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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

Nox avoided the men’s eyes entirely, choosing to play coy. She knew precisely who had seen her when she walked in and whose eyes were on her as she took her seat across the room. Men liked to think something was their idea, after all. This reliable method was the very technique that had gotten the Duke of Henares and countless others to the Selkie. Nox lifted a finger and ordered herself a glass of red wine, though the lifted finger had been unnecessary. The bartender had noticed the unfamiliar face the moment she’d entered.

She made a show of scanning the bar, pointedly ignoring the soldiers bearing the queen’s crest. The men, their armor, their weapons, their sigils were meaningless to her. She was no clout chaser, interested in titles or the authority that might entice one to seduce those within the court. Instead, she looked past the guardsmen, feigning mild interest in a tawny young man of barely eighteen far across the tavern. He’d noticed her immediately and practically spat up his beer. She did feel a bit sorry for the heart attack it appeared to have given the boy as he choked, sputtering ale onto the table. Hopefully, this boy and the collateral damage of his emotional confusion would be the final pawn she played before stronger moves were required of her.

Nox knew more than enough of timing and the role it played in seduction.

If the fiddle player and his songstress were beginning a new song now, she estimated it would take until the second chorus for the captain to approach her. All she had to do was graze her eyes over his, touching them briefly to extend an invitation, and he’d be on his feet in a moment.

She was ready. It was time to put her next piece into play.

The song lifted, rising in the notes of its first tawdry chorus. Nox began her scan, knowing very well that Eramus, along with more than one of his men, was looking in her direction. With an idle disinterest, she allowed their eyes to meet. Nox held the captain’s gaze for the briefest of moments, and then she continued her scan with indifference. The bartender caught her eye with something of a knowing chuckle. He recognized her ploy. Good bartenders made their living off reading people, she supposed. If the other girls at the Selkie were to be believed, Eramus was a known hunter. Perhaps it was refreshing for the bartender to see the captain be the prey.