For today's chapter poll, we get to talk about the best part of any book- the villain! 

Ravenna: Ahem- villains. Plural. The Eagle and I are equal partners in this!

Right, co-villains. Villain couple. Whatever they want to call themselves. Anyway, what do you guys think of them so far? Some people have told me that giving the villain a love interest makes them 'soft' and 'less scary,' but what if they're both equally psychotic? You'll learn about Rave and the Eagle's backstory soon, which I hope will explain their relationship a little better.  

Chapter poll: What do you think of the idea of a villain couple? 

Alright, but lone villains all the way! 

or

It's a really cool dynamic to explore- you rarely get two powerful villains interacting this way. 

"Do you like it?" Juliana grinned, bouncing on her heels with childlike excitement. Commander Dev and the Heirs stood in the middle of a relatively small octagonal chamber. Each of its eight sides was a glass window with a metal mannequin behind it. The first of the mannequins, the object of Juliana's question, was clothed in an all-black combat suit with silver accents. A similarly colored helmet hung by a nearly invisible thread from the ceiling. 

"That thing looks sick." For the first time in a while, Roy allowed a small smile to show on his face. He approached the glass, pressing his hands to it as he traced out the shape of the suit with his fingertips. 

"It's certainly got the best armor of all our suits," Commander Dev explained. "The princess and I did a meta-analysis of all your training videos since you started school at the Royal Academy. We came to a conclusion that your fighting style is very forthright, and we wanted to give you as much protection as possible in the case of a headlong attack." 

"The suits are also built to be compatible with your PW. For example, yours has sensors on the gauntlet that let it interface with your watch," Juliana told Roy. 

"What's a PW?" Chase frowned, confused. Both Juliana and Roy turned around, taking a moment to remember he was there. He'd been silent for the past few minutes, too blown away by the design for Roy's suit to ask very many questions. 

"Oh- Principal Weapon," Juliana replied dismissively. "The Order's got a vault of advanced weaponry. When Bloodline children turn six, we choose the weapon that fits us best- one that will stay with us for the rest of our life. When we die, our PWs go back to the vault to be recycled for future generations."

"Your spear..." Chase trailed off, remembering how Juliana's pearl bracelet had morphed into the double-pointed weapon during her battle with the Eagle. "Is that your Principal Weapon?" 

"It is," Juliana smiled, looking proud that he remembered. "Roy's watch turns into a mace with telekinetically controllable spikes- yes, it's as cool as it sounds." 

"And my belt turns into a sixteen-foot-long whip!" Hayley flashed two thumbs up. 

"So how does communicating with my PW help my suit?" Roy crossed his arms.

"Well, we were planning on installing tiny cameras in all the spikes on your mace and making the feeds visible inside your helmet. That way, if you slip a spike in a Jacker's pocket, for example, you can see everything they're doing. It was Commander Dev's idea, and I think it's wonderful!" 

"To beat the enemy, you must see him while he cannot see you," Commander Dev affirmed. 

"Wait," Roy pressed his nose against the glass, frowning as he peered at the suit inside. "There's something written on the helmet that I can't quite read..." 

"The Obsidian Hunter," Juliana announced proudly. "Don't look at me like that- the suits are supposed to keep us anonymous for our own protection! Of course I gave them code names!" 

"I am the future Duke of Tessitania and I refuse to refer to myself by a distastefully childish, cartoon-sounding name like that!" Roy sniffed loudly as he turned around leaning his back against the glass separating him from his suit. 

"Oh, you'll change your mind when you try this hunker on," Commander Dev rapped her knuckles against the glass with pride. "It's got laser shooters and tension-resisting tech that'll double your reflexes, expand your peripheral vision, and have you jumping over walls in one leap. It's nothing short of a miracle in military technology, and there is no name more fitting." 

"Wait... is this one for me?" Everyone's attention shifted to the right to see Hayley standing in front of another glass panel, gazing in wonder at the creation inside it. This mannequin, unlike Roy's, which was standing straight up, was in the middle of a complex backflip maneuver with its legs pointed outward from each other at a nearly 180 degree angle. The suit itself was a mesmerizing sea green, with a thin, sleeveless body piece and long black gauntlets, boots, and gloves. The helmet was little more than an elaborately decorated mask that was half green and half black, split straight down the nosebridge. 

"Yes, Lady Hayley," Commander Dev made her way over to the second suit. "This is the lightest and most flexible of our suits- you are an accomplished gymnast, and the princess and I wanted to leverage that skill. It may not seem like it's very protective, but I can assure you that these nanofibers are deceptively strong." 

"As you can see, there are suction cups on the gloves and the bottoms of the boots. When activated, they're strong enough to allow you to adhere to any solid surface," Juliana added. "Great for scaling buildings." 

