To my parents—Mom and Dad—and my siblings—Caleb, Gabriel, Rome, Mary, and Luke—for sharing in my excitement, bravely keeping up with all the books I churn out, and being a foundation and support I can always depend on. To my in-laws—Ted and Joy—and my grandparents, whose love has been a guiding light to me.
To Isabel Iba?ez, one of my dearest friends and my fearless critique partner who, quite literally, saved a particular chapter or two (or three!) of this book.
To my agent, Suzie Townsend. We’ve been working together for eight years now, and every single one has been wonderful. Thank you for being the best publishing spouse.
To Sophia Ramos, who is a ray of light and encouragement and whose emails I always look forward to. To Olivia Coleman, for always being there for me and helping me keep up with all the important things behind the scenes. To the New Leaf team, who are a dream to work with: Joanna Volpe, Kate Sullivan, Tracy Williams, Keifer Ludwig, Pouya Shahbazian, Katherine Curtis, Hilary Pecheone, and Eileen Lalley.
To my editor, Eileen Rothschild. I will never get over that Wednesday afternoon on July 26 at 5:17 PM when you called me (but I didn’t answer the phone because I thought it was a spam number from NY!), and then the email you proceeded to send me (subject line Rebecccccaaaa!!!!) and the incredible news you shared of Divine Rivals hitting #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, sixteen weeks after it published. It’s an email I should frame on the wall (I’m sure Kitt would approve). But what a joy and an honor to share that moment with you. Thank you for loving and championing this duology.
To my incredible team at Wednesday Books, who have poured so much love and time into this duology to truly make it shine and have supported me every step of the way: Meghan Harrington, Alexis Neuville, Lisa Bonvissuto, Brant Janeway, and Sara Goodman. I could not have dreamt of a more perfect team of people to work with. To Olga Grlic, who continues to work magic on my book covers. To my production editor, Melanie Sanders, and to Angus Johnston for copy editing and ensuring I used the word “vestige” correctly (every author has those problem words they frequently switch and misuse and “visage/vestige” were mine for this book).
To my amazing Macmillan Audio team, who ensured the audiobooks for Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows were perfect: Katy Robitzski, Amber Cortes, Chrissy Farrell, and Claire Beyette. To the incredibly talented narrators who brought Iris and Roman to life: Rebecca Norfolk and Alex Wingfield.
To my wonderful UK team, who have given this duology a loving home across the pond: Natasha Bardon, Vicky Leech, Elizabeth Vaziri, Chloe Gough, Fleur Clarke, Kate Fogg, Rachel Winterbottom, Ajebowale Roberts, Robyn Watts, and Kim Young.
To Kelley McMorris, whose illustrations of Iris and Roman are simply stunning and made such beautiful covers for the UK editions.
To the authors who joined me on the Divine Rivals tour and celebrated with me: Margaret Rogerson, Rena Barron, Emily Bain Murphy, and Gina Chen. Thank you for giving me your time and friendship and sharing a meal with me before each event.
To the bookstores and book-loving companies that have been a tremendous support to this series: Little Shop of Stories, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Book of the Month, OwlCrate, and FairyLoot.
There may be a few names I missed or wasn’t able to mention here, simply due to the nature of deadlines and when I had to turn in these acknowledgments, and I just want to say thank you for all the love and hard work you’ve given to this book. It wouldn’t be what it is today without you.
And lastly, to you. My readers. It is my deepest honor to share my stories with you, and I will be forever thankful for all the love, reviews, beautifuls posts, fan art, and word-of-mouth recommendations. Your support for my books has given them wings. It has been (and will continue to be) one of the greatest wonders and joys of my life to watch my stories take flight and find a home on your shelves.
Yours always in words & magic,
RJR