Page 1 of The Unseen Hour (The Unseen Hour Duology #1)

NEW YEAR’S EVE

T here were tales in my homeland that said the end of the year was once cause for celebration.

People would set off fireworks in the sky—beautiful flashing shades of greens, reds, and blues—to mark the occasion.

Many threw lavish parties, toasting one another at the moment one year ended and another began.

I had no idea if that was true, or merely legend, but it wasn’t how things were now.

I hurried through a near-empty alleyway, my only company the rubbish abandoned outside of local shops.

I tried to keep my steps quiet, but my boots echoed on the cobblestones underfoot.

It would have been easier if Temple’s shoes fit better, but my brother’s feet were considerably larger than my own.

Then again, it would have been easier still if I were a man and didn’t have to wear someone else’s clothes.

Then I could have gone wandering the streets without anyone questioning it, instead of having to resort to thievery and deceit.

Although, was it thievery if I fully intended to return his trousers and overcoat before he’d noticed their absence?

It was late enough that I needn’t have worried about being spotted.

I didn’t see another soul as I made my way out of the town of Fox Haven and back towards Scops Hall.

I placed one hand atop my hat, where it threatened to bounce loose from my head and send my hair tumbling.

My thick, lustrous, deep brown locks were a source of pride for the family, alongside my other features, at every gala or soiree we attended.

In my family, looks mattered. In this instance, though, they were a nuisance.

An echoing bong sounded from behind me. I knew well enough what it was.

The clock tower. The immense stone structure loomed like a monolith.

All major town squares throughout the country of Emrys had one.

What they did in the other kingdoms that made up Rayus, I did not know.

I could only assume each country had its own warning system.

The bells within our clock tower sounded all year through, but on this night, their toll changed from melodious chiming to a solid, heavy sound. A deliberate alteration so that no one could mistake its meaning.

I counted to eleven silently.

“Bollocks.”

It was a good half hour’s hard ride back to Scops, and that was after I retrieved my horse.

Perhaps leaving the grullo stallion feeding just on the outskirts of town had been a poor idea.

I hadn’t worried about his being stolen.

After all, I was the only one the animal would tolerate riding him, much to my brothers’ chagrin.

The stallion was finer than any of their horses.

Pellix and I had an understanding—I didn’t try to break his free spirit, and he helped me to retain mine.

There was also the fact that I was the only soul foolish enough to still be out at this time, on this night. Undoubtedly another deterrent for horse thieves.

“Pellix!” I hissed into the darkness as I ran past where the cobblestones ended and onto the gravel trail outside the town walls.

I was lucky the watch hadn’t barred the gates yet.

The thought hadn’t even fully formed when they both slammed shut behind me.

I’d have worried about town sentries, but I knew they pulled the gate closed from within the towers on this night, unseen by the world and unable to see anything in turn.

Pellix strode toward the road from the trees, reins dragging the ground as he continued pulling grass up by the roots.

I ran to the horse and gave him a pat across his grey neck before swinging myself over him.

I knew that if I were found out, I’d be chastised several times over.

Out late, with no chaperone, in men’s clothes, riding not only astride but with no saddle to speak of—the scandal of it would send Mother into a fainting spell.

And even if none of that fazed her, there was the problem of my timing.

If I was caught at the wrong time on this particular night, my mother’s reaction would be the least of my concerns.

But I’d had to do it. I’d been tracing my father’s steps for months, and now my suspicions were all but confirmed.

Thanks to one very unapproved visit to the most restricted shelves of the town’s library, I had found the book my father had left.

All I had to do now was read it, once I was safely away from Fox Haven and back home.

Pellix moved into a canter and I leaned into him, welcoming the wind that whipped my hair.

My brother’s hat flew off and was left in the fields.

I relished the sensation of flight as Pellix ran full speed through the night.

We made it back to the stables on my family’s estate without anyone stopping me at the entrance of the grounds.

No one stood guard on this night. I coaxed Pellix into his stall with the promise of barley and a carrot I’d snuck into my brother’s coat pocket.

Success and exhilaration thrummed through my veins. I was one step closer to uncovering the details of the tragedy that had hung over my family for years, and no one was the wiser.

After giving Pellix a final pat, I double-checked that his stall was latched shut. Animals had never been victims of the hour, but a lost horse was bad any time of the year. After reassuring myself that the stall was secure, I began to make my way out of the barn.

“Have you any idea how much trouble you are in?”

