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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

It would have been difficult to understand what she was seeing in the sheer light of day even under the high-noon sun. By moonlight, it was damn near impossible. Just across the bridge, a few small lights seemed to have embedded themselves into the mountain itself, as if a few orange fragments of starlight had chipped from the heavens and landed on the side of a mountain.

Amaris strained her eyes as they shifted into focus. The orange flickers of light illuminated rectangles—candlelight in windows, she realized. Something rounded and smooth like columns or pillars loomed up ahead. A deeper, darker gloom seemed to cast an arch above the triangular roof of the structure, space between its ceilings and the rock above. She was staring at a fortress. This was no fortress built on a mountain but into it. Carved within the very cliff itself was an entire castle.

“It’s in the mountain,” she breathed.

She could see Odrin’s appreciative nod as he answered, “I told you—if you were bothered by Stone, this might not be the place for you.”

When her muscles had ached, she’d wanted her travels to end. When her feet had rubbed themselves raw within her leather shoes, she’d silently pleaded with the goddess to allow her to stop walking. Now that they’d arrived, she would have traded anything for another twelve hours to prepare for what she might face. She followed Odrin wordlessly, refusing to look down at the nauseatingly steep drop on either side. They crossed the final length of the bridge, leaving the dizzying valley below as they reached the last remaining steps of their journey. The bridge came to an end at a great door. Her heart thundered in a way that informed her she’d never be ready, no matter how long she delayed. The time had come. The door before her was made not of stone or wood but of iron.

Odrin banged on it a few times. Turning back to her, he broke his long traveler’s silence.

“Welcome to Uaimh Reev.”

Sixteen

In theory, the next few days should have been tumultuous, nerve-racking, and terrifying. In practice, they were exceptionally dull.

The fortress of Uaimh Reev was in an uproar over Amaris’s arrival—or so she’d been told. As a result, she’d been sequestered in solitary quarters until the reevers decided what to do with her. She wasn’t a prisoner, as she was free to wander back the mountain and return to the villages below should she please. That said, she’d been strongly advised to stay put if she hoped to win any favor.