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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

The Many Faces of Demons

Twenty-Four

Amaris arrived at the ring the following day, ready to start their run. She was already stretching her arms above her head and loosening her legs as she approached a small, seated group of reevers. She frowned as she drew closer, realizing it was not a running party at all.

Samael was the only reever who didn’t participate in the morning exercise in torture. He claimed that after the others lived for over a thousand years, they could also sit out the daily run. His presence alerted her to the abrupt change in routine. Instead, Samael was holding a meeting against the early colors of morning. Odrin, Malik, Ash, and two of the middle-aged reevers had beaten her to the gathering. It would be a warm day, but the air was still pleasantly cool in the first hours of dawn. A light breeze moved her hair around her shoulders. She reached behind her head to begin tying it into a low, loose knot as she took a seat.

“I’m sending five of you down the mountain today,” Samael was saying, “and I’d like you to leave as soon as you’ve had breakfast. I’ll need Grem and Odrin to go north into Raascot, which I can explain in more detail once Grem arrives. Malik, Ash, and Amaris, you’ll be going to Aubade. I need you to take an audience with the southern queen.”

“We’re traveling together?” Amaris asked. “Aren’t reevers normally dispatched alone?”

Samael nodded, saying, “Sending you out in teams has just as much to do with the distance as it does the task at hand. You’re all needed to meet with the continent’s regencies, and I think Amaris might be particularly silver-tongued in getting the queen to listen to our cause.”

Samael barely let his eyes linger long enough to convey the gravity of his meaning.

No one knew what she was, or what she could do. She wasn’t even sure she knew herself. For years, Samael had kept her secret. No one in the keep had learned of her gift, and she had been careful never to wield it. Even Ash only knew he had been paired with her for their ages—not for any influences of persuasion to which he might be less susceptible than a full-blooded human. Perhaps that was why all three of them needed to go to Aubade. Ash could keep her in check should she need to begin barking orders to the humans around her. Similarly, Malik and his open, honest features would provide an excellent human buffer for any suspicion two nonhumans might draw.

“The south has been accusing the north of sending their forces into its lands for years, but now we’ve gathered enough intelligence to learn that the queen plans to act. There’s a very good chance that Moirai is one bad day away from genocide.”