First and foremost, a huge thank-you to my agents, Rosemary Stimola and Allison Remcheck, for all you’ve both done to see this book—and me—to the finish line in one piece. None of this would have happened without you.

Thank you to the entire Stimola Literary Studio crew, especially Alli Hellegers and Stephen Moore, who both worked so hard to bring this book to new audiences. You’re all rock stars.

Thank you to my editor, Kelsey Horton, for seeing the potential in this trilogy and for your unending enthusiasm along the way. You’ve been a guiding light.

Thank you to the team at Delacorte Press for taking a chance on me and this book, including Beverly Horowitz, Colleen Fellingham, Joey Ho, Jenn Inzetta, Kate Keating, Ray Shappell, and Dr. Tasha M. Brown. I’m eternally grateful for your belief in this book and your hard work turning words into something real.

Thank you to my friends who not only put up with me talking endlessly about this book for three years straight, but who also took the time to read early drafts and help make it better than I ever could have on my own. Malcolm Freberg, Andrea Hannah, Sara Hodgkinson, Becca Mix, Karla Olson-Bellfi, Carli Segal, Caitlin Straw—this book exists because of your support, guidance, and ability to stay awake while I rambled on about crime scenes and tiaras and exactly how many forks the real British royal family uses at dinner.

Thank you to Lauren DeStefano, Ryan Hutchinson, Rosalina Joy, Kristin Lord, Veronica O’Neil, Meryl Wilsner, Diana Urban, and Ashley Zajac for the cheers and support along the way—I appreciate all of you so much.

Thank you to Jordan Cook for allowing me to use the very real and very excellent band Reignwolf in the book, and thank you to all of the musicians mentioned for creating the music I wrote to most days.

I’d be remiss not to acknowledge the fact that my cats and dog occasionally stayed off the keyboard long enough to let me work, so Fred, Murphy, Beau, and Pippa—maybe next time I’ll keep your “edits.” But probably not.

And as always, thank you to my wonderful dad for encouraging me to write from the moment I showed interest and never once asking if I could make a living off of it. Your belief is the reason I tried.