Majesty (American Royals, #2)(113)

To my editor, Caroline Abbey: thank you for your endless patience, for your ability to laugh, and mostly for being so ridiculously good at your job. There is no one I would rather be on this royal journey with.

A huge thank-you is due to the entire publishing team at Random House, especially Michelle Nagler, Mallory Loehr, Kelly McGauley, Jenna Lisanti, Kate Keating, Elizabeth Ward, Adrienne Waintraub, and Emily Petrick. Noreen Herits and Emma Benshoff, thank you for your boundless energy and your willingness to publicize this book in all kinds of unexpected ways. Also, special thanks to Alison Impey and Carolina Melis for these truly magnificent covers.

Joelle Hobeika, this story is so much stronger because of your guidance. Thank you for never giving up on it. I am lucky to work with an incredible team at Alloy Entertainment: Josh Bank, Sara Shandler, Les Morgenstein, Gina Girolamo, Kate Imel, Romy Golan, Matt Bloomgarden, Josephine McKenna, and Laura Barbiea.

Naomi Colthurst, thank you for the editorial breakthrough that saved this plot—you understand Samantha in a way that no one else does! Thanks also to Alesha Bonser and everyone at Penguin UK.

I am constantly in awe of my foreign sales team, Rights People. Alexandra Devlin, Allison Hellegers, Harim Yim, Claudia Galluzzi, and Charles Nettleton—thank you for bringing American Royals to so many languages around the world.

I don’t know how I would do this job without my friends. Meaghan Byrne, you were the perfect partner in crime at Mount Vernon. Sarah Johnson and Margaret Walker, I can always count on you to debate the finer points of my alternate-history timeline, translate Latin, and generally act as on-call historians. Emily Brown, thank you for letting me vent each time the story got the better of me. Sarah Mlynowski, I am always grateful for your creative help. And Grace Atwood and Becca Freeman, thank you for being American Royals’s earliest cheerleaders, and for proving it’s possible to make real-life friends through the internet.

I would be nowhere without the unwavering support and guidance of my parents, who are still my greatest champions. Lizzy and John Ed, I love you both so much. Sorry for all the times I’ve stolen details of your lives and put them into a book—I would promise to stop, but we all know that’s a lie.

And finally, Alex: none of this would be possible without you. Thank you for carrying me when I need it most.