Queen of the Night (The Revanche Cycle Book 4)

Queen of the Night

The Revanche Cycle, Book Four

by Craig Schaefer

Copyright © 2016 by Craig Schaefer.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

Cover Design by James T. Egan of Bookfly Design LLC.

Author Photo ©2014 by Karen Forsythe Photography

Craig Schaefer / Queen of the Night — 1st ed.

ISBN 978-1-944806-02-6

CONTENTS

• The Revanche Cycle
  

• Chapter One
  

• Chapter Two
  

• Chapter Three
  

• Chapter Four
  

• Chapter Five
  

• Chapter Six
  

• Chapter Seven
  

• Chapter Eight
  

• Chapter Nine
  

• Chapter Ten
  

• Chapter Eleven
  

• Chapter Twelve
  

• Chapter Thirteen
  

• Chapter Fourteen
  

• Chapter Fifteen
  

• Chapter Sixteen
  

• Chapter Seventeen
  

• Chapter Eighteen
  

• Chapter Nineteen
  

• Chapter Twenty
  

• Chapter Twenty-One
  

• Chapter Twenty-Two
  

• Chapter Twenty-Three
  

• Chapter Twenty-Four
  

• Chapter Twenty-Five
  

• Chapter Twenty-Six
  

• Chapter Twenty-Seven
  

• Chapter Twenty-Eight
  

• Chapter Twenty-Nine
  

• Chapter Thirty
  

• Chapter Thirty-One
  

• Chapter Thirty-Two
  

• Chapter Thirty-Three
  

• Chapter Thirty-Four
  

• Chapter Thirty-Five
  

• Chapter Thirty-Six
  

• Chapter Thirty-Seven
  

• Chapter Thirty-Eight
  

• Chapter Thirty-Nine
  

• Chapter Forty
  

• Chapter Forty-One
  

• Chapter Forty-Two
  

• Chapter Forty-Three
  

• Chapter Forty-Four
  

• Chapter Forty-Five
  

• Chapter Forty-Six
  

• Twenty Years Later
  

• Chapter Forty-Seven
  

• Chapter Forty-Eight
  

• Chapter Forty-Nine
  

• Chapter Fifty
  

• Chapter Fifty-One
  

• Afterword
  

The Revanche Cycle

1.
Winter’s Reach

2.
The Instruments of Control

3.
Terms of Surrender

4. Queen of the Night

CHAPTER ONE

The night before landfall, Amadeo Lagorio dreamed of dying.

At first, it was like any of a hundred other dreams of the Alms District, reliving his memory of that terrible night. The fires, the screams, smoke billowing into the starry night sky. The feral howls and laughter of the Dustmen as the mercenaries slaughtered their way from house to house. The old priest glanced down, watching a trickle of hot blood wind its way between cobblestones to pool at his slippered feet.

Then he looked up and saw the axman. A killer with a hyena’s leering grin, hefting a gore-streaked blade.

Firelight glinted off the ax’s steel as it swung, cleaving Amadeo’s robes, slicing into his chest. He felt skin tear, ribs shatter, but there was no pain. Only a spreading icy chill as he fell. He landed on his back, staring up at the smoke and the moon. Winter in his veins.