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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

With barbarian effort, Millicent managed to rip a glove free from her hand and grab for Nox’s bare wrist with the steeled cinching of a manacle. The inertia from Nox’s movements, propelling her forward only moments prior, crashed into her like the ocean’s waves breaking against a cliff. The thrust that was meant to send her flying past Millicent and out of the carriage exploded instead within her. Her motion landed her in a crumpled pile on the coach’s floor. Millicent had released Nox’s wrist nearly as soon as she’d grabbed it, but the effect had been immediate.

The fight was over.

Nox was instantly still. She was limp, silent and neither willing nor able to move her arms, her legs, her voice, her dark hair in tendrils covering her face and neck.

Gloves now covering her fingers and forearms once more, the Madame, badly scratched and hair torn from its updo, knelt nervously over the slumped girl. She quickly put Nox’s head on her lap in the tight space of the carriage’s floor where only feet had been meant to rest, brushing the night-black hair from her face with indelicate motions. Millicent felt for a pulse, slapping Nox several times in quick, successive taps. The Madame’s voice was panicked.

“No, no. Nox. No,” Millicent repeated. “Come on, you’re okay. Wake up. You’re okay.”

Millicent’s distant assertions sounded as if they were filtering through dark and terrifying water, as if shouting to her from beneath the waves as she sank into the ocean’s trench.

“Wake up,” Millicent urged, voice hitching with desperation. Each word grew quieter, farther away than the one before. “It was just a touch. It was the quickest touch. You’re okay, Nox. I need you to wake up. You’re going to be okay. Please wake up.”

But Nox, drifting into the black abyss, did not open her eyes.

Thirty-Five

“This seems as good a place to camp as any,” Malik said as he led their horses toward the sounds of running water.

As far as Amaris was concerned, the last two days had been blissfully uneventful given their chaos in Yelagin. Encountering demons, being betrayed by her hidden power, and then being chased from a tavern had been enough excitement for one journey. The boys hadn’t attempted to hide their gratitude that they had not seen the ag’imni in several nights. Now it was time to stop for the night and relax against the peaceful serenity of fresh water.