# Nocturnals

> Five interconnected dark romances by A. M. Vespertine, set in the Long Dusk — a world where the sun is not dying of age but being paid out. Sold direct from the imprint: paperbacks, DRM-free EPUBs, and unabridged audiobooks. Buy all five in print and every ebook and audiobook comes with them.

Each of the first four volumes is a complete romance with its own couple and a happy-for-now ending; a second story runs underneath all five and is settled in Book Five. Every volume is sexually explicit and for adults only. British English. Reading order is 1 to 5.

## The books

- [The Tithe](https://www.nocturnals.store/volumes/01-the-tithe.html): A Dark Vampire Romance, Book 1. She took her sister’s place in the Drawing. The lord of the dusk house was not supposed to want her. He was not supposed to ask.
- [The Hunt](https://www.nocturnals.store/volumes/02-the-hunt.html): A Dark Shifter Romance, Book 2. She came to count the border. The alpha of Greywater would not let her file what she found.
- [The Last Light](https://www.nocturnals.store/volumes/03-the-last-light.html): A Dark Fantasy Romance, Book 3. She went south to measure a reserve. The Queen of Solmere had been holding one note for a hundred and eleven years, and had never once been looked at.
- [The Sleep](https://www.nocturnals.store/volumes/04-the-sleep.html): A Dark Romantic Fantasy, Book 4. Something has been standing in Elise Vess’s sleep since she was eleven. It has never been given a name that would hold.
- [The Long Dawn](https://www.nocturnals.store/volumes/05-the-long-dawn.html): A Dark Fantasy Romance, Book 5. The debt that made this world is coming to the house. It has an appointment. It has never been paid in the currency it agreed.

## Free to read

- [The Tithe: Chapter One — The Drawing](https://www.nocturnals.store/volumes/01-the-tithe.html#read): the opening chapter in full, 3,593 words, no sign-up.
- [The Hunt: Chapter One — The Appointment](https://www.nocturnals.store/volumes/02-the-hunt.html#read): the opening chapter in full, 2,375 words, no sign-up.
- [The Last Light: Chapter One — The Cellar](https://www.nocturnals.store/volumes/03-the-last-light.html#read): the opening chapter in full, 2,663 words, no sign-up.
- [The Sleep: Chapter One — Provenance](https://www.nocturnals.store/volumes/04-the-sleep.html#read): the opening chapter in full, 1,788 words, no sign-up.
- [The Long Dawn: Chapter One — The House](https://www.nocturnals.store/volumes/05-the-long-dawn.html#read): the opening chapter in full, 2,936 words, no sign-up.

## Reference

- [What is on the page](https://www.nocturnals.store/on-the-page.html): every volume's instrument, register and content warnings in one table, and the consent rules behind them.
- [The lexicon of the Long Dusk](https://www.nocturnals.store/the-long-dusk.html): the world's terms, written to spoil nothing.
- [The houses of the Long Dusk](https://www.nocturnals.store/the-houses.html): the five houses and the people who hold them, each described only as far as their own book opens.
- [How the world works](https://www.nocturnals.store/the-long-dusk.html#how-it-works): the six rules the setting runs on, each with a drawing, and a table of what every kind feeds on.
- [How the books are made](https://www.nocturnals.store/the-house.html): editions, narration, and what is and is not machine-made.
- [Printing and delivery](https://www.nocturnals.store/printing.html): specification, the price ladder, postage zones and returns.
- [Machine-readable catalogue](https://www.nocturnals.store/data/catalog.json): every volume, ISBN, price, measured page count and measured runtime.

## Buying

- [The shop](https://www.nocturnals.store/shop.html)
- [Sets](https://www.nocturnals.store/sets.html)
- [Policies](https://www.nocturnals.store/policies.html)