Reign of Shadows (21 page)
Authors: Sophie Jordan
I shook my head, bewildered. “No, no, Iâ”
“Say you understand,” he cut in, his voice hard, allowing for nothing else but my agreement.
“Yes. Yes.”
“Hold yourself silent and still. No matter what happens. Be quiet. Stay in the tree. Let them think there's nothing more up here for them.”
“Fowler?” I angled my head. “What do you meanâ”
He kissed me so hard that our teeth clanged, but I didn't care. I only felt the hot press of his mouth and his strong fingers diving into my hair, holding me for him. He lifted up his head at the same time he released my face. “I love you, Luna.”
My chest clenched as his arms loosened around me. He sucked in a sharp breath. My mouth worked, searching for a response as his words reverberated through me.
His palms rasped the rough bark as he shoved off the branch. It sprang higher with the sudden loss of his weight and I tightened my grip to stop myself from falling even as I stretched my other hand out for him, groping air wildly.
Thud.
Dwellers went wild under me, snarling, clawing each other for a piece of him. I opened my mouth on a silent scream, but Fowler's words held me in check. I would do what he asked of me.
His sacrifice couldn't be of no value.
I listened hard for him. I heard several of his grunts over the dwellers' din, but he didn't scream. I had to hope he wasn't being torn apart. Who could hold silent during that?
Hot tears streamed down my face, but I held quiet, choking on sobs, drowning in the sound of the savage thrashing below. I grasped my branch with aching, bloodless fingers, desperate for the sound of him. A cry. A single word. I needed to hear him. I needed something to tell me that he was fighting them off, getting away, escaping like he had always managed to do before.
Only nothing ever came.
Gradually, the noise stopped. My ears strained, but I could not even detect the dwellers' telltale breathing. I sniffed, searching for the coppery-sweet scent of freshly spilled blood. Nothing. Silence hummed, floating in the loam-laden air, and I knew they were gone. They had gone underground and taken Fowler with them. I held still for several moments longer, my heart racing, my thoughts churning. It couldn't end like this. Fowler could not end like this.
Calm swept over me. Suddenly I knew what to do.
Unsheathing my dagger and pressing a palm flat to the tree's trunk, I gathered my nerve, inhaled several quick breaths, and dropped down from the tree. I struck the sodden ground on my knees. Mud splattered me in the face, sticking thick in my eyelashes. I wiped at my eyes with the back of one hand.
An eerie quiet surrounded me. I moved quickly, frantically, covering a wide area, distaste coating my mouth as I patted the
surrounding ground for remains of Fowler. As I suspected, they took him. They had all gone back below with their quarry. He could still be aliveâfor a little while anyway.
I continued crawling, hurrying until I found where the ground was the softest. Not even ground anymore, but more like a pool of mud. This was where so many of the dwellers had emerged.
I flexed my hand around the hilt of my dagger, sucked in the deepest breath my lungs could hold, and dove headfirst.
Into the abyss.
Beginning a new bookâa new seriesâis always nerve-racking. It's like a first date. You're excited and nervous and have no idea at all if it's going to live up to all the hype in your mind. Such is the angst of writing. From that first kernel of an idea to typing “The End,” it's a roller coaster of emotions. Thank you to my family and friends for hanging on (as always) as I take that ride.
The world of
Reign of Shadows
would never have happened without a long-ago conversation with my agent in which I shared a crazy-pants premise that would become this book. Thanks, Maura, for being so succinct and ardent in your instructions to “just do it . . . go write that book.” Also, thank you to Jennifer Klonsky and HarperTeen, who so quickly jumped onboard; and to my editor, Emilia Rhodes, for pushing me to go deeper and encouraged grossness (yes, I'm looking at you, bat fever)! Your enthusiasm and attention to detail helped me bring this book the final stretch home. Gina Rizzo, you do wonders for my ego and your support goes above and beyond. Thank you to all my writer friends who supported and plotted with me throughout
Reign of Shadows
(hoping I don't leave anyone out!!): Sarah MacLean, Carrie Ryan, Tera Lynn Childs, Shana Galen, Jennifer Armentrout, and Victoria Scott (Tori, where would I be without the scary-as-hell pictures of the star-nosed mole you sent me?).
And to my dear readers, I hope you enjoyed Luna and Fowler. I can't wait for you to see what happens next!
DISCOVER
MEET
WIN
SHARE
infographics, playlists, quizzes, and more
WATCH
TUNE IN
to Tea Time with Team Epic Reads
Photo credit Country Park Portraits
SOPHIE JORDAN
grew up on a pecan farm in the Texas hill country, where she wove fantasies of dragons, warriors, and princesses. A former high school English teacher, she's also the
New York Times
bestselling author of Avon historical romances and the Firelight series. She now lives in Houston with her family. When she's not writing, she spends her time overloading on caffeine (lattes and Diet cherry Coke preferred), talking plotlines with anyone who will listen (including her kids), and cramming her DVR with true-crime and reality-TV shows. You can visit her online at
www.sophiejordan.net
.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at
hc.com
.
The Firelight Series
Cover photography © 2016 by Christine Blackburne/Merge Left Reps
Cover photography styled by Sarah Guido Laakso
Cover design by Michelle Taormina
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
REIGN OF SHADOWS.
Copyright © 2016 by Sharie Kohler. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015939000
ISBN 978-0-06-237764-7 (trade bdg.)
EPub Edition © January 2016 ISBN 9780062377661
15Â Â 16Â Â 17Â Â 18Â Â 19Â Â Â Â
CG/RRDH
    10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1
FIRST EDITION
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON M4W 1A8, Canada
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
Auckland, New Zealand
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF, UK
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007