author
  71. Books by Evelyn Skye
  72. Back Ad
  73. About the Publisher

A voice like thunder boomed across the sky and stopped Daemon short.

“My wayward son. How dare you return?”

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Chapter Fifty-Nine

Two days after Fairy, Broomstick, and Empress Aki left, Sora received a simple message via glittering eagle ray: Emperor Geoffrey has committed the Imperial Caldanian Navy to help us fight.

The next day, she received this message: Ria Kayla has agreed to send the Royal Navy and Marines of Brin.

And on the fourth night after they’d left, the last eagle ray flew into her hideout and landed on Sora’s pillow: Fale Po Tair will fight. Queen Meredith is leading the Faleese Navy herself. We are on our way.

Goose bumps prickled Sora’s skin. Things were falling into place. The only piece missing was Daemon.

Hopefully, he’d return soon.

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Chapter Sixty

It was time. A day after the last of the eagle rays arrived, Sora and Hana stood at the edge of the Field of Illusions, outside the Citadel’s western fortress walls. The troops from Caldan, Brin, and Fale Po Tair were hidden just outside the Imperial City, ready to fight. Soon, they would try to overwhelm the ryuu by sheer numbers, while Sora and Hana slipped into the castle, reunited the soul pearl with Prince Gin, and killed him.

And then there was the question about Sora’s soul and whether it could be purified . . .

Daemon, where are you?

Sora and Hana needed to get into Prince Gin’s castle, but their original plan to fly in would no longer work without Daemon. The quietest way in, then, would be down through the secret passageway that Empress Aki had shown Sora.

“You’re sure the tunnels are still there?” Sora asked as they approached the spiraling swirl of black-and-white sands that hid the entrance.

“Yes,” Hana said. “Prince Gin built his castle on the foundation of Rose Palace and left the escape routes that had been dug into the mountain.”

“All right, then the center of that spinning illusion marks the entrance. It’s a short fall. I’ll go first.”

Sora checked to make sure patrol on the Citadel wall hadn’t returned yet, then stepped into the middle of the swirling sand. It sucked her in like a whirlpool and spit her out eight feet below. She landed on the ground of the tunnel and rolled out of the way so Hana could join her.

A few seconds later, Hana fell through, touched down, and rolled effortlessly to her feet. She coughed in the sand dust, though.

“How is that supposed to be an escape route?” she asked when she’d finally finished coughing.

Sora glanced up at the ceiling, which gave the illusion of being solid, albeit in a moving pattern of black and white. Then she saw a ladder propped against the tunnel wall. “I suppose they move that over and climb up and out.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Hana coughed again. “Let’s get out of this dust.”