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
Though Nox knew she needed to remain concealed, both hands were gripping the ladder for dear life. If she fell to her back, they’d be alerted by the thump of her lifeless body. The ringing in her ears grew louder, drowning out the voices that had suddenly stilled. A horse whinnied, but something about the sound felt far away. Where blackness had been, suddenly stars began to swim in her vision, coloring her sight with their light. This was not the detachment that called to her as a friend. This was darkness at her door, threatening to take her against her will. She felt drunk, as if wine swam through her head. Nox began to sway and knew with certainty that no matter how tightly she gripped the ladder, she would faint.
She fought against the black that swam before her eyes, but void would win this battle. She took a ragged breath in as she began to fall. The last image as she drew in a final moment of consciousness was the monstrous face of an ag’imni staring down at her.
* * *
Straw and manure were the first things to enter her consciousness. The smell of animals and barnwood were in her nostrils before her eyes dared to flutter. She raised herself to her elbows, straw clinging to her hair and her cloak. The quiet was pressing. When no sounds of voices or stirrings of demons moved above her, she knew the barn had been abandoned. She brushed away a piece of straw sticking to her face and forced herself into a sitting position. The creatures were gone and she was alone. All things considered, she was lucky to be leaving with her life. She should have been torn to ribbons after they’d discovered her. She should be a gory shell of entrails, left for Tess and her parents to discover in the morning. Instead, she was about to walk out of the barn, unscathed and armed with knowledge—even if she had failed rather spectacularly at making it in and out of Yelagin’s demonic barn unnoticed.
It took a moment to find her feet, but soon blood returned to her limbs. Nox slipped out of the half door and latched it behind her on shaky legs. She hadn’t been unconscious for long, as the moon had made markedly little progress across the sky. She continued picking pieces of straw from her hair and her cloak as she made her way amidst the shadows across the farmyard into the trees. The horse was extraordinarily impatient as she mounted it and urged it onto the road. It was a decidedly unfriendly beast, and perhaps if her wits ever returned to her, she’d ask the duke for a new steed.
They had been talking about Amaris.
The demons had been talking about Amaris.
How many ways could she turn the revelation over in her head? She was in a barn filled with ag’imni discussing Amaris.