I’d nearly lost Auguste too. I’d come to meet him thinking that I was going to have to give him up. But now that he was here and safe in my arms, I was never going to let him go.
Auguste was not a prince, but he was my prince.
And together, I knew we would live happily ever after.
Author’s Note
While the story is fictional and based on a fairy tale, I was inspired by stories of the court of Louis XIV, the Sun King. Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, was the king’s closest a≈dvisor. Louise de la Valliere (who inspired Lady Françoise) was one of the king’s first mistresses. Louis, the dauphin of France, married Duchesse Maria of Bavaria. Louis-Auguste, Duc de Maine, was an illegitimate child of the king with Madame de Montespan, the king’s favorite mistress. He was legitimized at the age of four and given title and land. Auguste was told to choose his bride from one of three daughters of a noble family close to the king. Madame de Maintenon, a governess to the royal children, was another of the king’s favorites. She never had children herself but was known as the secret queen of France. Catherine Monvoisin was known as Le Voisin, an enchantress who counted the noblewomen at court among her many clients. She was arrested, tried, and executed for selling poison. And of course, this story is inspired by the one from Charles Perrault, who worked at Versailles and then collected folktales and fairy tales into a Mother Goose collection, which included “Cinderella,” or as it was known in French, “Cendrillon.”
Acknowledgments
What would I do without Ari Lewin??? Thank you to my awesome editor, who always makes me laugh! Thank you to the Penguinos: Jen Loja, Jen Klonsky, Elyse Marshall, Elise LeMassena, Felicity Vallence, Anne Heausler—it’s always a party! Thank you to Richard Abate and Martha Stevens, my agents and dear friends. Pandemic life was hard, but we survived together. I’m proud of all the work we’ve done together to bring fun books to the world. Thank you to all my amazing and loyal readers. Please don’t tell me how old you are anymore. Or how many kids you have. And how you were kids when you started reading my books. LOL! Kidding! I never age.
I would be nothing without my family and friends who are family. I would not be here without my two: Mike and Mat. Everything begins and ends with you.
About the Author
Melissa de la Cruz is the #1 New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and Publishers Weekly internationally bestselling author of many critically acclaimed books for readers of all ages, including the Alex & Eliza trilogy, Disney's Descendants novels, the Blue Bloods series, and the Summer on East End series. Her books have sold over eight million copies, and the Witches of East End series became an hour-long television drama on the Lifetime network. Visit her at melissa-delacruz.com
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