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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

Amaris looked back one last time and said a prayer that Nox had made it safely to the forest, hoping she was well on her way to the coast to start a new life. She prayed that the All Mother would bless their journeys and that the goddess’s will would reunite them soon.

Twelve

Amaris didn’t know what to do with her hands.

She had never been alone with a man, let alone touched one. Now she was supposed to wrap her arms around a stranger as their horse plodded onward. She was quite sure that she was only seated behind him since he’d already been in the saddle when she’d been swung to her rescue, and she wasn’t sure if that made things more or less uncomfortable between them. It required her to use entirely too much muscle power in her thighs as she clutched the horse. Too many thoughts clashed against each other like mismatched music, angry sounds, and the counter-harmonies of voices. She couldn’t make sense of the thoughts that overlapped so ignored them all entirely, focusing instead on the autumnal breeze that dried her blood against her shirt and skin.

She studied what she could of the strange man. He was broader than two bishops side by side. His hardened leathers were covered in the sorts of nicks and scratches that informed her they’d done their protective job quite well. His slicked-back hair hung just above his shoulders, revealing a slim band of age-weathered leather—something that may have been a necklace—on his otherwise unadorned features. She wasn’t sure what to make of him. She didn’t know how to talk to him, or even if she wanted to.

Morning gave way to a quiet, awkward afternoon before they finally dismounted for mealtime. The man tethered the dapple-gray horse to a tree and set to work building a fire. He allowed Amaris to sit silently in her blood and thoughts, numb from the events of the day. Soon, she was staring mutely into the campfire that crackled between them. Though it was still afternoon, the fire’s glow felt nice against the crisp bite of autumn. Amaris stared into the flames, watching them twist and pop and dance in a mesmerizing tangle of reds, oranges, yellows, and blues. The sparks and embers helped her mind to detach fully, lost to her silence. The smell of smoke, the dying leaves, and the chill of oncoming winter would have been pleasant under any other occasion. An owl sounded from the trees, though she thought it too early in the afternoon for the great, nocturnal bird to hoot.

She raised her eyes to the trees to search for it, though she wasn’t sure why. She didn’t care about the owl, or the temperature, or the fire. Her world had unraveled, and she had no idea what to do.