Queen Glory glanced around the library. Tiger and Mastermind were both there already, looking through scrolls for information on Calamity and Queen Frost, but Polar and Toxin were nowhere to be seen. Maybe they'd just stayed late at breakfast? Oh well, they'd helped out enough already. Toxin was still a dragonet; it was probably too much to expect her to work in the library for four straight days. She needed to have a little bit of fun, converse with some of the other dragonets. And from what Glory had seen of Polar, the IceWing could use a bit more joy in his life.

She turned back to Tiger and Mastermind. The two had been faring well. Both seemed at home around so many scrolls. She still felt bad about taking Tiger out of her classes, but Glory didn't think she'd have much problem catching up with the rest of her winglet on schoolwork. Glory would make sure Webs went easy on her.

"Any luck?" Glory asked.

Tiger shook her head. "No, your majesty. I've found a few more Scorching scrolls on the legends about ancient Calamity and the Seven Eyes, but nothing new. Most of them are just repeats of what we already found. Not a lot of Scorching history has survived."

Queen Glory sighed. She supposed that was to be expected. "Mastermind?"

The NightWing held up a scroll, too far away for Glory to read it. "I don't think this is very useful, but it's interesting. The scroll is about IceWing animuses, and gives a few theories for how their magic originated. In accordance with the other scrolls we've read, it claims that Queen Frost introduced animus magic to the IceWing royal family through marriage. It also says that she confined it to the royal family, often through violent methods. But her mate's mother, Arctic Fox, was far from the first IceWing animus. They appeared long before the Scorching. Apparently, most IceWings believe that animus magic was given to them by the Great Ice Dragon."

"The Great Ice Dragon," Glory mused. "I've heard some of the IceWing students mention her, but don't really know what the Great Ice Dragon is."

"Changbai told me about her," Tiger explained. "The Great Ice Dragon is the IceWing deity, sort of like some NightWings and SandWings have moon goddesses, and SkyWings have a gryphon god. The Great Ice Dragon is said to have chosen the IceWings to grant the first Gifts of blue blood, frostbreath, and animus magic. She lives trapped within the ice. Changbai says that when the world ends, Pyrrhia will get really hot and the ice will melt, and she'll rise up to take the IceWings to an eternal paradise."

Glory snorted. The whole 'Gifts' thing just sounded like a way to make IceWings think they were better than other dragons. If that's what they were being told all their lives, no wonder so many were as stuck-up as NightWings. "So they think the Great Ice Dragon gave them animus magic specifically? That's salamander-brained. There are plenty of non-IceWing animuses."

Mastermind coughed. "You're right, but IceWings historically have had the most animuses. The conventional explanation is that animus magic gets spread through hybrids, and that all animuses can trace their lineage back to IceWings."

"The 'conventional explanation' sounds like IceWing propaganda," Glory retorted. "The NightWings have animuses, right? Don't tell me that there's a ton of NightWing-IceWing hybrids out there; you all hate each other."

Mastermind shuffled. "Well, not exactly a lot of hybrids, just one important one. The IceWings hate us because we stole animus magic from them. In particular, they claim a NightWing named Foeslayer kidnapped one of their princes and . . . used him to introduce magic into the NightWings. We've had animuses since, although the line has been far more sporadic, and we've never been able to control them the same way the IceWings have."

"Control them?" Glory asked.

"Yes," Mastermind replied. "They've often caused lots of trouble. For example, there was one named Sunscorcher before I hatched. She didn't take well to her queen telling her what to do, and eventually killed her before leaving the kingdom. It lucky she didn't do worse. Then there was our most recent animus, Stonemover. He's the one who created the tunnels. He never did anything violent so far as we know, although some think he enchanted the volcano to erupt early. Rumors not based in facts, of course. But he and his sister disappeared in a probably treasonous fashion around the time Starflight hatched. They were caught going through the tunnels with a SeaWing who presumably came across our island when swimming, but escaped. No one knows what happened to Stonemover, although we suspected he was killed by an animus hunter not long afterwards."

"An animus hunter?" Glory asked, curious. She knew that Stonemover wasn't dead, of course, although she'd tried to keep that a secret. She wondered what tall tales the NightWings had made up about the pitiful Stonemover.

