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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

“Be good now, okay?” Emily said with gentleness. “You listen. You mind your manners,” she continued. She kissed the young girl on the head, muttering the love into her pale reddish hair. “You’ll go to a good home someday. I’ll write to you when I get the chance. I love you.” She scanned her sibling’s face, waiting for a nod in acknowledgment. She kissed her again. “I’ll always love you.”

The energy shifted as Nox’s eyes left the sisters and saw that Madame Millicent had turned in response to the commotion. Her peacock eyes froze as she spotted something far more interesting than the grief of a shattered family. Millicent ignored the display of affection unfolding beside her.

On the floor above, just out of Matron Agnes’s eyesight, Nox and Amaris were still glued to the balcony, watching.

Nox’s hand slipped to Amaris, grabbing her wrist as if to tug her away. Amaris looked at her with quizzical brows.

Millicent did a full-faced turn, no longer interested in departure. She gestured. “And what have we here?”

Agnes shifted her body to follow the jeweled woman’s gaze. A lifetime of emotions flashed in the Gray Matron’s face as she landed on exactly what it was that had caught Millicent’s eye, from surprise to anger to opportunity. Agnes cleared her throat.

“Yes, yes, Madame. I have several beauties still kept in the younger girls’ quarters, as neither of them has bled.”

Nox swallowed at the words. Agnes was talking about them.

The matron’s assertion wasn’t entirely true. Nox had had her first blood several years prior. She wasn’t sure why Agnes would lie for her. She was confident that it wasn’t believable to anyone that she was not yet a young woman, but the lie hung between them, as the Madame’s true query was the white-haired girl.

Nox’s eyes brimmed with tears as she looked at Amaris, understanding precisely what was coming next.

The peacock took one step forward, then another, sight locked onto the girls.

Six

Amaris froze. Spring had shifted into the deepest, coldest day of winter within her. Nox’s eyes were as wide as teacups, pain and panic clear on her face as she continued to clutch Amaris’s wrist with bruising strength. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen Nox cry, but the water rimming her eyes was as prominent as a warning bell.

Amaris wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go. The Gray Matron and the Madame had not only seen her but were coming for her.

Millicent used two fingers of her gloved hand to motion for the head matron to stand behind her. She led the way, high heels clacking on the stone stairway. A cloud of vanilla preceded her arrival. The heavy perfume wafted up the stairs, choking Amaris. Millicent stopped in front of the girls and stared with cool calculation.