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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 puckered her lip and cocked a brow in appreciation. She was impressed with her own handiwork, as he did not sound quite like the opium-drugged lovers who often left her chambers once entranced. His tone held almost enough authority to pass as competent. She had told him, under no uncertain terms, that she wanted to know everything he knew from this moment forward. This was more than likely why he was obediently asking follow-up questions of the agitated servant.

The servant squirmed slightly from where he stood in the doorway before approaching Captain Eramus and whispering in his ear, presumably to discuss matters of utmost secrecy out of the earshot of whatever lady friend the captain had been entertaining. It was clear from the discomfort of the servant’s flickering eyes that he had noticed the captain’s bulge. It took a few moments for the message to be relayed before he backed away, offered a quick bow, and took off down the hall.

“So,” Nox asked calmly, “what takes us to your arena?”

* * *

Amaris opened her eyes. At least, she tried. One of her lids seemed impossibly heavy, perhaps swollen from the blow she’d taken to the face as a thick memory of a sword’s pommel had connected to her skull. Discomfort pulsed through her entire being. She remained disoriented while her eyes slowly widened to take in her surroundings. Her head throbbed. Her shoulders ached. She absorbed every sickening sensation of lying facedown on a cold, filthy floor. Still unmoving, she took a moment to orient herself before she realized that her face was pressed into the dirt and stone of the ground. As she breathed in through her nose, the odors of unwashed bodies, mold, animal musk, and waste assaulted her.

She had failed.

She had barely awoken, yet she already knew with definitive certainty that when her abilities had been required of her, she had been useless. Amaris made a motion to push herself up into a seated position but found herself unable. Hands restrained behind her back, she knew there’d be no escaping her tight bindings. She swallowed, but her tongue connected with an obstacle. A thick band of fabric was gagging her, disabling her ability for speech. Her mouth filled with saliva around the foreign object as if her body willed her to swallow the obstruction away. Despite the desperation of her situation, some part of her accepted the act. She supposed if someone tried to use powers of persuasion on her, she’d also have them gagged and rendered speechless. If she’d truly been suspected of persuasion, perhaps she was fortunate that her tongue had not been cut from her mouth.