by Amy Ewing
“Ochre?” I practically tackle him with my hug. “What are you doing here?” I turn to Ash. “You shouldn’t have brought him. He shouldn’t know about this place.”
“Violet.” Ochre looks pale in the moonlight. His big brown eyes are dark shadows. “They took her. She’s . . . she’s gone. I tried to get in touch with someone from the Society, but they moved me to a different dairy and I didn’t know anyone. I barely managed to get to the training tonight. I thought maybe you’d be there. They took her, Violet!”
“Slow down,” I say, leading him over to sit at the dining table. “Who’s gone?”
He slumps into a chair. “Hazel,” he says miserably.
My heart turns to stone. The very air around me seems to freeze.
“What?” I whisper.
“Regimentals came to the house. Mother said there was a doctor with them. They wore a crest on their jackets—a blue circle crossed with two silver things, like spears or something. And they just . . . took her away.”
His head drops into his hands as my stone heart thuds into the pit of my stomach.
A blue circle crossed with two silver tridents.
The crest of the House of the Lake.
It’s my turn to sink into a chair.
“Lucien,” I call to the still-hovering arcana. “Did you hear that?”
Lucien’s voice is grave. “Yes.”
I think other people are talking, but their voices sound far away. I can’t focus on what they’re saying. My head pounds, one thought repeating over and over.
They took Hazel.
Hazel is the stolen surrogate.
The Duchess of the Lake has my sister.
Acknowledgments
CHARLIE OLSEN, AGENT OF AGENTS, THANK YOU FOR another year of incredible support and encouragement. You are my sword in the darkness.
To my editor, Karen Chaplin, thank you for your unbelievable patience and spot-on wisdom as you guided this story. I am so grateful to be working with someone who loves this world as much as I do—and who handles my rambling emails with such grace.
Huge thanks to the whole team at HarperTeen, particularly Rosemary Brosnan and Olivia Russo. Big hugs to the design team for another stunning cover. And to the lovely ladies at EpicReads, Aubry Parks-Fried and Margot Wood—your humor and enthusiasm are such bright lights in this industry. Lyndsey Blessing, thank you for taking Violet out into the world and making sure she was so well received.
Jess Verdi, I have still not figured out the words that will express how thankful I am for your presence in my life. I’m working on it. You’ve been there through each bump in the road and celebrated all the good stuff. You’ve read every word and cheered me on when I needed it, or told it to me straight when things weren’t working. I don’t know how I got so lucky to have you as my friend, but I’m so glad I did. Verveine.
A massive vat of thanks to my beautiful betas on this book, Caela Carter and Corey Ann Haydu—you always know when to push me and when to rein me in. And to Alyson Gerber and Riddhi Parekh, thank you for being amazingly supportive.
I have to thank the staff at Harlem Tavern, especially Bryan, Maria, and Istvan, who saw me through the initial drafting of this project with well-timed jokes and Sauvignon Blanc. Thanks for always telling me to get back to work.
Jill Santopolo, Maura Smith, Jonathan Levy, Rory Sheridan, Erica Henegen, and Matt Kelly, you have all influenced me, supported me, laughed and cried with me, and just generally been some of the best friends a girl could have. I am eternally grateful.
And to my wonderful family, both Ewings and McLellans, thank you all for the encouragement this past year. It has meant more than you could know. Special thanks to Ben, Leah, Otto, and Bea.
To my parents, I think the dedication for this book says it all. You always believed I could do whatever I wanted, and you never once tried to steer me onto a “normal” path. You always embraced me for exactly who I am and that is a rare and precious thing. I love you guys.
And to Faetra. I miss you every day.
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About the Author
Photo by Navdeep Singh Dhillon
AMY EWING earned her MFA in Writing for Children at the New School and received her BFA at New York University. The Jewel started off as a thesis project and became her debut novel. The White Rose is the second book in the trilogy. Amy lives in New York City. Visit her online at www.amyewingbooks.com or on Twitter @AmyEwingBooks.
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Books by Amy Ewing
The Jewel
The House of the Stone: A Jewel Novella (e-book only)
The White Rose
Credits
Photograph of girl © 2015 by Michael Frost
Photo illustration of girl and rose © 2015 by Colin Anderson
Cover design by Ellice M. Lee
Copyright
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE WHITE ROSE. Copyright © 2015 by Amy Ewing. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.epicreads.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ewing, Amy.
The white rose / Amy Ewing. — First edition.
pages cm. — (Jewel ; 2)
Summary: “After the Duchess of the Lake catches Violet with Ash, the hired companion at the palace of the Lake, Violet has no choice but to escape the Jewel or face certain death, so along with Ash and her best friend, Raven, Violet runs away from her unbearable life of servitude”— Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-06-223581-7 (hardback)
ISBN 978-0-06-241475-5 (int. ed.)
EPub Edition © September 2015 ISBN 9780062235831
[1. Fantasy. 2. Courts and courtiers—Fiction. 3. Slavery—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.E9478Wh 2015 2015005626
[Fic]—dc23 CIP
AC
* * *
15 16 17 18 19 PC/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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