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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

That being said, hunting in the open air like this was nothing like the task of bringing men upstairs from the salon. When patrons entered the Selkie, they knew not only precisely why they’d come but also what rules governed their permission to stay. Her only challenge at the pleasure house had been to get the men to forget that they were at a brothel at all, convincing them to pursue her and want to win her despite where they’d met and the role in which she lived. It was a mistake many girls made in the Selkie. She knew enough from the pleasure house that no one who hoped to win a big spender could act like a sure thing. She’d learned the rules of life in a brothel enough to excel within them.

Vulnerability wrapped itself like ropes around her belly as she navigated the unfamiliar tavern. She’d assumed the pub would also be an inn and kicked herself for jumping to conclusions. Nox had realized her mistake the moment she’d crossed the threshold, but it had been too late to change course. There would be no simple slip upstairs when she was ready to seal the deal.

The Bird and the Pony was a crowded joint, lively with its own popularity. An enthusiastic fiddle player and his songstress entertained the crowd with drinking song after song, leading the men in familiar choruses. The crowd was jolly with the opportunity to join, sloshing their pints and spilling their ale as they slurred their rough, off-kilter contributions to the music. The musical pair was skilled at commanding a crowd, keeping their attentions jovial and the spirits high. The bar itself was crowded to the gills with a particular brand of rough, militant men and the maidens who were either supplied by the establishment or the young women of Aubade drawn to the masculine exterior of such brutish energy. Everyone had their motives, and as long as everyone in the bar was mutually benefiting, it seemed like a perfectly lovely place. This was only Nox’s second time hunting on unfamiliar soil, and her first experience in Yelagin had gone disastrously. Hunting was an art, and beyond the walls of the Selkie, she was a painter without a brush.

There was no reason to be nervous, she told herself. This was her game.

Nox eyed an open spot along the main bar, far from the tables of men and their swooning women. She draped her cloak over her arm, allowing her bare back to be seen by the patrons as she maneuvered through the pub. Nox arched her spine slightly, ensuring that she was the picture of feminine beauty.