Any good soldier knows how to push the boundaries of wakefulness and work without sleep. Cor was nothing if not a good soldier.

Dawn came. Every Crownsguard was in position. The main bulk was inside the Citadel and out of sight—some incognito—but a portion remained outside with the civilians for crowd control. Reina was confident that the rebel group associated with the imperials had been rooted out, but she favored contingency. Better safe than sorry.

He had expected her to struggle more on short sleep. Sure, the diplomats and politicians had their share of long nights, but it was a far cry from this. She'd hardly slept in two days.

Then again, she was hardly a pampered princess anymore, was she? She was a ruler, a commander, and a battle-hardened veteran. She was his charge. And his queen.

The morning was fueled on adrenaline and the knowledge that if they wavered, all of Lucis would fall. After some debate, the Kingsglaive was assigned to protect the crystal. The imperials would split resources between the ring and the crystal—and, on Reina's hand, the ring would protect itself, which left only the crystal in need.

Reina—and, by extension, Cor—was to attend the signing along with Noctis and his retinue. She took time in the morning for diplomatic niceties with the imperial attaché. All the posturing made Cor's teeth hurt, but he went along and held his tongue. They learned two things. The first was that the night's misadventure seemed to have gone unnoticed by their guests. What daemons had made it through while the Wall was down had not made it into any of their rooms before Reina had taken charge. He couldn't help but wonder if that was related to the imperial chancellor.

Second, they witnessed up-close the imperials' reaction to the ring on her finger. Somehow she made it obvious that she was wearing it without appearing to flaunt it. The high commander openly stared, the emperor's eyes bugged, and his chief attendant spilled coffee down his white robes.

"Give them something to pass the time discussing," Reina remarked in an undertone as they left.

Even before the door shut behind them, the Nifs had gathered in hushed conference.

The hours drew on. At Reina's command, a ravine twenty miles south of Insomnia was surveyed; the Kingsglaives discovered an imperial fleet waiting, prepared for the impending invasion. She ordered only that they be watched.

Everything that could be pre-arranged without giving away their position had been. Tension in the throne room was tangible. Regis stood at the window, wringing his cane. Reina paced. Noctis sat on the steps and tapped a rhythmic pattern on the side of his boot.

Sitting idle was torture. Cor caught Reina by the shoulder and leaned close enough to drop his voice and still be heard. "I'm going to check in on the traitors."

"Go." She waved him away, distracted, and continued her pacing.

He went. Prompto stopped chewing his nail and looked up as he passed, hoping Cor would give him something to do besides sit and wait. Poor bastard. Better no one else knew what Reina had been doing in the dungeons.

An unusual number of attendants loitered in the hall outside the throne room. Cor recognized more than half the faces; he had trained those Crownsguards himself. Too bad he hadn't trained them as proficient actors. He'd have to have a word with them on the way back. For now he tried not to notice when they stood straighter and visibly resisted the urge to salute him.

The lift in the main lobby took him to the basement: a storage floor that spanned the width and breadth of the Citadel. Only stairs went down to the sub-basement. Cor's steps echoed in the narrow stairwell as he descended. The lights buzzed when he flicked the switch; with every landing he passed, the temperature dropped another degree.

He rounded the corner, passed the interrogation room, where Reina had first confronted Drautos, and struck out toward the cells farther down. Blood streaked the floor from where Cor had half-dragged Drautos, and a faint sulfur smell blended with copper in the stale air. Cor picked up his pace.

The light at the end of the hall flickered on and off. While it was on, he could see the debris piled in the walkway: chunks of masonry and a metal door six-inches thick, blown off its hinges.

Shit.

Drautos' cell—marked with a puddle of dried blood and red-brown hand prints on the wall—was empty. The adjacent cells were as well. The locks were blasted off and the doors hung free on their hinges and creaked when Cor pushed them open.

How had no one heard this?

Stupid question. The basements were designed that way.

The traitors were gone. Even without their magic, the Kingsglaives were formidable fighters, and now Glauca was free as well. Reina needed to know. Now.

He sprinted for the throne room. Never mind subtlety; the imperials knew at least half of their plan and now they had more imperial traitors in the city. More than one of the servants he passed looked alarmed. One girl dropped the tray of tea she was carrying. Several Crownsguards reached for their weapons, but he waved them down.

He skidded around the marble pillars as he turned the corner toward the throne room. The doors were in sight now. Too many attendants rushed to open them for him. He shoved through the gap before they managed.

"Your Highness!" Reina turned at his call. "The Glaives are gone."

Everyone was already staring at him. Regis' eyebrows snapped together. Noctis sat up straight. Reina stopped pacing; he could practically see the gears turning in her head.

Then: "Clarus, how long until the ceremony?"

"Less than an hour, Your Highness."

"The greater threat is to the crystal. They know I bear the ring—without further knowledge, they must also make the assumption that I wield the full power, which makes it a more difficult target. So the crystal is our weak point," She spoke rapidly—not so much thinking aloud as she was keeping them abreast of conclusions she had already drawn. "Noctis, I need you and your friends outside the crystal chamber."

Noctis lurched to his feet. "Right. Now?"

"Immediately."

"And you, my dear?" Regis asked.

"I will stay at your side."

"With the ring on your hand, the dangers to me are minimal," Regis said. "The Crownsguards stationed around and within the treaty chamber shall be more than sufficient. But if Niflheim throws their full weight behind an attack on the crystal—including General Glauca—I daresay even those Glaives and Noctis together will struggle to hold them back."

"And if he should come to the treaty room, instead?" She asked.

"Then he shall be sorely disappointed to find the trip was for naught. Reina, the crystal must be your priority." Regis stepped forward, grasping her shoulder. "You know this. If they break through, the Wall falls. If the Wall falls, so too does Insomnia."

"And if you die—"

"Then Insomnia and all the rest may still be salvaged, thanks to you," he said.

Though Regis held onto her shoulder, she was as tense as a statue. She would never make that choice. She would never put Regis' life in danger, even at the cost of the kingdom.

"Go, my dear. I will be fine," Regis said. "My strength is greater without the weight of the Wall."

She stood frozen for a full five seconds, staring at him.

"You had better be," she said. And, against everything Cor thought he had known about her, she turned around and walked away, putting the safety of the kingdom before that of Regis.

Cor fell into place one step behind her and to her right as they followed Noctis and his retinue out of the hall.

"I am going to tear Drautos' heart from his chest and force it down his throat." She said it so calmly and matter-of-factly. In spite of the disjoint between her words and her tone, Cor found himself agreeing with her. No traitors walked free tonight.

For one minute, Cor had thought he had witnessed the impossible: Reina, choosing to protect the kingdom over her father. But he hadn't. He had only seen how far revenge would drive her.