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

“Goddess damn it, Malik, I’m trying to ride a horse, not learn how to do a ballroom dance! I’ve got it!” she grumbled. In the midst of her insistence, her jerking motion made Cobb veer slightly from the path. He stumbled into the grass beyond the road, and she struggled to get her mount in line with the others. The boys did their best to conceal their smiles, but she saw the controlled twitches of their lips. She was glad they’d walked their horses down the mountain so Odrin hadn’t been the one to watch her embarrass herself.

“Are you going to let me finish?” Malik asked.

She grumbled something hateful as he kept his horse straight, looking at her with a bemused expression.

“Soft hands. That’s all I was going to say. Keep your hands relaxed as they hold the reins unless you actually want your horse to turn. And just be conscious of how you use your seat. Since you’re armed, if you twist wrong, your sword might tap his hip and spook him. But mostly, the hands thing. Watch your hands.”

She wasn’t thrilled that she’d made a fool of herself, but the feeling subsided. It didn’t take long for her to get the hang of it as they urged their horses between walking and trotting throughout most of the first day. After much trial and error, they were ready to stop for the night.

The ground beneath the road to the city of Aubade was pressed into parallel lines from the carriages that needed to make their way to and from the royal city to the villages of the continent. Despite the mild weather, they spotted no travelers on their day of riding. No matter how empty the route that connected the kingdoms may have seemed, they didn’t dare risk being discovered in the night as they slept.

Perhaps it was just because it was her first dispatch, but Amaris thought she might be too excited to sleep. She hadn’t wanted to stop for the night, but she conceded as the boys urged them from the road.

The three led their horses from the trail and into the woods, finding a clearing tightly enclosed with trees to shelter them from prying eyes. They tethered their mounts with long enough leads to allow the horses to graze and set off to scout the immediate area for any signs of animal habitation or creatures that they might not want to disturb. They’d been taught a pattern that they were to follow every night: brush your horse, ensure your weapons were cleaned and sharpened, set up camp, and secure the perimeter. They knew better than to light a fire after sundown, and fortunately, the warmth of the season was enough of a blanket as the three camped below the stars.