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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

Before approaching Millicent, he asked Nox directly if she was available for the Selkie’s private rooms. The expression he’d made when she said she’d never worked on the salon floor made his face shine like the sun itself. He glowed with romanticism as he painted a fanciful picture of the two of them, their bodies intertwined, deflowering one another in the most beautiful union. It was yet another soliloquy in the long line of reasons that made Theo nauseating. He didn’t know her. He didn’t care about her. He loved a fiction.

Nox did her best to find excuses to spend more of her time on the opposite sides of the bar, putting as much physical distance between the ever-growing feeling of distress that his awkward presence brought. Patrons chuckled at Theo’s pitiful advances, often tipping Nox more generously to help ease her obvious discomfort.

When Theo asked Millicent for Nox’s hand in marriage, the Madame calmly quoted him a bride price that was just astronomical enough to buy Queen Moirai’s crown directly from atop her head, and he’d settled on inquiring about the cost of Nox’s maidenhood. Theo’s frequent visits had given the Madame plenty of time to investigate his estate, and she knew exactly how much the man could afford before it broke him. She asked that number plus a single crown more.

The flicker in his eyes between panic, desperation, lust, and love had amused the Madame greatly, but she knew all about the foolishness of men in love. The fortune Theo would pay to be the first to have Nox in his bed was more than enough to cover the Madame’s long-forgotten hopes of having a silver-haired girl in the Selkie. Millicent informed her rather unceremoniously that she would not be bartending that night. The freckled Emily took her shift serving drinks. Her ginger colleague offered a sympathetic smile and comforting touch as Nox moved from behind the bar and walked numbly up the stairs. She was shown directly to one of the smaller rooms in the town house.

Her time to join the ranks of women of the night had come.

She’d numbly bathed, perfumed, and sat upon the bed waiting for the rotund man. He remained deeply in love with her while she fought nausea. She couldn’t care less what he looked like. She’d grown to hate him for his refusal to see things for what they were. He’d painted a romanticized narrative onto Nox, viewing her as a concept of affection rather than a human. She couldn’t bring herself to feel anything but annoyed and physically ill at the thought that he was to be her first.