‘What is it we could be?’ The question rose up out of some deep part of him. He needed the answer not only for James, but also for himself.
‘I may not carry his brand, but he … He’s burned into me.’ James’s eyes were very dark. ‘He branded himself on my soul. They called him the Dark King, but he was a bright flame, and everyone else, everything else is just his pale shadow. I was Reborn, but I lived a half life. It’s like this world was a blur. No one else was in focus. Until you.’
It was awful, yet Will couldn’t look away. He wanted James to keep talking more than he wanted him to stop.
‘You made me believe he could be beaten. You make me believe—’ James broke off. ‘The boy saviour. I didn’t think you’d save me.’ James’s smile was painful. ‘I thought Simon would bring the Dark King back. I thought the collar would close around my throat. I never thought I’d be free to choose my future. But I am.’ In the quiet of the room, his words seemed to twine themselves around the beats of Will’s heart. ‘Simon and his father … they had a dream of ruling a dark world, and they told me there was a place for me at their side. But I don’t want to follow them,’ said James. ‘I’m here to follow you.’ His eyes were bright, his lips smiling, his hair gold in the shifting light from the fire.
Will said, ‘Of course you are.’
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I FIRST HAD the idea for Dark Rise in the Louvre. There is something so disturbing about museums: all those displaced remnants of forgotten lives. I started to think about the idea of a long-dead magical world.
It was more than ten years of careful world-building and creation before Dark Rise was finished, and in that time countless people, books and institutions have helped me along the way, from the curators at the London Natural History Museum, where I saw my first narwhal horn, to the Castleton locals who served me hot apple crumble after I trudged across the Dark Peak.
Closest to the book have been the Melbourne writers and friends who lived Dark Rise with me: Beatrix Bae, Vanessa Len, Anna Cowan, Sarah Fairhall, Jay Kristoff and Shelley Parker-Chan, all of whom read numerous drafts and offered feedback, encouragement and support. I owe you all a tremendous debt of gratitude. This book wouldn’t be what it is without you.
Bea, I first unfolded Dark Rise on your table when it was just a roll of butcher paper and a collection of note cards, and I didn’t yet know that I was gaining a friend for life. Vanessa, I cherish countless late nights drinking strong hot chocolates and eating cheese toasties ‘in the style of a club sandwich’ while we talked and built our worlds together. Anna, writing days with you at the State Library are some of my favourite memories, as we artfully arranged our desks so that we could leave and get muffins and talk through each other’s books. Shelley, your knowledge of monks, mentors and asceticism was irreplaceable. Thank you also to Amie Kaufman for invaluable friendship, support and advice, and to Ellie Marney, Penni Russon and Lili Wilkinson, for all your help along the way.
I’ve recently come to realise how important early influences are, and I want to thank Rita Maiuto, Brenda Nowlan, Cherida Longley and Pat McKay for being teachers, mentors, guardians and family when I needed it most.
Some of the earliest conversations about Dark Rise were had with friends, long before the book began to resemble itself. Thank you to Tamara Searle, Kirstie Innes-Will, Kate Ramsay and Sarah Charlton for indulging those early talks. Particularly vivid is the moment I accidentally woke Tamara up with my shout as I realised that a long-lived unicorn would know the Dark King on sight, and much of the book clicked into place.
Thank you to my incredible agent, Tracey Adams, and to Josh Adams for believing in the book and finding it a home. I am forever grateful to you both. Enormous thanks to the team at Harper, in particular Rosemary Brosnan, and my editors Andrew Eliopulos and Alexandra Cooper. In Australia I had the great fortune to work with Kate Whitfield and Jodie Webster at Allen & Unwin; thank you both so much for your wonderful work. Thank you also to Ben Ball for a piece of early career advice that has helped me more than any other, and to Emily Sylvan Kim for her early career support.
Finally, thank you to Magdalena Pagowska for her stunning cover art, to Sveta Dorosheva for creating a beautiful map of London in 1821, and to Laura Mock and the design team at Harper, who brought all the visual elements together.
Researching Dark Rise took me across Europe, from London to Umbria to Prague, into castles and ruins, and deep into the past, poring over old maps, journals and artefacts. Over the years of research, I read too many books to name. But I have included in Dark Rise a reference to Odell Shepard’s observation, ‘I have hunted the unicorn chiefly in libraries,’ because that is where I hunted them too.