FIRE IN THE STAR

The sisters seek Great Aunt Diana, but it’s not easy as Sophie’s nightmares have been getting worse. The search for Aunt Diana leads them to discover that she has been abducted by Royalists and taken to Hilltop Palace where Estelle has made her battle camp. They are able to save Aunt Diana after an intense battle in which Aunt Diana is wounded, and one of the four moonstones is cracked.

Diana refuses the Crown Princess-ship, and names both Claire and Sophie co-heirs: there are now two crown princesses of Arden. The three Martin women hurry to the stump of the First Tree where the moonstones must be placed in the light of Arden’s Blue Moon by a Crown Princess in order to begin the process. The ritual works, and three of the four moonstones grow warm to the touch. They only need to wait until the next full moon for the unicorns to emerge—but will it be too late? Meanwhile, Estelle has been able to complete her enchantment with blood from Diana’s injury, and she is able to reverse her own wraith fate. In addition, she is now powerful enough to make the wraiths immune to the sun. Arden is more dangerous than ever before—and Sophie again hides a secret from Claire: she knows the source of her nightmares. She’s suffering from the collected memories of the dead unicorns. The twist of horn from the gallery that Claire found in Book One was actually the tip of a real unicorn horn. When Sophie grasped it on the Sorrowful Plains, it cut her and the horn dissolved into her blood. It’s curing her, but it is also slowly changing her—Sophie is becoming a unicorn.