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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

Nox scrunched her face. “She didn’t say, but I think we’re safest in the kitchen. I’ll stick you in with the potatoes.” She smiled at her joke. “We probably shouldn’t be in Agnes’s room for much longer if we don’t want to get caught, in case they come in here to talk business. Besides, even if the bishop visits the kitchen to see that it’s clean, he never goes into the pantry.”

“But the pantry is so dirty!”

“Then I guess you’re getting a bath tonight.”

Amaris shivered preemptively at the thought of the chilly bathwater. It was challenging enough for the matrons to keep the orphans clean. Heating the water between children would have been an impossible inconvenience.

“What if we hid in the clean laundry basket? It would smell much nicer.”

“I bet it would,” she said, deflecting, “but the potatoes are calling.” Nox gave Amaris a gentle push out of the office and closed the door behind them.

Most days in Farleigh blurred together with monotony. The breaks in boredom and continuity were moments like these—days of stress, fear, and trepidation. The ability to find small, secret joys amidst stomach-churning anxiety was something Nox didn’t take for granted. She knew they wouldn’t have their privacy much longer.

Three

If they were doomed to suffer, they might as well do it somewhere with the possibility of food. Hopelessness was less manageable on an empty stomach.

The girls avoided the front of the manor, knowing it was where the bishop monitored the students and their lessons. A set of narrow, curving stairs connected the corridor’s end directly to the kitchen below before opening into the world and forest beyond. It had probably been intended for servants upon the manor’s construction but had long since served as a functional convenience for the matrons to drift from the kitchens to the chambers as they monitored their wards.

Following the sizzling scents of meat and onion, the girls descended the steps. Nox pushed open the door, which led them into a large, sweltering room. Heat from the crackling fire beneath the pot of stew hit the girls immediately as they entered. Nox was comforted by the figure she saw in the kitchen. Matron Mable was the youngest matron in the house, and whenever she was on kitchen duty, her presence gave the children some hope for the edibility of the evening meal. Mable was one of the few matrons who believed in spices and seasoning, which made her meals a blessing compared to the bland porridges and dry meats prepared by the others.