Sobs sounded all the more startling when they came from deep, adult voices all across the crowded field; so many different kneeling, weaponless bodies crying out under different flags. The land shivered beneath Cordelia’s feet … but not in protest this time.

It was gratitude that rose in a great, green surge through the ground and streamed through her veins.

But not everyone had fallen under the spell of Giles’s song. All across the field, scattered leaders barked at their weeping subordinates, haranguing them to get back into formation. In the center of the field, a small group of armored men and women had gathered together to head purposefully toward the three triplets.

“They’re the pretenders to our throne!” bellowed a tall, ferocious duchess with a boar on the shield that she raised into the air. “Don’t let them trick you with their mother’s magic!”

She had to be the famous duchess of Solenne, ready to attack them at long last—

But the rest of her words were cut off by a long, groaning creak as the massive, iron-banded wooden door in the city walls swung open, revealing the dukes of Arden and Lune within its entryway.

The bearish duke of Arden strode forward, fully armored, massive and bristling with weaponry and fury. The duke of Lune paced beside him, poised and ready, like a lean wolf waiting to leap upon his enemies.

Behind them, with hands locked together by metal cuffs, flanked by two red-robed sorcerers as prison guards …

“Connall!” Giles’s powerful voice turned into a squeak, all his sorcery falling away in shock.

“Your Majesties!” cried the duke of Lune across the field. “I believe we have a hostage here who you would prefer to see unhurt.”

Rosalind raised her sword with murderous fury, ready to charge through all of the hundreds of soldiers who still stood in between them and their older brother.

Connall’s voice shot into all their heads at once: Don’t listen to him, any of you. Run! Keep yourselves safe!

Cordelia looked across the crowded field of soldiers at the brother whose long arms had scooped her away from so many dangers in the past. She shook her head at him as the last of her fears fell away. This time, Connall, it’s our turn to protect you.

She reached into the makeshift sack that she’d carried all the way from Raven’s Nest and pulled out the broken pieces of the Raven Crown.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

Cordelia had worried that people might not recognize the silver shards.

She’d been wrong.

As she pulled out the three heavy silver pieces, engraved with delicate starflowers, light pierced the heavy clouds overhead. It wasn’t the bright white lens of sunlight; it was a pale, shimmering green spear that made breaths catch all over the tumultuous battlefield as it shot down to illuminate the three shards in her hand.