BooksBarbecue
Back The Night and Its Moon Save as PDF
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

“Don’t fall asleep now, Captain. Stay with me. I have something to tell you. You see, sometimes I feel bad about who I am and what I do. It’s true! Can you believe it? Occasionally, I get all tangled up in things like morality…but then I meet men like you and I remember exactly why I don’t need to feel anything about what I do. Justice can be a cruel mistress, can’t it, Captain?”

He breathed again, and she knew with a wicked delight that he’d given up all hope. His sounds weren’t those of a plea. They weren’t even noises of pain. Had he already resigned? How disappointing. She continued to allow him the twinkle of consciousness he needed to stay himself for a moment longer. Somehow, she felt quite sure this was not cruelty. She was no more evil for this than she had been for discovering her heritage in the first place. In fact, if she had to ask the ghosts of the women who’d been lost to this room or their families, she’d be considered an avenging angel.

She kicked him again. “Stay awake, soldier. In a bit, I’ll put you in a daze. Trust me, you’ll love it. But the thing is, I don’t quite feel like you deserve to love anything just yet. I just want to make sure you’re still you for the next few minutes. You’ll get to live for a few more days while I see how you might atone for your sins—and trust me, you will atone. For that reason, I think I’ll leave your limbs on for now.” She ran her fingers along the eight-tailed whip, enjoying the luxury of its sadistic leather against her skin. She smiled as she asked, “We shouldn’t waste any time. We have a long night ahead of us before your daze begins. Is that all right with you?”

Nox would never doubt herself again. Instincts were meant to keep her alive. Telling herself she had been wrong for feeling nervous, convincing herself that she had been crazy for her worry had almost gotten her killed. She’d protect and honor those intuitions until the end of her days, never again allowing the past and its horrors to guide the instincts of her present. For now, she’d enjoy the end of his days.

Forty-One

The image of a horse was still in her mind as Amaris pictured Castle Aubade’s architecture. From the outside of the castle, Amaris had assumed its snout to be roughly five stories high, and now she understood the reason for its height. The horse’s nose belonged to the throne room.