Chapters (64)
- Front Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Pronunciation Guide
- Prologue
- Part One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Part Two
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Part Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Part Four
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Epilogue
- Excerpt from The Sun and Its Shade
- The Night and Its Moon Playlist
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Back Cover
The girl clasped her hands behind her back and wiggled proudly as she said, “I’m not to get into any trouble! But I can play in the square while Papa sells at the market. Mama stays with the farm.”
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Tess,” she said. The child’s grin was proud despite missing its two front teeth. She was small for her age, with gorgeous dark hair nearly as long as she was tall. It had been set in a braid, but the exuberance of childhood had scattered much of the loose ends from what had surely once been neatly plaited hair into a muss of tendrils around her face. While Tess’s hair was as black as soot, her face was as fair and milky as that of the common folk of Farehold.
Nox felt a tinge of something like sadness as she regarded the girl. She felt the inexplicable urge to pull the little one into her lap and cuddle her deeply, but out of common decency, she resisted. She knew it wouldn’t be appropriate and would most definitely frighten the child.
“I’m sure your mother is a very smart woman. I know she’ll keep you safe from any demons.” She didn’t feel the need to hurry the little girl away. Her life had sorely lacked human conversations with women and girls who weren’t her colleagues or employers, or ones who lacked ulterior motives. It had been far too long since she’d had an exchange with anyone that was simply two normal people just talking.
“The demons don’t hurt us,” Tess said with confidence.
“Oh?” Nox asked, amused. “Do you have charms at your house? Wards etched into the doorway?” She had seen several runes scratched into the tops and sides of the frames of homes as she’d wandered about Yelagin earlier that day. She wasn’t sure what sort of iron grip the demonic lore had over this city, but she supposed it had something to do with how isolated it was. Yelagin was very far from the castle and from the buzz of civilization. It was even farther from the university, where one would probably learn just how useless those runes were for the creatures in the forest. She didn’t know much about the art of magical manufacturing, but she greatly doubted that the doorways had been crafted by someone trained and gifted to actually create something effective.
“No, but when they meet in our barn, they never bother us. Mama has said they’re not bad and to leave them alone.”
Nox’s lips parted. She was struck with genuine surprise. No one in the town square was listening, but she still found herself lowering her voice, counting on the burble of the water fountain to cover her words. “The demons meet in your barn?”