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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

“Yes.” Nox pulled her back into the hug, and Amaris folded herself in once more. Nox felt the sting of tears and knew she was about to cry. She did what she’d always done and shielded Amaris from the darkness and unpleasantness of the world. Nox murmured, “For now, you are. Right now, that’s all that matters.”

“I don’t want to do this without you,” Amaris said quietly against the skin of her neck.

“You have me,” she promised.

“It hurts.”

“What hurts?” Nox asked.

“Everything. It’s all so much harder than I could have imagined. I know we thought Farleigh was bad, but at least there, we had each other. But out here…”

Nox’s heart cracked at the speech, knowing her subconscious supplied her with what she wanted to hear. She was confident this couldn’t be real, but goddess, she wanted it to be.

“You didn’t die. I know you’re alive. Wherever you are, you’re alive.”

“How do you know?”

“I would feel it,” she whispered.

“I am,” Amaris said with low, sleepy certainty.

“You are what?”

“I’m okay. I survived.”

How wicked was she to conjure a healthy, loving Amaris when, for all she knew, the girl had tumbled to the jagged cliffs and lay comatose after falling from the back of a dragon? She wished it were true. All Nox had wanted was to keep her safe. She’d done all she could to help the snowflake, too small, too delicate for the cruelties of the world as she’d been dragged into the coliseum. Had it been enough?

But…Amaris hadn’t been fragile. She hadn’t been powerless or defenseless. She was nothing like the snowflake Nox had known and loved in Farleigh. She had been capable and quick and strong. She’d been agile and brave. She was someone Nox didn’t know. Not anymore.

And so Nox had used her gifts and curses. She’d sent the guard to his death to face the ag’drurath. She’d picked the locks and unshackled the jailed reevers. She had fled the castle with a human and faeling in tow. She had watched the blackened shape of the winged serpent dart against the horizon as Amaris clung to its spine.

“You don’t know how badly I wish this were real.” It was so soft, she could barely hear her own voice.

She wasn’t meant to feel this way, not unless this was a nightmare. Not now, not while she slept. Dreams weren’t for remembering. Dreams were intended for rest, for fantasy, for freedom.