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
She ignored him, stroking the horse’s nose as she asked, “What shall we call you and your gray dots, my friend?”
“I had a dog named Cobb growing up,” Odrin said. “He was a rambunctious little mongrel. After he died, I named the stray cat near our house Cobb too. I think it’s a good name for a beast.”
“Are you serious?”
Odrin mounted the horse and swung Amaris up with his scarred hand, giving his steed a small kick. He urged, “Come on, Cobb.”
And so Amaris, Odrin, and Cobb plodded straight for the face of the mountain.
Fifteen
Amaris recalled wearing a patient though somewhat patronizing face as she’d stood in the kitchen, listening to the sweet but naive Matron Mable describe the league of guardians who lived in the mountains just beyond her village. As Amaris drew nearer and nearer to the cliff, the All Mother’s divine humor had her choking on the memory of the condescending look she’d given to the friendly matron. With Mable’s words in mind, Amaris anticipated the open maw of a cave. She braced herself against the inevitability of being swallowed by the dark, horrible cavern. She silently chanted that she was no coward. Whether or not she believed the repetitious voice in her head was irrelevant.
They were only two hours from Stone before the last lights of the day faded to the slate and lavender glooms of dusk. The moon was already out, despite the day clinging to the purple light after sunset. Its nearly full, metallic light began to wash the space ahead of them. While she’d been afraid to lose the sun, every retreating moment of daylight allowed the moon to show Amaris what it could truly do.
Odrin, Amaris, and Cobb rounded corner after corner, following the foot of the mountain. Cobb carried them forward at a leisurely pace, hugging the base of the cliff until a thin trail began to rise. The narrow path was nearly imperceptible until they were upon it. The jagged trail switched back and forth as they climbed. When it became particularly tight, Odrin pulled back on the reins and had the two of them dismount. He led the way, handing the reins to Amaris. Odrin said that, while he trusted that most beasts would be sure-footed enough to find their purchase on the rocks, he didn’t want to risk it after sunset.
She wasn’t sure why. The air seemed every bit as resplendent as it might have in the full light of day. Now that the sun was a long-forgotten memory, the moon reveled in its chance to truly shine in its brightly waxing state. Its metallic beams glinted off the rock in ways Amaris had never imagined. The cliff reflected the pearly light, illuminating everything around them, giving the very air a shimmery, iridescent quality.
She wished sightseeing were all that was expected of her.