I remembered a story that I had heard about the Angevins when I was a girl, and I shut my eyes, trying to remember the pieces of it. It weren’t just some legend of the king now, it were a story about my father. About my family.
Richard loved to boast of his devil’s blood, begat when one of his ancestors had unknowingly wed a serpent. She bore him eight ugly children, and his curiosity got the better of him. He followed his wife into her weekly bath where he had promised never to disturb her, and found her secret form revealed.
When he confronted her, her heart broke, and she transformed into a dragon and flew above the castle she had built for her husband with her magic. She clung to the spires with her talons and shrieked until the skies grew dark and rained down the tears that she couldn’t cry.
For all time she stayed atop the tower, screaming and trembling the earth when the Angevins were born or died, never resting, never failing. Protecting her blood.
That were my blood. The blood of a dragon, a beast, a devil. A woman with supernatural abilities to continue on in the face of pain and betrayal.
The blood that led my father, the Lionheart, to the Holy Land to wage a war for his faith—his vengeance. Vengeance were the darkest side of faith, the thing that claimed violence and fury as holy arrows.
I were lionhearted too. My faith were just as strong.
And I would learn this new side of faith that Eleanor and Richard and the rest of the royal lions claimed. My faith would bring me back to Nottingham. My faith would bring Prince John to his knees before me.
As the carriage pitched and tossed, and the place I were promised to protect faded and the man I loved disappeared, I prayed for faith.
And I vowed vengeance.
Acknowledgments
Writing a sequel is equal parts evil and exhilaration, and there are many people without whom Lady Thief would never have made it over the finish line. First, to my agent, Minju Chang, you’re SO amazing. Thank you so much for helping me through the frustrations and difficulties, and always being there to cheer me on. I always feel like we are a team, and that means a lot to me.
Thank you to the entire team at Walker Books. To my editor, Emily Easton—I am so grateful for your insights and for your keen editorial eye. Thank you for making Scarlet who she is today. Thank you to Mary Kate Castellani, for jumping in when needed and providing another very thoughtful perspective on Lady Thief. To Laura Whitaker, Beth Eller, Katy Hershberger, Bridget Hartzler, Erica Barmash, and all the people at Bloomsbury/Walker who have championed Scarlet and allowed her adventures to continue in Lady Thief—I am so grateful. Thank you for all that you’ve done and continue to do.
The weirdest thing about a debut novel is that it goes from being this somewhat manic dialogue between you and a computer, and becomes this public commodity that so many people experience. It’s amazing and it never ceases to astound me, so thank you to the bloggers who helped get my secret little novel out to the world, to the readers who are so passionate about Scar and the idea of a strong girl in fiction, and to the librarians who continue to pass my book to their readers. There wouldn’t be a Book Two without you!
Debut year was a crazy thing, but in getting Scarlet out there and writing Lady Thief I’ve met some of the people I consider most dear and most crucial to the act of continuing to write. Thank you to the Class of 2k12 and allll of the Apocalypsies, but I have to say there are a few people who need more thanks. Cory Jackson, thank you for reading a super-early draft of LT and jump-starting me when I was stuck. Tiffany Schmidt, I owe you my firstborn child for the comments you gave me on a later draft that wasn’t working. To Katy Longshore, your books are inspiring and your friendship is more so. To Gina Damico, Gina Rosati, Diana Renn, Kate Burak, and Lynda Mullaly Hunt, for being my Boston authors crew and making visits of all kinds easier. To Hilary Graham for being so cool and being the best partner in crime I could ask for.
The past few years have been really hectic for me, and I wouldn’t have made it through without a lot of support from my workplace. Thank you to Meghan, Amy, Paloan, Keith, Alex, Stevi, and especially Paul—you’re the best boss ever. Thank you for being so supportive. To Risk, especially Mike and Matt, who have kept me sane on overnights for years. I’ll even thank the guys from Engineering (Jason, Scott, and Ermin)—just don’t let it go to your heads. And of course, Andrew, we’re going to have ants.
There are workplace families, and then there are families that come from working together without money—which I think is more meaningful. To my GLOW girls, you have proven to me that we can do anything (like, literally, anything) and that we can turn around and show young women that they, too, are capable of greatness. Emily, Jenna, and especially Leah, thank you for inspiring me to dream greater, to achieve greater—in a word, glow. (And, you know, for ignoring those 6 a.m. e-mails when I decide to communicate mid–panic attack.) And since I can’t miss an opportunity for nonprofit promotion,