Jay Kristoff - Darkdawn

THE NEVERNIGHT CHRONICLE BOOK III

Harper Voyager

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2019

Copyright © Neverafter PTY LTD 2019

Maps by Virginia Allyn

Cover illustration © Kerby Rosanes

Other cover images © Shutterstock.com(sun textures)

Cover design by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019

Jay Kristoff asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, 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 hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008180119

Ebook Edition © July 2019 ISBN: 9780008180102

Version: 2020-05-01

for my readers

I couldn’t have done it without you, either

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Maps

Well, here we …

Dramatis Personae

Epigraph

Book 1: The Dark Within

Chapter 1: Brother

Chapter 2: Boneyards

Chapter 3: Ember

Chapter 4: Gift

Chapter 5: Epiphanies

Chapter 6: Imperator

Chapter 7: Be

Chapter 8: Scoundrel

Chapter 9: Slumber

Book 2: Dying Light

Chapter 10: Infidelity

Chapter 11: Incendiary

Chapter 12: Veritas

Chapter 13: Conspiracy

Chapter 14: Reunions

Chapter 15: Finesse

Chapter 16: Tempest

Chapter 17: Departures

Chapter 18: Tales

Chapter 19: Quiet

Book 3: A House of Wolves

Chapter 20: Sunder

Chapter 21: Amai

Chapter 22: Vipers

Chapter 23: War

Chapter 24: Majesty

Chapter 25: Heritance

Chapter 26: Promises

Chapter 27: Feed

Chapter 28: Hatred

Chapter 29: Standing

Book 4: The Ashes of Empires

Chapter 30: Could

Chapter 31: Was

Chapter 32: Is

Chapter 33: Wellspring

Chapter 34: Ribbons

Chapter 35: Ashes

Chapter 36: Baptism

Chapter 37: Away

Chapter 38: Momentum

Chapter 39: Fathomless

Book 5: She Wore the Night

Chapter 40: Fate

Chapter 41: Anything

Chapter 42: Carnivalé

Chapter 43: Crimson

Chapter 44: Daughter

Chapter 45: Lover

Chapter 46: Father

Chapter 47: All

Chapter 48: Tithe

Chapter 49: Silence

Chapter 50: Silver

Dicta Ultima

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Also by Jay Kristoff

About the Publisher

Well, here we are again, gentlefriend.

I think perhaps an apology is in order. Both for the conclusion of the second part of Mia’s tale, and for the state I left you in afterwards. You seemed quite upset. Be assured there will be no cliff-hangers in this, our final dance together. As promised, her birth you’ve witnessed, her life you’ve lived. All that remains is her death.

But before the smut and butchery begin in earnest, allow me one final refresher for those with memories as reliable as your narrator. And then we can get on with killing our murderous little bitch, yes?

Mia Corvere– assassin of the Red Church, gladiatii of the Falcons of Remus, and now the most infamous murderer in the Itreyan Republic. The child of a failed rebellion, Mia has spent the last eight years of her life pursuing a murderous vendetta against the men who destroyed her familia.

After discovering the Red Church had a hand in her father’s murder, Mia broke ranks with the assassins and sold herself to a gladiatii stable. Upon winning the grand games of Godsgrave, Mia made several stunning discoveries in quick succession:

Her baby brother, Jonnen, whom she presumed dead, had been stolen by her mortal enemy, Consul Julius Scaeva, and raised as his son.

Jonnen actually is Scaeva’s son. Meaning Mia’s mother, Alinne, was sleeping with the man who would eventually oversee her husband’s murder and her own death in the Philosopher’s Stone.

Like Mia, Jonnen is darkin, possessed of the ability to control shadows.

At the conclusion of the grand games, Mia assassinated Grand Cardinal Francesco Duomo. She also apparently murdered Scaeva and stole back her brother before falling to her almost-certain death in a flooded arena full of stormdrakes.

… Maw’s teeth, that really was a thrilling finale, wasn’t it?

Mister Kindly– Mia’s companion since childhood, Mister Kindly is – depending on who you ask – a daemon, passenger, or familiar, with the ability to eat people’s fear. He is made of shadows and sarcasm. Despite his acerbic wit, he obviously has a deep and abiding fondness for Mia. Just don’t let him hear you say that.

He wears the shape of a cat, though like most things about him, his appearance is not entirely genuine.

Eclipse– another shadow daemon, Eclipse was passenger to Cassius, former Lord of Blades in the Red Church. She bound herself to Mia when Cassius died.

Eclipse wears the shape of a wolf, and she and Mister Kindly get along about as well as most cats and dogs do.

Ashlinn Järnheim– a former Red Church acolyte of Vaanian blood. Ashlinn betrayed the Ministry to avenge her father, Torvar, and almost brought the Red Church to its knees. After Mia foiled her plot, Ashlinn fell into the service of Cardinal Duomo, who tasked her to retrieve a map to an undisclosed location in Old Ashkah – a map of some vital import to the Red Church. Fearing betrayal, Ashlinn had the map scribed on her back with arkemical ink, which will fade in the event of her death.