BooksBarbecue
Back The Night and Its Moon Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  6. Pronunciation Guide
  7. Prologue
  8. Part One
  9. One
  10. Two
  11. Three
  12. Four
  13. Five
  14. Six
  15. Seven
  16. Eight
  17. Nine
  18. Ten
  19. Eleven
  20. Twelve
  21. Thirteen
  22. Part Two
  23. Fourteen
  24. Fifteen
  25. Sixteen
  26. Seventeen
  27. Eighteen
  28. Nineteen
  29. Twenty
  30. Twenty-One
  31. Twenty-Two
  32. Twenty-Three
  33. Part Three
  34. Twenty-Four
  35. Twenty-Five
  36. Twenty-Six
  37. Twenty-Seven
  38. Twenty-Eight
  39. Twenty-Nine
  40. Thirty
  41. Thirty-One
  42. Thirty-Two
  43. Thirty-Three
  44. Thirty-Four
  45. Thirty-Five
  46. Part Four
  47. Thirty-Six
  48. Thirty-Seven
  49. Thirty-Eight
  50. Thirty-Nine
  51. Forty
  52. Forty-One
  53. Forty-Two
  54. Forty-Three
  55. Forty-Four
  56. Forty-Five
  57. Forty-Six
  58. Forty-Seven
  59. Epilogue
  60. Excerpt from The Sun and Its Shade
  61. The Night and Its Moon Playlist
  62. Acknowledgments
  63. About the Author
  64. Back Cover

The pair of strawberry-haired siblings had been dropped off together many years ago in the filthiest of rags. Emily and Ana’s arrival had not been a clandestine event in the middle of the night but a very public, humiliating midday display while the children of Farleigh looked on from their seats in the dining hall. The girls’ bedraggled mother had been desperate to give them a roof over their head and something to eat other than the cold water and the scraps from pitying strangers.

The peasant woman had stood in the foyer with smudged hands cupped to receive the coin for which she’d traded her only children. Agnes had paid her well, perhaps better than the girls had been worth, not only as compensation for the loss of the girls but also as a quiet charity for the woman to find a place to sleep for the night and a hot bath.

Nox’s heart squeezed at the memory while she listened, not daring to breathe.

Achard rolled his eyes “From the sisters—”

Emily popped the freckled toddler onto her hip and pointed her scowl at Achard. “They don’t have to be sisters to be friends,” she said, squeezing her sibling against her chest. She began the walk back to the manor.

“Don’t waste your time thinking about him,” Nox said, grabbing for Amaris’s hand.

“I never do,” Amaris promised.

Two

Nox hadn’t gotten to enjoy any of her plans for the morning. She normally had until lunchtime before the frenzied banshee wails of the matrons signaled the man’s unwanted arrival. Month after month, they scrambled like headless chickens, acting as if it were the bishop’s first time visiting. Generally, their exaggeration annoyed her. Today, she agreed. It was irritating that the man of the cloth had arrived so soon after breakfast.

There would be no sketching, no riffling through the maps she’d stashed, and no flipping through the stolen books she’d carefully tucked between the wall and the cabinet. The moment she heard Agnes’s curses, Nox knew her window for joy had closed.

She stashed her books while the arguing continued from down the hall. She fixed the bed, tucking the sheets into neat lines within her cot until it matched all the perfectly empty rectangles surrounding her. Most of the orphans hated the first day of the month. She knew Amaris counted herself amongst those who found it to be one of the twelve worst days of the year, and yet, it had always been amongst Nox’s favorites. She had time to herself. And when she wasn’t alone, she was with Amaris.

The sharp sound of someone getting a tongue-lashing let her know that Agnes had broken free from the matron’s rooms.