Barbara Poelle, agent goddess extraordinaire, you never cease to amaze me with the many, many hats you wear: agent, friend, fierce business partner, bitmoji queen, and brainstorming champion. Thank you for planting the idea of Princes of Hell in my head way back when I first started kicking this idea around—I can’t imagine this story without those sinfully devious demons now!
Maggie Kane and the entire team at the Irene Goodman Literary Agency, Heather Baror-Shapiro （Baror International）， and Sean Berard （Grandview） work tirelessly behind the scenes to bring my work to amazing countries and to Hollywood. And I couldn’t be more grateful to each of you.
To my brilliant editor, Laura Schreiber, you inherited this book （and me!） and immediately jumped in with unwavering enthusiasm to help find the story that had been in my head. I’m so happy with all of our hard work and cannot wait for what’s to come in the next installment!
Liam Donnelly, the cover art and details inside the book make my dark heart sing. A million thank yous for the snakes and flowers and skulls—the whole aesthetic is chef’s kiss fabulous.
Dan Denning, Joshua Johns, Jordan Mondell, Caitlyn Averett, T.S. Ferguson, Erinn McGrath, Charlotte Lamontagne, Maggie Cannon, Ned Rust, Tracy Shaw, Flo Yue, Blue Guess, Alexis Lassiter, the Hachette Sales team, Barbara Blasucci and the Special Sales team, Linda Arends, Virginia Lawther and the production team, and everyone at JIMMY Patterson Books and Little, Brown—your hard work, dedication, creativity, and talent is seriously endless. You have all worked some Wrath-level powerful magic to launch this book during a global pandemic; thank you for everything you do behind the scenes.
James Patterson—none of this would be possible without your constant support. Thank you a million times over.
To my fabulous U.K. crew at Hodder & Stoughton: Molly Powell, Kate Keehan, Maddy Marshall, Oliver Johnson, and the whole team—I still pinch myself when I think about the initial acquisition letter I received and the enthusiasm you all had for this book. I’m still in awe over the incredible edition of Kingdom you created.
Jenny Bak, you gave this book a home before you left for new editing adventures, and I am forever grateful for you and our friendship. Much love to you, always.
Julie Guacci, aka “Momma Julie”， thank you for all of the fun marketing ideas you passed my way before embarking on your new journey.
Anissa de Gomery—I treasure our friendship and cannot thank you enough for always being there to light up any dark time. Getting to work with you on the special FairyLoot edition—and getting to see all of that fabulous art and the details spring to life was like real life magic.
To my mom and dad, Kelli and Ben, and my whole family—I love you more than words can say. Thank you for always listening to me chatter on about characters and plot points and offering lots of good advice, and for getting just as excited as I do.
There’s nothing quite as special as the bond between sisters, so here’s a special shout-out to my sister for not only being my best friend but for letting me create Kingdom of the Wicked and Stalking Jack the Ripper merchandise for her store, Dogwood Lane Boutique. Love you, Kel!
Book bloggers, bookstagrammers, librarians, teachers, booksellers, The Bookish Box, Beacon Book Box, and FairyLoot—your excitement for this book is the stuff dreams are made of. Thank you for all of your support.
And to you, dear reader. Without you, none of this would be possible. I hope this story transported you into a lush new world for a few hours, and I hope you’re excited for Emilia and Wrath’s next wicked adventure. ?