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Back The Night and Its Moon
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

Amaris tried to take at least a few bites of the meal, but her gut was already stuffed with apprehension. It was truly a pity, as she hadn’t seen a meal this fine in her entire life. Not only had fishes and cheeses and vegetables been beautifully plated and seasoned, but chilled fruits and hot pies and caramelized tarts and exotic wines dotted the table in a veritable cornucopia of options. She should have been gorging herself. Instead, she was wasting a once-in-a-lifetime dining opportunity on fretfulness.

Amaris reassured herself that the fear was perfectly natural. Everything was fine, she said. Even if the queen was a nightmare and the meeting went awry, she had nothing to fear. Her power had emboldened her for such a time as this. This was her divine purpose. Amaris would simply command Moirai and her men to stop their bloodshed and hunting of northmen. She would command the queen to release her. She told herself her plan over and over again, using it as a meditation. Everything was fine.

Her words were lies, and she knew it. She couldn’t explain her certainty, but every repetition of her false mantra clanged hollowly through her mind.

Amaris gnawed unenthusiastically on her bread but couldn’t stay still to enjoy her meal. She returned to the grand glass doors of her balcony, wandering outside to view the setting sun while she picked at her loaf. It truly was a marvelous view. The sky colored magnificently on the western coast in a way she’d never seen before. The smell of salt and the ocean spray reached her even from where she stood on the balcony. The birds who dove and cawed near the cliffs were large and wild and unfamiliar in their songs, providing a welcome distraction. The sea was the sort of thing children scribbled with blues in their etchings without ever fully comprehending its vastness. She had been like any other peasant, uncomprehending of true infinity before she’d seen how the horizon met the blue line of the ocean. Her fingers continued to absently move her bread to her mouth, nibbling at the simplest of foods provided to her. Watching the sun change the water from gold to pink as it descended while warm sea air drifted up to her perch was a magical experience.

Her jaw unclenched. Her muscles relaxed. Maybe it was the sound of the waves breaking, the homeyness of the bread, or the fresh air, but tension dripped out of her as she appreciated the sun descending over the western sea. She still itched to leave her room to find her brothers and could picture them pacing their rooms, feeling the same about her. Perhaps if they had to be apart for a few short hours, a sunset over the ocean was an acceptable conciliation.

This is where she’d sit until Moirai’s attendant came to get her.