"I wasn't particularly involved with the whole incident, but around the time Stonemover was making the tunnels, there were rumors of a dragon going around Pyrrhia, killing animuses. Quite a worry for her majesty, who didn't want to lose her only animus. But the rumors stopped after Stonemover left, so some thought that his sister had been somehow making them up in an effort to keep Queen Battlewinner from forcing Stonemover to use his magic."

An animus hunter, Glory wondered. Well fortunately for Anemone, the rumors had stopped. It probably wasn't a threat, unless the NightWings started hatching animuses. She already had enough dragons with the NightWing powers on her paws, she really didn't want to add soul-stealing animus magic to the mix.

"Glory! You in here?" Tsunami's voice suddenly called from outside the library.

Queen Glory stood up in surprise, turning towards the entrance to see Tsunami. Standing next to her was a concerned looking Deathbringer, a thin scroll in his talons. Glory let out a sigh of relief.

"You're okay!" she said, gladly. He seemed a little bit out of breath, but wasn't hurt. Even if it had only been a few days, she'd been worried about him. She'd sent him on a dangerous mission, and even if Deathbringer was an expert assassin, there was always the chance things could've gone wrong. "I'm so glad you're safe."

Deathbringer walked into the library, and Glory gave him a hug, holding him tight. Her scales started to turn a rosy pink. "You too," Deathbringer replied. "I came right away."

"Right away?" Glory asked, confused, her mate's wings still wrapped around her. "Did something happen? Did you find Aurora?"

"Yes," Deathbringer answered. "Early this morning, I found her in the forests around Jade Mountain. I took the chance to try and kill her. I threw one of my disks right through her neck."

"That's great," Glory sighed in relief. She wasn't the kind of queen who codoned executions, but based on what Aurora had done to her bodyguards, she was too dangerous to be left free. Whatever had happened, it certainly wasn't talons which had made some of those wounds. If Deathbringer had been able to capture her, Glory knew he would've done it. "I was kind of hoping to interrogate her, but I guess that's no longer an option."

Deathbringer shook his head. "No. It is."

"Huh?" Glory asked, confused. "I thought you said—"

"You didn't let me finish," Deathbringer gulped. "She's not dead. The disk cut through one of her arteries. There was a lot of blood. But it stopped. She turned around, and stared at me. I threw another one. It went right through her, as if she was made of air. I thought she was going to kill me, but she left. She walked into the mountainside, and disappeared."

"Wait, what?" Glory stammered. "No, she couldn't have survived that. Dragons can't survive that. Not normally. Curse the moons. Deathbringer, you were right. She's got animus-touched artifacts, or even worse, she's an animus herself."

Deathbringer nodded. "Probably. It's why I came here. If Toxin's vision is right, and she'll be at Jade Mountain, I wanted to make sure you're safe. Or better yet, not at Jade Mountain."

Glory shook her head. "No, I need to see this through the end. The drought is still going on. We've got enough snow up here to last us a while, but the rainforest will suffer. I need to figure out how to end it. We're close, too. I think it has to do with the Eye of Onyx."

"If it has to do with the Eye of Onyx, then maybe you should go the Sand Kingdom," Deathbringer suggested. "I say this because Sunny gave you an invitation." He handed Glory the scroll he'd been carrying. Glory rolled it open, quickly reading its contents.

"It came through the tunnel yesterday, from the palace," Deathbringer explained. "Jambu took it in your place, and flew it to me."

"Sunny wants to meet with me urgently . . . war with Aloe . . . Queen Glacier assassinated in a secret meeting . . . Icicle dead, Blackice takes the throne . . ." Glory got progressively more anxious as she read it. She had so much to deal with already: the drought, Aurora, Toxin's vision. This felt like too much. Still, that's what she'd agreed to take on when she'd become queen. She'd protect the rainforest and its inhabitants, even if it killed her.

"Sunny's starting a war?" Tsunami frowned, peering over the scroll. "Huh, I thought I was the one everyone thought would do that. What is Clay doing over there to let it get this bad?"

"I'm sure she has her reasons," Glory replied. "Being queen isn't just pearls and lobsters." Still, Glory was pretty alarmed. She'd need to have a talk with Sunny about this.

"Alright, but — do you hear that?" Tsunami went quiet, much to Glory's surprise.

Glory listened quietly. Someone was yelling. "Toxin?" A burst of green terror flashed across her scales. Oh no.

Tsunami, Glory, and Deathbringer rushed to the source of the yells, the front of the school. A crowd of students had already started to gather. "Move!" Tsunami ordered, pushing them out of the way. "Back to your classes!"