Wincing, I turned what I hoped were repentant pink eyes toward my eldest brother as he stepped out from one of the empty stalls.

Of all the rotten luck. Of my three brothers, Ambrose was the one most likely to turn me over to Mother. As the eldest, he took his role of faux-parent all too seriously. He took his title as Marquess of Scops even more seriously.

“I was merely?—”

I clamped my mouth shut as Ambrose held his palm in my face. After several seconds of silence he withdrew the hand and placed two fingers on his forehead, squeezing.

“Merely. Merely? As if whatever excuse you have is some half-measure. Some small deviance or miscalculation. Sister, you have no reason. None. To be out at this hour, tonight of all nights! Don’t you appreciate the severity of this day?

Have you any understanding of what could have happened if you were still out at midnight? ”

The question rankled me, and if it had been any other night, I’d have shot off a retort to my eldest brother.

Given the circumstances, however—he surely missed Father as much as I did.

I couldn’t hold it against him that he wanted reassurance that I understood the risk I had taken.

Of course I did. Everyone in the country knew.

This night was an unavoidable terror that all citizens were forced to live with each year, its mere existence haunting them.

If the legends were meant to be believed, the changing of years had once moved smoothly.

Midnight of December thirty-first rolled straight into January first of the following year.

But that was not how things worked in my world.

For my lifetime, and generations before me, we’d lived with one additional span of time buffering the years.

The Unseen Hour.

This night was its ninety-eighth anniversary. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t such a long time, but the curse hung over all of Emrys.

No one could speak to its cause, but all knew its cost. Anyone not in their homes, with doors and windows latched tight when the clock struck midnight at the end of the year, fell victim to its evils.

As the year ended, the world stilled. It was said that no breeze stirred the grass.

Fog filled the streets; even the stars stopped twinkling in the sky.

Any lamps not dimmed by that point were snuffed out, never to light again.

They’d had to replace a whole row of lanterns on Bailey Street once, when the dimmers had run into a delay and failed to get them all extinguished in time.

It was as if the Unseen Hour took not only lives but also the light within anything it saw.

The clocks themselves refused to move so much as a second until the fog dissipated. At that point, lights flickered on and time began to move forward again into the next year.

While we had no way of knowing how long it actually lasted, the name Unseen Hour had stuck. That cursed span of time was the one of the Taking. Any who were outside succumbed to it, cursed with a terrible fate, their lives snatched away .

Every year, the watchmen emerged from their homes before the rest of the town on January first so they could collect the bodies of any unfortunate individuals taken by the hour’s curse. Each was frozen as solid as ice, no matter the weather.

We cleared away the hour’s damage and began counting down for the next year. However long it really lasted, the Unseen Hour felt as if it stretched for eternity.

There were many theories as to the hour’s origins, but none proven.

One legend said Death had gotten greedy and had chosen to take more than his due in that one hour.

Another said it was a way for both gods, Day and Death, to keep mortals humble, aware always of their powerlessness against forces unseen.

Still others held the citizens of Emrys and the other countries of the world responsible, viewing the hour as punishment for their actions.

It didn’t matter to me what caused it. I was determined to best it—and had been ever since the Taking struck my family three years before.

Which is why I’d sneaked out into the night.

If my theory was right, then we might need to endure only one more year of the Unseen Hour without Father by our side.

Not that I was about to tell Ambrose such a thing.

He waved a finger under my nose.

“Celia! The next time you?—”

Ambrose went still, finger mid-wag, voice cutting off mid-lecture as the town clock began to sound. The clock towers of each town were carefully configured so that their tolling at the end of the year could be heard even in the most remote country manor. On this night, there was an extra warning.

It was a quarter of an hour until midnight. We were running out of time.

“Bed. Now,” Ambrose instructed, hurrying me out of the barn and into the manor house .

Once we were inside, he instructed one of the staff to secure the front doors, and then followed up the stairs after me.

I didn’t bother to argue; I didn’t even remind him, as I often did, that at twenty-four I could certainly look after myself.

No one, no matter how brave, wanted to be anywhere near the outdoors during the Unseen Hour.

I all but sprinted toward my rooms and only resented Ambrose a little bit when I heard the click signifying he’d locked me inside.

It was for my protection more than anything else.

The curtains on my windows had already been pulled shut, no doubt by a harried maid eager to finish the chore and lock herself in as well. It didn’t matter to me. I knew what was coming, even if I couldn’t see it.

Outside in the dark of night, the twelfth gong sounded.