“Sophie, I—” Claire stopped talking. In the darkness next to her feet, she caught a glimpse of skirting movement. She gripped the crown tighter as the hair on the back of her neck prickled. Beetles?

But as she held up her pink marble, Claire saw what it was. The tiny tiles that had once been a unicorn in the mosaic were scurrying over one another, running away into the corners of the room, leaving behind a large hole in the middle of the floor, between the sisters and the exit. In the Gemglow light, she could make out a spiraling staircase descending into the ground.

Sophie grabbed Claire and pulled her down behind the statue of King Anders. Claire quickly put out the marble’s light and extinguished the Gemglows just as she saw the tip of an obsidian spear rise up from the ground, followed by the spindly frame of Jasper. But he wasn’t alone. As soon as he stepped out off the stairs, more followed: Mira Fray and the other Royalists.

Sophie slapped her hand over Claire’s mouth before she could scream. Helpless, Claire watched as the Royalists poured into the Citadel. She gripped the crown close to her heart and wriggled her pencil out from behind her ear. Why had she delayed? If she had just gone straight to Nadia, Nadia would be queen now, and they would stand a chance! Bile rose in the back of her throat.

They—she, Sophie, Nadia, Carnelian, the grandmasters, everyone—had been so foolish! Beyond naive to think they knew all the secret tunnels and passageways of Starscrape Citadel. Zuli and Lapis’s parents knew many of the passages, but not all. Estelle, on the other hand, had summered here, her parents alive and able to pass on the secrets of the castle.

The Royalists—about twenty in all—circled the opening as a final figure emerged from the depths: Queen Estelle d’Astora.

Without Scholar Terra’s spectacles she seemed younger but no less monstrous—after all, only monsters would wear what she was wearing.

On first glance, her ebony gown seemed more suitable for ballrooms than for battle. But when she shifted, Claire heard the clink of gems and saw rainbows ripple across the hundreds of Mesmerizing Opals that had been sewn to her skirt. Claire immediately looked away, not wanting the stones to catch her mind and put her under Estelle’s persuasion. But a moment later, she wished she had lost herself in the dreamy control of the gems, because what she saw next was worse.

Much, much worse.