Grinning, Claire snapped the breastplate over her clothes. There was a slight clanging as the metal adjusted to her, contracting itself ever so slightly so that it was a perfect fit. Glimpsing herself in the polished stone mirror that stood next to the wardrobe, Claire caught her breath.

She didn’t just look brave. She looked fearless.

And she felt fearless.

All her friends were here, with her. Sophie was safe. The guilds, for the first time in three hundred years, were working together. The unicorn had returned. And soon enough, Nadia would be crowned queen.

She ran out the door and stepped into the hallway—and almost stopped in her tracks.

Starscrape Citadel was a large and sprawling complex, and while it was home to a few hundred Gemmers, it had never felt even close to full. Tonight, however, it was full to bursting. For the first time, noise rang out in every section of the marble hallways. Claire had to dodge and duck Forgers adding sun steel to the tips of the Spinner nets, while outside through the windows, Claire could see Tillers coaxing as much foliage as they could: roses, vines, mosses—anything that could help protect them from the wraiths. Gemmers raced up and down the corridors, carrying polished Gemglows and guiding the new arrivals through the labyrinth Citadel. As she watched, she saw kindly Master Pumus lead a group of Gemmer and Forger journeymen, bows slung over their shoulders, in the direction of the armory.

From what Nadia had shared, Claire knew that they did not expect Estelle’s attack until tomorrow night. News of the unicorn’s return and the Everless Wall opening again had probably reached the Royalists by now, but grandmasters and generals didn’t think she would have had time to react. Tomorrow, too, would be safe—until sunset, at least.

“She won’t attack without her wraiths,” Nadia had said with confidence. “Especially not now, when she knows we have two unicorns with us.”

Claire hoped her aunt was right.

She ran by a few classrooms and saw that while the apprentices weren’t allowed outside, many of them were crouched over Lode Arrows and Mulchbombs, making sure that the watch would be well equipped whenever the queen attacked. Another turn and she passed a courtyard filled with Spinners and Gemmers being led in sword drills by Sylvia and Sena Steele. At another door, she recognized the pearly light of Nett’s marimo trickling out, and as she hurried past, she saw he was busy teaching a bunch of Gemmer preambles how to water plants properly. “Everyone should be able to do this,” he was saying. “Even if you’re not a Tiller. Happy plants equal more sunlight equal no wraiths, got it?”