Chapters (64)
- Front Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Pronunciation Guide
- Prologue
- Part One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Part Two
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Part Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Part Four
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Epilogue
- Excerpt from The Sun and Its Shade
- The Night and Its Moon Playlist
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Back Cover
The captain continued swinging his sword hand from where it remained outstretched as if, even as he died in the monster’s mouth, he was still consumed with the singular need to cut. The ag’drurath focused its efforts on swallowing, several disgusting, wet crunches of steel and bone and gore echoing through the coliseum as it focused on its bloody, metallic meal. The serpent struggled to swallow him, leaving the man lodged in its mouth. As the armored soldier went lifeless, his sword clattered to the ground, kicking up a cloud of sand around it with its earthbound thud.
Immediately, the demonic beast already began to show signs of whitish tendrils knitting together. Unwilling to let this wound heal as had the others, Amaris ran for the back leg to continue what the captain had started. The simple sword left by the queen had been a ploy. The blade had been intended to either behead the northern fae or reveal the reevers as traitors to the crown. Moirai’s sword would be the very weapon she would use to mutilate the dragon’s leg and free it from its shackle.
Exhaustion throbbed through her with every strike, but Amaris rallied her adrenaline and pushed past the fatigue. She called on her years of fortitude, ignoring the tremble in her arms as she battled tendon, muscle, bone, fiber, and the constantly reknitting, wicked tendrils that crept up through her hacks. She swung the sword in a butchering arc while Gadriel found his feet and sprinted for the captain’s fallen weapon.
“Help me!” she cried out to him, but Gadriel didn’t need the encouragement. He knew exactly what they were doing.
The audience in the coliseum felt the shift as the tide turned against their draconic champion. Ripples of the audience’s confusion and fear splashed through the coliseum, joining the sound of Amaris and her fae counterpart as they hacked and battered the beast, using every second that its attention was on its meal as an opportunity to land their blows.
Through the All Mother’s blessed distraction, the ag’drurath continued to choke in its attempt to swallow the captain. It was too busy asphyxiating on the captain to turn toward the pain shooting through its leg.
The ag’drurath gagged, then spat, discarding the armored body without consuming it.