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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

Nox paused barely an inch above her mouth, allowing their breath to intermingle. As one breathed out, the other breathed in, junipers melding into plums, fresh winter into cardamom, cinnamon, and saffron as tense, warm air exchanged between them. The electric charge that coursed through them was as intoxicating as any drink that had ever entered her system. Her eyes closed again as she felt herself lean forward with longing. She wanted Nox to close the hair-thin gap. She felt with the sharp inhalation of her breath that if it didn’t happen soon, she’d suffocate under her own craving. Nox’s mouth was so near, she could taste every spice. Her scent, her hair, her soft, supple frame pressed into Amaris as the space between them closed.

The rapping of knuckles drew her attention from her dream as if she had been held under water, only now yanked above the surface by her hair. The air caught in her throat as her eyes drifted over Nox’s shoulder to the door beyond. She wanted the knocking to go away. She wanted the room to belong only to them. The sound grew sharper and sharper as Nox began to ripple. The ripple increased as the fabric of the dream tore at the seams.

* * *

The door opened before she could answer. The entrance to the room in Farleigh bled into that of her bedchamber in the keep. Amaris blinked awake, struggling to distinguish imagination from reality as she jolted into an upright position. Her heart thundered from a flood of emotions. Her body felt strange, and her mind raced.

Amaris cursed violently in both surprise and confusion. She pressed herself up and determined that she was, in fact, in Uaimh Reev and not at the orphanage. She felt the indentations of fabric that carved red, telltale grooves from her nap. She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat but found herself in need of water, the same way her body felt in need of a different brand of quenching.

She glared at the door as it swung on its hinges. This was precisely why she never loitered in her room in various states of undress. The boys knew nothing of privacy.

“Sorry! Were you sleeping?” Malik asked. Such a friendly, harmless question.

Malik and Brel let themselves in, Brel with a pastry in each hand and Malik with a glass of water and a smile. Brel offered her a pastry and climbed up onto her bed, intending the other freshly baked good for himself. The child was almost thirteen now and had finally grown comfortable spending time with her. They’d become pals in their time together, and she was quite confident that she was the child’s very best friend. She wanted to yell at them but knew nothing was their fault. It had only been a dream, after all.