The day of Nadia Martinson’s inauguration broke bright and clear and cold—though Claire felt warm in her many-layered gown of rose pink, sky blue, and gold. It could have been the strands of heat that had been woven into it, courtesy of jumbled Spinner and Forger magics. But then again, it could have been the pride she felt as she watched as Nadia greeted the four grandmasters who stepped into the center of the ring of stones that had once surrounded Queen and Unicorn Rocks.

Next to her, Nett practically bounced on his toes.

“I told you to wear your thicker cloak, but no,” Sena grumbled out of the side of her mouth. Sena’s red hair had been pinned into delicate coronet braids, but her golden armor with a growling griffin on the breastplate declared strength and respect. (And the real Gryphin, lounging across her shoulders, would make sure Sena got it.) Sena Steele looked like a heroic knight, and the only thing missing was a sword. Since Sena had lost Fireblood in the Battle of the Wraiths, she’d been unable to find a blade that felt, in her own words, “hers.”

“I’m not cold.” Nett did a double jounce. “I’m excited!”

He, too, was dressed up for the occasion. His pine-green sweater brought out the flecks of hazel in his eyes and his leather boots had been trimmed in shiny holly leaves, and here and there, shiny golden acorns: gifts from Sylvia and Mathieu.

Sena grimaced. “Still, stop it. Everyone can see you.”

That was true. As one of a few people allowed inside the ring of rocks during the Vow, they were clearly visible. But she was pretty sure all eyes were on Nadia, who was about to make her pledge to the guilds and become Arden’s first ever Prime Minister.

“My dearest Arden, I vow,” Nadia said, looking out over the Sorrowful Plains, which had been transformed into a field of candy-colored silk tents, leafy Tiller dwellings, Forger ReflecTents, and Gemmer-made gazebos, “to water all things green. I vow to mend all tears. I vow to polish all that may rust. I vow to move mountains.”

The crowds cheered, and four figures moved into the ring of rocks where Nadia stood—the same place Unicorn Rock and Queen Rock had loomed for all those years.

Grandmaster Bolt, the Spinner director, Grandmaster Carnelian, and the newly reinstated Grandmaster Iris of Greenwood stepped forward with the crown.

“The guilds of Arden accept your words, and bind them to you for the next five years,” the director said. “As our thanks to you, for your promise, will you accept the Crown of Arden?”