As always, I would like to thank the wonderful team at Corvus Atlantic, ably skippered by Will Atkinson. Specific mentions also to Susannah Hamilton, Poppy Mostyn-Owen, Jamie Forrest, Patrick Hunter, Giulia Fossati, Kate Straker, and Clive Kintoff. After three novels with you all, I feel part of the Corvus family. Besides these, I want to make special mention to Sarah Hodgson, my new editor. Thank you for picking up this one halfway through and running with it. I’m excited to see what we can do with the next volume.

Charlie Campbell, ever my unruffled friend and agent (in that order), with sage advice and a knack for keeping my feet firmly on the ground. Thank you. Your encouragement never fails to pop up at just the right moment.

Mary Chamberlain, my copy-editor, has done a brilliant job with the final tinker and polish. Thanks to her for her keen eye.

Two friends who need thanking for their technical advice: Dom Muir for matters spiritual; and Justin Hill for tipping me off with a handy text for world-building eighth-century Byzantium. (Daily Life in the Byzantine Empire by Marcus Rautman, in case you were wondering.)

I must mention Lucie Kolackova who won an auction bid to have a character named after her. Thank you for the loan of your name to Lucia!

I’m always grateful to my family and friends, to my fellow authors, and to my readers, for their goodwill and encouragement. It is such a pleasure when readers get in touch and say that they have enjoyed the books. I would particularly like to thank Steve Denton (aka ‘Speesh Reads’) whose generous reviews alone would be enough to keep me in the writing game.

And finally. . .

To Ella – you are gorgeous, brilliant, and so much fun (when you’re not being a misanthrope). To TT – my world would be so diminished without the joy you bring to me every single day. And to Colette – you are lying there asleep next to me as I write this, tiny and perfectly formed. I can’t wait to get to know you.

T.H.R.B.

December 2019