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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

“Come on.” Emily pulled Nox back into her bed and she obliged, giving herself over to the tug as she abandoned her notes for the night. She dipped to blow out the candle at the bedside. Emily slid in first, lifting the covers. They tucked themselves between the silk of the sheets, Nox dropping the cashmere blanket from her shoulders before crawling in.

Emily’s face wilted over the heaviness Nox carried, and Nox’s heart squeezed with guilt over it. She didn’t want the weight she carried to be a burden for her friend, her lover, her partner under the Selkie’s roof. Life in the pleasure house didn’t require new hardships. Perhaps Emily was too empathetic for her own good.

Emily kissed her deeply on the mouth, attempting to draw her mind away from the pain that plagued her. Her lips were an anchor keeping Nox in the present. It was working, as it always did. Emily used one hand to draw long, sensual lines up Nox’s side. Whatever the quill was unable to siphon, their time in bed certainly could.

Nox sighed, feeling the effectiveness of the distraction. There was nothing more she could do for tonight by scouring notes and studying maps. Her mission would still await her in the morning. She allowed the door to her mind to shut, opening the one that belonged to her body alone. She let go of her troubles, choosing instead to use the hands that had clutched her worries and wrap an arm around Emily’s full, curvaceous waist. She flipped the freckled beauty onto her back, appreciating the understanding face that looked up at her. Nox lowered her mouth slowly with her lips twitching upward in a smile, allowing herself a little fun, and a promised release, if only for the night.

* * *

Infuriated heat rolled off Millicent as she paced in tight lines behind her desk.

Nox was decidedly bored by the woman’s unimaginative brand of fruitless anger. She inspected her nails, pushing on her cuticles while she allowed the Madame her rather predictable outburst.

Millicent was going to wear the carpet bare if she continued marching in the small, lavish space. Nox stood, unimpressed, using her attention to pick phantom strings of fabric from the silken wrap around her shoulders. Agitation was an unbecoming emotion on the woman’s face. It carved lines into her, betraying her age.

“I never meant for you to be the one to go to Yelagin,” she said with clear exasperation. “Send his men and stay here, where we can continue gathering our forces.”

“Our forces?” Nox asked. She narrowed her eyes slightly, looking up from her fingernails. She relaxed her back against the wall of the crimson fleur-de-lis of the Madame’s office.

Millicent’s anger did nothing for her.