Warlord and the Waif by Chloe Parker

AUTHOR'S NOTE

SO I HAVE no idea where this book came from.

What started as a fairy tale re-telling turned into so much more, ending up being my steamiest (like, by a lot) and darkest work to date. Grappling with an alpha hero, indentured servitude, abduction, and death of the heroine’s family was…a lot. And it got pretty crazy when I decided to throw the kitchen sink at this book with the final battle.

But damn, was it fun to write.

As always, writing takes a village. My village was pretty small this time around, and I owe a huge amount of gratitude to my husband for supporting me through a rigorous few months of work at my day job and writing at night. Even more so, I have to thank new friends in the writing community: Lina, who has walked me through all the ins and outs of self-publishing, beta’d this book for me, and provided many hilarious conversations along the way; and Katherine, Kali, and Liz, who rushed to provide comments on an already tight publishing schedule. I want you to know your help means the world to me.

And of course, I have to send all my love to my enthusiastic ARC readers on both Alien Tongues and Warlord, who encouraged me to keep writing. When you’re a new writer without the support of a publishing house, those first words of encouragement mean everything. No one should be alone in the vastness of space, and your support keeps me writing <3

See you in another galaxy,

Chloe