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Back The Night and Its Moon
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

It was true. She’d missed her more than she allowed herself to believe. She could never let it go, or forget, or move on. It was a memory too painful to explore. Nox’s face was one that conjured too much hurt, too much confusion. In the real world, Amaris had needed to seal the suction-cupped tentacles of her vicious emotions, clamping them into a locked safe inside of her in order to function. In some other, imagined world, the girls had successfully run away together and escaped into the forest. In that world, the Madame had never found them. There’d been no reevers, no matrons, and no distance to part them. In another world, they’d be in the same bed tonight instead of Amaris’s dreams.

Nox dragged a slow finger from Amaris’s forearm to her elbow, up her arm. The gentle scrape of her fingernail was hot and cold all at once, raising goose flesh on her arm and sending shivers down Amaris’s back. It caused her stomach to clench and her throat to constrict. Her breathing trembled, staggering as she exhaled. She was conflicted. Part of her wished Nox would stop, wished that she wouldn’t stoke the fire and exacerbate this unrequited want. The other part of her silently pleaded with her to continue.

The finger drew its path over her shoulder, tracing the figure along the lines of her neck, her jaw, and landing on her chin. Amaris’s heart rate increased as she stopped breathing. She’d watched Nox’s finger with a shy, confused anxiety at first as it had navigated between her wrist and elbow, but as it crept along the lines of her throat, she’d felt her eyes drift to a close and a soft sound, almost a moan, escape her lips. When the finger made it to the space beneath her chin, Nox had flexed her index finger inward, tucking a single knuckle beneath Amaris’s chin.

Amaris understood the intent and obeyed, opening her eyes once more. How could she feel so deliciously powerless in her own dream? Vulnerability and uncertainty consumed her with incomprehensible craving. Maybe it was that her subconscious knew that between the two of them, Nox would always be their leader. She knew the steps to the dance, and all Amaris wanted was to follow the music that only they heard.

Amaris looked up at Nox through hooded lashes. She willed herself to breathe as Nox lowered her body closer, but the reever couldn’t seem to remember how to summon air to her lungs. She’d forgotten how to inhale. Her lips parted as adrenaline surged through her. Her heart flitted like the pitter-patter of rain falling in one thousand places all at once as anticipation coursed through her.