BERKLEY TITLES BY RUBY DIXON
Ice Planet Barbarians
Ice Planet Barbarians
Barbarian Alien
Barbarian Lover
Barbarian Mine
Barbarian’s Prize
Barbarian’s Mate
Barbarian’s Touch
Barbarian’s Taming
Royal Artifactual Guild
Bull Moon Rising
ACE
Published by Berkley
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
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Copyright © 2024 by Ruby Dixon
Excerpt from Ice Planet Barbarians copyright © 2015, 2021 by Ruby Dixon
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Dixon, Ruby, 1976– author.
Title: Bull moon rising / Ruby Dixon.
Description: New York: Ace, 2024. | Series: Royal Artifactual Guild; 1
Identifiers: LCCN 2024004968 (print) | LCCN 2024004969 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593817025 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593817032 (ebook)
Subjects: LCGFT: Fantasy fiction. | Romance fiction. | Novels.
Classification: LCC PS3604.I965 B85 2024 (print) | LCC PS3604.I965 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23/eng/20240206
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024004968
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024004969
Ebook ISBN 9780593817032
Cover design by Rita Frangie Batour
Cover art by Kelly Wagner
Endpaper art by lilithsaur
Book design by Katy Riegel, adapted for ebook by Kelly Brennan
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Contents
Dedication
Content Warning
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
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Excerpt from Ice Planet Barbarians
About the Author
_148433954_
For my husband. Just ’cause.
CONTENT WARNING
Although this book takes place in a fantasy setting, it deals with emotionally difficult topics, including claustrophobia, cave-ins, spiders, corpses, rats, grave robbing, parental neglect, financial insecurity, gambling addiction, alcoholism, unprotected sex, and rampant misogyny. Any readers who believe that such content may upset them or trigger traumatic memories are encouraged to consider their emotional well-being when deciding whether to read this book.
—Ruby Dixon
ONE ASPETH
27 Days Before the Conquest Moon
The coach taking us to Vastwarren City is creaky, the seating is uncomfortable, and I paid far too much for the ride. But it’s also very obviously an artifact, which is why I wanted to take it. The exterior looks the same as every other coach that was waiting on the street in front of the inn, but this one had no horse harnessed to the front, nor a yoke for it. Instead, there was a symbol carved into the wood that I recognized as Old Prellian.
The coachman charged a pretty penny but I didn’t care. I wanted to ride in that damned artifact coach.
And now here we are, and it’s a dreadful, bouncy ride. I can’t help but eye the coach covetously anyhow. It speeds along the cobbled roads without a horse to draw it, heading for the city in the distance. The driver is a cheerful sort, too, and seated inside with us instead of riding on a bench atop the coach. He faces the windows and holds reins as if he’s steering a horse, yet there’s nothing pulling us along. More symbols in Old Prellian crawl over the front of the coach and I’m absolutely dying to lean forward and read them, but I’d have to shove my face into his lap to do so because my vision is so dreadful. I have to content myself with the knowledge that the coach is indeed magical and the merrily chatting coachman won’t sell it. No one sells an artifact.