Toxin and Polar were at the ledge, a dragon's body draped over Polar's back. Ink. Red blood dripped down Polar's light blue scales, onto the entrance platform.

Toxin turned to Glory as he saw her approach. "We need to get him medical care, now."

Tsunami pointed down a tunnel. "The infirmary is this way," she said. She frowned. What had happened? She didn't like that none of the dragons involved were her students. At least Glory seemed to know Toxin.

Helping Polar shoulder Ink, Tsunami led the group up to the infirmary. She placed him down on one of the beds, and examined the hybrid. Most of the blood was coming from wounds all over his back and wings, like small sharp cuts. Fortunately, they all seemed surface level, and the sheer number of them made him look in worse condition than he was. The wound from his torn eye had stopped bleeding.

"Well?" Polar asked anxiously, standing over Ink. "He's going to live, right?"

"It looks painful, but he's nowhere near critical condition," Tsunami diagnosed. "Nothing's broken. He'll survive, and most of the wounds will heal quickly; no permanent damage. I'd keep him from flying for a while, though, don't want to risk damaging the wing membranes more. The only thing I'm really worried about is the eye. Three moons, what did he get into?"

"He was attacked," Toxin hissed, turning to Glory. "By Aurora."

Glory winced, and gave Deathbringer a glance. So Aurora was here, and was still alive. "Was it unprovoked?"

"Probably," Toxin answered.

Polar shook his head. "I don't think so," he replied. "I think Ink was looking for her. I saw him leave the academy this morning with some chains. He was pretty angry. I talked with Stonemover yesterday. I'm pretty sure Ink was trying to avenge his parents."

Glory flicked out her tongue. How come Aurora had let him live, especially if Ink had been the one to attack her? It was almost unfair. Glory knew Aurora could have done far worse that a few surface wounds and a missing eye. She still didn't know if Frog was going to live or not. "Polar, how well did you know Ink?"

"Not much," Polar admitted. "I met up with him on my flight here. He offered me water. He's . . . nice. We've been rooming since we got here, but he's mostly hung out with the Silver Winglet and the fireborn."

"Fireborn?" Glory asked. "You mean Peril?"

Polar shook his head. "The other one. Inferno."

"She's from the Talons," Tsunami added. "Riptide sent her."

Glory frowned, and tapped a claw. It felt like Toxin's vision was growing closer and closer. A RainWing with a burning wing, falling from Jade Mountain as Aurora watched. She'd thought that Peril would be the one to do it, but this changed things.

"Oh yeah," Tsunami added. "Peril and the Jade Winglet came back yesterday. You wanted me to tell you, right?"

Glory sighed. "Yeah." This was worrying.

"Hey, didn't he have an eyepatch on this morning?" Toxin asked. "Like, over the eye socket that's bleeding."

Polar nodded in confirmation. "It was there when we brought him back, but I lost it in the flight."

"Then why would Aurora attack a missing eye?" Toxin snorted. "That's kind of pointless."

"It wasn't missing, I saw it a few times," Polar replied. "He had some sort of birth defect where his eye didn't have a pupil or iris. I think the eyepatch was just to keep it hidden so dragons wouldn't stare." Although it wasn't like dragons wouldn't stare at Ink anyways for being a hybrid.

"Fine, but that's not really a good explanation," Toxin retorted. "Aurora bothered to tear it out."

"Could've be a blindside attack," Tsunami added. "Excruciatingly painful and gross, but not actually a threat to his life. Same with the wounds on his back. She clearly wasn't aiming to kill."

Toxin sat in silence, tapping her claws on the ground. It still seemed weird. What connection did Aurora have to Ink, and why had she let him live? She glanced to the IceWing at her side, carefully watching Ink's breathing. "And what do you have to say about this?"

"Huh?" Polar asked, confused. "I told you, his eyepatch wa—"

"No, no," Toxin growled. "You're hiding something. Again."

Polar stiffened up, and shuffled his forepaws around, the Darkstone uncomfortably visible. Tsunami, Glory, and Deathbringer's eyes had turned on him. "What? I'm as confused as the rest of you."

"Nuh-uh," Toxin replied. "You mentioned that you talked to Stonemover about Ink's parents. Didn't Mastermind say he was Nightreader's sister? Like from the prophecy?"

"Prophecy?" Tsunami exclaimed, surprised. "Oh, please don't tell me there's another prophecy. I hate those."

