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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

She passed it off to him, and even in their moments of peril, he managed sarcasm. “Perfect. I was just thinking if only I had a throwing knife—”

Another demonic shriek cut off any chance at a smart-ass rebuttal.

This was why the walls were so high. How long had this demon been enslaved by the royal family? The snake was covered in the scars, lashings and wounds speaking of abuses that spanned decades, if not centuries. The horrid monster had been carved and mutilated from its eyes and legs to its wings and tail. Odrin had once told her that if she ever came across this beast, she should say her final prayers to the All Mother. Amaris knew one and only one thing of the ag’drurath: they could not be killed.

Staying still would not serve them. Amaris may not have had the luxury of training with Gadriel before this moment, but they had the shorthand of warriors. The two sprinted for the far end of the arena as the quadrupedal serpent galloped for the center of the stadium, lurching backward against the night-dark well of its dungeon as its right hind leg caught on an iron manacle, the clamp and chains thicker and heavier than any work of rock or metalsmithing Amaris could have fathomed. Remaining pressed against the far wall offered them no safety, for the remaining distance could be closed by the black snake’s neck. Its neck alone was the equivalent length of its body, and that was before one even considered the monstrous tail it possessed. The creature beat its wings again, nearly sending the pair off their feet with its hurricane force. The enormous dragon was a worm, serpent, demon, and monster all at once. Its shrieks were the legions of the undead, its teeth the thing of nightmares. Amaris couldn’t look at it for too long or she’d lose her resolve. It may as well have been a large horse. A horse with millions of needlelike teeth. And wings. And one that knew no death.

“What do we do?” Gadriel asked, bracing himself against the gust. He was a general. He gave commands, not asked them—yet reevers were known for their studies of beasts and magic. If anyone would have an inkling of hope against one of the continent’s demons, it would be a reever. So few of the draconic beasts existed that Amaris’s only instructions had been, should she come upon one, to say her parting prayers to the goddess.

Yes, she was the reever. Still, incredulity surged through her. Gadriel was a leader. She should be asking him for battle plans. Yet whatever had led him to trust that it would be for the good of the continent if she killed him emboldened him to ask her now.

“We buy time,” she grunted before abandoning him.