Alarm horns howled through the vault, shaking dust off the crystal as a hundred white-cloaked Wardens dropped into a ring. Every brand on every wrist pulsed the same slow gold, like one heart beating inside a hundred separate armored chests.
Juna spun both daggers up before the last Warden landed, her tail bristling and her shoulder jammed against Didi's.
Beside her Didi gripped her sword in both hands, "Those are my brother's Wardens, he never told me he owned a hundred."
"Don't let them touch your skin," Cassie warned, backing toward the cells with her staff crackling, "the brand needs contact."
Aria's flat voice slid through the bond, thin and exact, the only calm thing left in the vault.
"Observation, anyone ranked below a Warden must obey a Warden's voice, and all of you are ranked below them."
"Say that again slowly," she hissed, "so I can hate it properly."
"Wonderful," Juna muttered, rolling her neck until it cracked, "so it's a bad day to be short."