"Hey, that was an accident," Polar growled. "I didn't mean to run into him."

"And what about what Aurora said?" Toxin continued. "'Family resemblance?' What was that all about?"

Polar didn't want to think about that. "I don't know," he lied. "She was probably just trying to freak us out."

"Freak us out?" Toxin argued. "That was aimed towards you. She completely ignored me!"

"It's because you're a dragonet," suggested Polar. "She probably didn't see you as a threat."

Toxin hissed, baring her fangs. If Polar was going to lie to her, couldn't he at least try harder? "What, you think she saw you as a threat? She took out four of the most fight-trained RainWings in seconds, and the ones still living were too traumatized to tell us what happened. Her neck was literally split open. She sunk into the ground. So, what did she mean by that? Are you two related, or not?"

"I don't know!" Polar angrily growled. "Maybe, maybe not. Why does it matter? Why do you all care so much who I'm related to?"

"You saw what she did to Ink," Toxin hissed. "Maybe if you told us your relation to her and actually were open about it, we'd be able to find a way to stop her, or at least make sure no one else dies."

"Fine!" Polar snapped. "Crystal is my aunt. It's why Queen Glacier tasked me to hunt her down. Aurora is probably Crystal's daughter, which is where she got the D — necklace from. My aunt is a serial killer, and murdered Queen Sunny's mother. Happy?"

The other dragons were silent for a moment, not sure how to respond to the enraged IceWing. He looked around at them, glaring.

Tsunami was the one to break the silence, offering sympathy. "If it's any consolation, my family is pretty awful, too. There's a reason I twisted my mother's claws to get Anemone here instead of home."

"Starflight's dad is a war criminal," Glory commented. "And Clay's mom is a total jerk, worse than you. Makes me kinda happy RainWings don't do families."

Polar blinked a few times, surprised he'd gotten sympathy. It was a stark change to dragons' responses in the Ice Kingdom. It was like they didn't care at all about it.

"So, now that we've got that out of the way, is there anything else you wanted to tell us?" Glory continued. "For example, what's your bracelet enchanted to do? Please don't bother trying to pretend it's not animus-touched. I've seen Aurora's. Both of you have that weird burn scar around it."

Polar looked down at his paws, staring at the Darkstone. He'd really messed up this time. "I can't tell you about it. Queen Glacier ordered me to keep it a secret, especially from a rival queen. It's confidential information."

"Queen Glacier, huh?" Glory tsked. "So I take it you don't know what happened?"

Polar's heart started to race. No. It couldn't be. Glory couldn't mean . . . "D-don't know what?"

The rainforest queen sighed, and held up the scroll Deathbringer had given her. "Queen Glacier is dead. Assassinated."

Polar shook his head in disbelief, his talons trembling. "No, that can't be. Let me see that." Glory had to be wrong. This was some sort of trick.

Glory was about to tell Polar that the scroll contained confidential information, but realized how hypocritical that would be. She supposed there wasn't anything too personal in there, and if she wanted Polar to trust her, she needed to do the same. "Alright, but there's some personal stuff in there. Please don't go spelling the contents."

Polar took it without responding. He quickly looked down the contents. Queen Glacier and Princess Snowfall dead, assassinated in a secret meeting with aristocrats. The rest of the Empty Circle. Ex-Princess Blackice usurped the throne from Icicle, killing the residents of the palace.

Polar looked down at the Darkstone, his blood running as cold as ice. He'd succeeded on his mission. He'd been able to do animus magic. Yet, it was all for nothing. Queen Glacier and the Empty Circle were dead. Not just them, almost everyone he'd ever known. Sure, there were still IceWings, but for him, there was no Ice Kingdom to return to. His dream of redemption was dead. Who could he redeem himself to? And getting animus magic back into the royal family — Blackice was more likely to kill him and take the Darkstone for herself than take Polar as her king. Or force him to father dragonets with her before killing him. All he'd worked for had been for nothing.

Even without color-changing scales, Glory could see Polar's emotions. "So Polar, where do your loyalties lie?" she asked. "To Blackice, or to Pyrrhia? Are you going to tell me what's really going on?"

Polar sighed. Telling her would be treason. But who would punish him for it? Blackice? If there was one dragon he didn't want to have animus magic, it was probably her. He hadn't sworn loyalty to her, and if he could help it, he never would. "Fine," Polar muttered. "I'll tell you. But Tsunami and Deathbringer have to leave. I want as few ears as possible hearing this."

