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Back The Night and Its Moon
Chapters (63)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Pronunciation Guide
  6. Prologue
  7. Part One
  8. One
  9. Two
  10. Three
  11. Four
  12. Five
  13. Six
  14. Seven
  15. Eight
  16. Nine
  17. Ten
  18. Eleven
  19. Twelve
  20. Thirteen
  21. Part Two
  22. Fourteen
  23. Fifteen
  24. Sixteen
  25. Seventeen
  26. Eighteen
  27. Nineteen
  28. Twenty
  29. Twenty-One
  30. Twenty-Two
  31. Twenty-Three
  32. Part Three
  33. Twenty-Four
  34. Twenty-Five
  35. Twenty-Six
  36. Twenty-Seven
  37. Twenty-Eight
  38. Twenty-Nine
  39. Thirty
  40. Thirty-One
  41. Thirty-Two
  42. Thirty-Three
  43. Thirty-Four
  44. Thirty-Five
  45. Part Four
  46. Thirty-Six
  47. Thirty-Seven
  48. Thirty-Eight
  49. Thirty-Nine
  50. Forty
  51. Forty-One
  52. Forty-Two
  53. Forty-Three
  54. Forty-Four
  55. Forty-Five
  56. Forty-Six
  57. Forty-Seven
  58. Epilogue
  59. Excerpt from The Sun and Its Shade
  60. The Night and Its Moon Playlist
  61. Acknowledgments
  62. About the Author
  63. Back Cover
Document

Ash and Malik.

Her heart stuttered painfully as she searched for the others.

Her eyes now fully adjusted, she spotted her companions in the cell opposite hers, still unconscious. Their cell, like hers, had its iron bars, but their far wall was the same cream stone of the Castle of Aubade. Why did hers have a slitted, wooden wall? She shoved the thought to the back of her mind, deciding architectural design was the least of her worries.

Amaris tried to call out through the muffle of her gag.

Ash’s red hair was easy to spy. He faced away from her and made no movements at her sounds. Beside his motionless form, Malik stirred. He had been left in a sitting position, head slumped to his chest with his hands behind him. Amaris cried out again against her gag, then nearly cried in relief as her friend’s emerald eyes fluttered open.

Malik was quick to consciousness.

He attempted to stand the moment he realized she was trapped behind bars but quickly discovered his hands were similarly bound like hers. She continued to stare with frenzied intensity as he fumbled against his bindings, and she noticed that neither Ash nor Malik appeared to have any fabric muzzling him as she did. Perhaps gags were unnecessary for anyone who didn’t contain a witch’s malevolent power. After what felt like a grim eternity, Malik created enough leverage with his bound hands to get his feet underneath him.

He made it to his feet and pushed his chest against the bars as he gaped at Amaris.

“Are you all right?”

Despite her situation, she felt a lurch of sadness at his question. His empathy was a bottomless well. As miserable as she felt, she knew he felt it in equal proportion at his inability to help her. He’d go to the ends of the earth to save the ones he loved, yet he was rendered powerless while he watched her, bound and gagged behind iron, separated from them. This seemed a somewhat more tragic fate. She carried the powerlessness of her own scenario, while he shouldered the burden of everyone’s destitution.

Amaris nodded, though she had no idea if it was true. Was she all right? She was bound, gagged, and in what was most definitely a prison separated from her brothers.

She channeled her senses, focusing on what she had to do to get out. For now, she’d ignore Malik and pour her attention into her bindings.

Amaris pressed her face into the cold iron bar, searching for something jagged or rough to rub on her gag. She ran her cheek along the bar, but there was nothing. Though it chafed her skin, the cloth of her gag stayed securely in her mouth, choking her lips in an open position as it remained tied tightly at the back of her head. While she searched for something—anything—to snag against the fabric, she saw Malik gently kicking Ash to a waking state. It took the groggy faeling a few moments to take in his surroundings, but he rolled to his side in a fashion similar to Amaris and was able to get on his feet.