Defend the Dawn (Defy the Night #2)(123)
I swallow thickly, but then my eyes land on Lochlan, at the edge of the circle.
“Come on, Wes. They’re going to kill you if you don’t talk soon.”
I give a weak cough and look back up at the scarred man.
I must take too long, because he moves to kick me again. “Your! Name!”
I snap a hand out and grab his ankle, jerking hard, using his momentum to knock him to the ground. He goes down swearing. I expect someone else to grab me, but they laugh and whistle.
So I roll to my knees and grab his dagger out of his hand. I have it against his chest before he can roll away.
I spit seawater beside his face. “My name is Weston Lark,” I say roughly. “What’s yours?”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Someday I’m going to write shorter acknowledgments, but today is not that day.
That said, this is my fifteenth published novel, so I am going to make use of the copy-and-paste function on my computer.
As always, I am so incredibly grateful to my husband, Michael. I am so thankful for every moment we have together, and look forward to every moment in the future. Thank you for being my best friend for all these years.
Mary Kate Castellani is my incredible editor at Bloomsbury, and I was really worried we wouldn’t be able to pull this one off—but she kept saying to me, “It’s fine! It’ll be fine!” Even when I was sending sobbing emails about how it was impossible to write a single word at the end of 2021. But here we are. It’s fine. Mary Kate, I have loved working with you on every single book. You’re brilliant. [I totally copied that line from the last book, BUT IT’S SO TRUE.]
Suzie Townsend is my incredible agent, and I am so grateful for your day-to-day guidance, especially when I send you panicked emails at 5:30 a.m. I am so incredibly lucky to have you, Sophia, Kendra, and the entire team at New Leaf on my side. Thank you all so much for everything.
The team at Bloomsbury is beyond compare when it comes to their dedication to every book they work on, and I am so grateful for everything. Huge thanks to Kei Nakatsuka, Lily Yengle, Erica Barmash, Faye Bi, Phoebe Dyer, Beth Eller, Valentina Rice, Diane Aronson, Jeffrey Curry, Jeannette Levy, Donna Mark, Adrienne Vaughan, Rebecca McNally, Ellen Holgate, Pari Thompson, Emily Marples, Jet Purdie, and every single person at Bloomsbury who has a hand in making my books a success.
Huge thanks to the Cursebreaker Street Team! If you’re a part of it, thank YOU. It means so much to me to know that there are thousands of you interested in my books, and I will never forget everything you’ve done to spread the word about my stories. Thank you all so very much.
Huge debts of gratitude go to my dear writing friends, Melody Wukitch, Dylan Roche, Gillian McDunn, Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Armentrout, Phil Stamper, Stephanie Garber, Isabel Iba?ez, Ava Tusek, Bradley Spoon, and Amalie Howard, because I honestly don’t know how I would get through the day without your support. I am so grateful to have you all in my life.
Several people read and offered insight into parts of this book while it was in progress, and I want to take a moment to specially thank Jodi Picoult, Gillian McDunn, Reba Gordon, Ava Tusek, and Heather Garcia.
Tremendous thanks to readers, bloggers, librarians, artists, and booksellers all over social media who take the time to post, review, tweet, share, and mention my books. I owe my career to people being so passionate about my characters that they can’t help but talk about them. Thank you all.
And many thanks go to YOU! Yes, you. If you’re holding this book in your hands, thank you. As always, I am honored that you took the time to invite my characters into your heart.
Finally, tremendous love and thanks to the Kemmerer boys. You surprise me every single day, and I am so very lucky to be your mom. Yes, I copied that paragraph from the last acknowledgments that I wrote (which was a copy of the one I wrote before that), but I still mean every word, and none of you are reading my books yet. So here’s a bet. If any of you discover this paragraph before your eighteenth birthday, I owe you an ice cream.