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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

Nox didn’t blame the siblings for their dreams of running away. Rumors and wishes flitted amongst the residents of Farleigh, but she felt with some certainty that the fate of running was as bad as that of staying. More than likely, the very boys the orphans had turned into folk heroes had made it twenty steps into the forest before being torn to shreds by wolves or pulled under the earth by wicked creatures of the night. She’d sooner believe she’d find their polished skeletons than hope to see Achard and his friends gathering straw outside of a farmer’s cottage one day.

Families, merchants, and prospective buyers of all sorts were given free rein of the orphanage’s grounds on market day while children stayed within its walls. Unfamiliar faces with odd clothes and off-kilter accents wandered in and out of their rooms, examining the merchandise. Some adults would ask questions of the orphans. Some would sit a child on their lap; some would tower above, barking down with breath stinking of sour ale as they examined the young charges. Usually enough children were purchased to line Agnes’s pockets until the following solstice’s market.

“I’m going to be honest,” Amaris said quietly. “I thought market day would be more exciting.” She relaxed her back against the cool stones, enjoying her precarious seat overhanging the foyer.

“Exciting?” Nox smiled, amused. She leaned her elbows on the banister and propped her face in her chin, eyeing her friend. “I’m sorry there was no handsome prince this time around.”

“I’m not saying I want to be somebody’s wife! But the matrons made such a big deal of hiding me. Now that I’m here, I thought someone would look at me at the very least.”

Nox sighed at the very thought, looking deeply into the lilac eyes staring back at her. “Count yourself lucky, Snowflake. You made it through your first market without being dragged off to live in the belly of a ship. But we did it. We made it through the day unscathed.”

Reds and oranges glowed through the open door and the polished windows of the manor as the sun began to set, showcasing the end of spring market. Nox smiled gratefully at the sky, glad for the sign that the day had come to an end, when something caught her eye. A glossy, black carriage pulled by two chestnut horses pulled up in front of the manor. Most of the buyers had come on broken-in quarter horses with flat-bed wagons. Some of the farmers had come on foot. It was a rare sight to see a fully covered carriage at Farleigh, save for the bishop and his visits. The arrival of this dark coach and its owner was as much a source of curiosity as it was something vaguely ominous.