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Moldavia: Neighboring country and ally of Wallachia
Order of the Dragon: Order of Crusaders anointed by the pope
pasha: Noble in the Ottoman Empire, appointed by the sultan
spahi: Military commander in charge of local Ottoman soldiers called up during war
Transylvania: Small country bordering Wallachia and Hungary; includes the cities of Brasov and Sibiu
vaivode: Warlord prince
vassal state: Country allowed to retain rulership but subject to the Ottoman Empire, with taxes of both money and slaves for the army
Wallachia: Vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, bordered by Transylvania, Hungary, and Moldavia
Please see the author’s note in And I Darken for more information on resources for further study on the fascinating lives of Vlad Tepes, Mehmed II, and Radu cel Frumos. In the end, this series is a work of fiction. I have tried to incorporate as much history as respectfully as I can, and encourage anyone intrigued to further study this time period and region.
The characters in the series all interact with religion, and more specifically Islam, in various ways. I have nothing but respect for the rich history and beautiful legacy of that gospel of peace. Individual characters’ opinions on the complexities of faith, both Islamic and Christian, do not reflect my own.
Spelling varies between languages and over time, as do place names. Any errors or inconsistencies are my own. Though the main characters speak a variety of languages, I made an editorial decision to present all common terms in English.
Normally I save the best for last, but in this, the last book, I’m thanking the best first: Noah, you’re the best person I know, and I’m so lucky to have a life with you. These books wouldn’t exist without you.
Thank you to Michelle Wolfson, my savvy and insightful agent. I don’t ever want to do this job without you. That might read as a little threatening, given that we’ve just spent several hundred pages with Lada…but it’s meant to be a lot threatening. Never stop being an agent.
Thank you to Wendy Loggia, my incredible editor, who has shepherded this trilogy from the very beginning. I’ve benefitted from your contagious enthusiasm at every stage. You are a joy to work with, and I look forward to many more books together.
Thank you to Beverly Horowitz and Audrey Ingerson at Delacorte Press for t
he editorial and career guidance. To my stalwart copyeditors, Colleen Fellingham and Heather Lockwood Hughes, we lift boxes and raise eyebrows, I know, but I’ll make the same mistakes in the next book. I’m glad you’ll be there to fix it. To the First In Line and Get Underlined teams, thank you for coming up with new and exciting ways to find readers so that I can sit alone on my couch hanging out in the fifteenth century instead. To Aisha Cloud, I promise to never eat at an IHOP again as long as you keep being my delightful publicist. To John Adamo, Adrienne Waintraub, and everyone in marketing for executing such brilliant plans and sending our dragons to readers across the country. To Felicia Frazier and the sales team for such passionate and unwavering support.
The incredible covers of this series were painted by Sam Weber and consistently exceeded my wildest dreams. Isaac Stewart, thank you for the amazing maps, and Alison Impey, thank you for the stunning design work.
To Barbara Marcus and everyone at Delacorte Press and Random House Children’s Books, there’s a reason you were my dream house. It is a tremendous privilege to make books with you.
Thank you to Penguin Random House worldwide and Ruth Knowles for taking care of Lada in the UK and Australia. I wish I could join her there.
As always, an acknowledgments section cannot go by without including my two best writing friends. Natalie Whipple, you’re always there for me, even when your own journey is bumpy. If I were Lada, I’d totally pick you for my inner circle. (But then you’d probably die, so let’s have me be Radu instead.) Stephanie Perkins, you make everything better—my books and my life. I’m so lucky to have you as my friend.
Thank you to my three beautiful children for your patience and encouragement. The daily question “Are you all caught up yet?” really helped. (Seriously, though, you three are amazing and delightful and creatively nourishing.)
Finally, to my readers. You’ve come so far with Lada and Radu. Thank you for embracing this fictional family of mine, for proving that no idea is too weird, no girl is too brutal, and no boy is too tender for readers of YA. You are going to change the world, and I can’t wait to see how you do it.
Blue Lily
KIERSTEN WHITE is the New York Times bestselling author of the And I Darken and Paranormalcy series, Beanstalker and Other Hilarious Scarytales, Slayer, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, and many more novels. She lives with her family near the ocean in San Diego, which, in spite of its perfection, spurs her to dream of faraway places and even further-away times.
Follow @kierstenwhite on
LIGHTNING CLAWED ACROSS THE sky, tracing veins through the clouds and marking the pulse of the universe itself.
I sighed happily as rain slashed the carriage windows and thunder rumbled so loudly we could not even hear the wheels bump when the dirt lane met the cobblestones of the edge of Ingolstadt.
Justine trembled beside me like a newborn rabbit, burying her face in my shoulder. Another bolt lit our carriage with bright white clarity before rendering us temporarily deaf with a clap of thunder so loud the windows threatened to loosen.
“How can you laugh?” Justine asked. I had not realized I was laughing until that moment.
I stroked her dark hair where strands dangled free from her hat. Justine hated loud noises of any type: Slamming doors. Storms. Shouting. Especially shouting. But I had made certain she had endured none of that in the past two years. It was so odd that our separate origins—similar in cruelty, though differing in duration—had had such opposite outcomes. Justine was the most open and loving and genuinely good person I had ever known.