Glory rolled her eyes, and motioned them to shoo. Tsunami shot Glory a glare, but complied. "What about Toxin?" asked Glory.

Polar shook his head. "She can stay. I trust her more than you. And I doubt you'd hurt me in front of her."

"Hurt you?" Glory frowned. What was this secret? "Alright. But there's a good chance that Deathbringer and Tsunami will end up hearing about this anyways. Deathbringer is my mate, and Tsunami's basically my sister."

"Fine," Polar acknowledged. "Stonemover knows anyways, ironically enough. What's going on is a fight over animus magic."

"Animus magic?" Glory asked, slightly confused. "But IceWings lost it two-thousand years ago. Are you fighting over animus-touched objects or something?"

Polar shook his head. "No. There was a project that's gone on since Queen Oasis's death, trying to create artificial animuses."

"Artificial animuses?" Glory snorted. The idea was laudable. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"The project was to create an object that could let normal dragons use animus magic, called Darkstone. My grandfather, Boreal, started it with Queen Glacier's permission after making an unexpected discovery while mining. The project was almost successful. We created an object that allowed its holders to use animus magic for small feats. But Crystal, my aunt, murdered her father, destroyed much of his work, and stole the prototype. Over the years, she slowly murdered most of the dragons who'd worked on the project, or even knew about it. She set us back a decade. And it looks like she came back to finish the job. As far as I know, I'm the only dragon alive who knows about the project, at least in any significant detail."

Glory pondered this for a moment. "So that's what all this is about? Queen Thorn's death, Queen Glacier's death, Aurora, the drought? It's just a fight for who has animus magic and who doesn't?"

"I don't know," Polar admitted. "I'm being truthful this time. I have no idea what Crystal and Aurora are plotting. If it's just about animus magic, then it should be all over. Unless they need to kill me too. Maybe Ink will know more, when he wakes up."

"And Aurora is an animus, which is how she survived Deathbringer's assassination. Because of this secret project?"

Polar nodded. "Yes."

"How?" Glory frowned. "How does it work?"

Polar shook his head. "I don't want to give you detailed information. It could put you in danger. Moreso, I don't want you to be able to replicate it. Not you, not Sunny, definitely not Blackice, not any of the queens. If this is what caused all of this, I think it should die with me."

Polar kept his head up. He knew he was denying a queen information. Queen Glacier wouldn't have allowed that. And if Queen Glory decided she wanted animus magic for herself, Polar didn't know what she would resort to to get the information out of Polar. He winced at the thought of torture.

Glory closed her eyes. She was frustrated Polar still wasn't open with her, but at least now, she understood why. "Alright, I'll respect that. I don't need details. I don't want to replicate the project either. Animus magic is probably far more trouble than it's worth. Is there anything else that might be helpful for me to know?"

"Maybe one thing," Polar replied. It was more information than he wanted to give out, but if this made a difference . . . "Aurora's necklace, the one that looks like my bracelet. If you can get that off her somehow, that might get rid of her animus magic. Or not. Either way, if you get that . . . give it to Stonemover. He'll know what to do." If there was one dragon who wouldn't use the Darkstone for himself, it was an animus who hated his own magic. "Promise me."

Glory nodded. "I promise. And if Stonemover's dead, or doesn't accept it?"

"Throw it into the heart of a volcano," Polar grimaced, repeating Stonemover's words.

Glory took a deep breath. Maybe there was some way to defeat Aurora after all. But Glory wasn't sure she was the one who needed to do it. "Alright. I'll tell Deathbringer this, but no one else. I suspect you already know about Toxin's visions? Aurora will be here when it happens. Maybe that's our chance. But I have a meeting with Sunny, so I guess I won't be able to be there when it happens."

Glory glanced over to Toxin. She'd been awfully quiet during this whole conversation. Glory was surprised she hadn't asked any questions or made any snide comments. The RainWing-NightWing hybrid was over Ink's body, looking down at his empty eye socket, blood coating the inside. "You alright?"

Toxin didn't respond. Glory frowned, slightly concerned. She brushed her wing against Toxin, but the dragonet didn't move. "Toxin?" she asked, starting to get worried. "TOXIN?"

Toxin's mouth started to move. A voice started to snake out of her jaws that was not her own.

"Blood," Toxin whispered, her talons shaking. "There's blood everywhere. A sea of blood."