"This is so cool!" Hayley squealed, sprinting up to the glass as she stared at it in wonder. "I've always wanted to run across the ceiling!" After a momentary pause, a question struck her. "Do my suit and I get a code name?" 

"You're 'Twyst', with a y," Juliana smiled. "Short, but telling." 

Hearing this, Hayley stopped short. She walked up to Juliana, her eyes wide as a puppy's, as she placed her hands on the princess's shoulders and began to speak in a slow, solemn voice. "Bless your heart, Jules, do you have any idea how many puns I can make with that name? I'll just be crawling across the ceiling and drop to the floor in front of the Eagle," she began, acting out her words with her hands. "And then I'll grab him by the calf and twyst his ankle. He'll try to catch me while he's falling but I'll twyst out of his grasp." 

"Oh, God, no," Roy covered his ears with his palms, looking decidedly miserable. "Make her stop!" 

"That's enough, guys," Juliana rolled her eyes. "Does anyone want to see my suit?" 

That got both of them quiet. The other three Heirs stared in wonder as Juliana directed their attention to yet another mannequin. This one stood with its arms crossed in front of its chest to highlight the gleaming red gauntlets along its forearms. Stepping closer to the glass case, Chase could make out a series of buttons along the right gauntlet, probably for activating the various features of the suit. As his eye slowly traveled upward along the arm, he saw that this suit looked a lot more complex than the other two. It consisted of a plain black jumpsuit underlayer with a brilliant red breastplate and tall, thick-soled red boots to match. Both of these were inlayed with veins of black material, probably for flexibility and impact absorption. 

"I call it..." 

"The Crimson Angel," both Juliana and Chase said simultaneously. The princess looked from the suit to Chase in wonder, a smile creeping onto her face. "How did you know?" 

"I just figured, I guess," Chase paused for a second, savoring the moment. Somehow, he felt inexplicably proud. Most kids forgot their fantastical childhood dreams... but here was one who had literally brought hers to life. 

"Oh, Jules, it's beautiful!" Hayley gushed, giving Juliana a high five. 

"Our new combat suits were five million each... I don't even want to know how much that cost," Roy shook his head, staring at the suit in awe. 

"It was an investment," Juliana said, her expression growing serious as she positioned herself in front of the mannequin so that the suit loomed behind her. "In the future of the Order." 

"It's- it's great, really," Chase nodded, mentally comparing the suit before him to the crude drawing so carefully framed at the entrance to Juliana's lab. It surprised him how true the final product was to the original design- the color scheme matched exactly, and there was a small disc in the center of each jet black glove, probably for shooting out those lasers young Juliana had so creatively depicted. Yet, technology and Commander Dev's design expertise had clearly made some major improvements: the entire suit, despite consisting of so many pieces, didn't even begin to look bulky, and a tiny pair of red wings was engraved in the center of the breastplate. 

And that was when Chase realized something. 

"But...there's something missing," he said. All faces turned to him, as if wondering what fault he'd found that their more experienced eyes couldn't detect. "What about the wings?"

Juliana's eyes momentarily turned to the ground. "Well... we're trying. We really are, but they're still in the testing stage. I can show you the preliminary design, though." She pressed both her palms to the glass, watching as it glowed green underneath them and emitted a soft beep. The panel immediately slid open, allowing her access to the suit. She reached forward to gently hold the right gauntlet, pressing down the biggest button on its side. Chase could tell from the meditatively careful way she handled it that Juliana had truly put herself into this suit. She seemed to understand her privilege better than any other well-off person he'd seen. 

The button's effect was almost instantaneous. The two thin metal cylinders attached to the back of the suit began to buzz softly, splitting open. The Heirs watched, quietly enthralled, as deep red feathers began to emerge from them, unfurling methodically until they were a bold pair of wings at the mannequin's sides, so broad they brushed the edges of the two glass chambers on either side of them. Waiting until the wings looked stable, Juliana pressed another button below the first. 

First, they began to ruffle as if a breeze was blowing through them. And then, they moved faster and faster, flapping back and forth in a mechanical motion. As their speed increased, some realization seemed to dawn in Juliana's eyes. She frantically reached forward with shaking hands, pressing the button repeatedly, but it had no effect. She watched helplessly, her eyes horror-stricken, as the left wing flapped violently forward, pulling away from its metal casing with a horrible creak and landing at the mannequin's feet. Then, as if to mimic its fallen counterpart, the right wing, too, finally fell still. 

Juliana stood in silence, her hands pressed to her mouth, as the intangible magic of the suit faded away. Now, lopsided and feather-spattered, it looked less like the outfit of a superhero and more like a cheap Halloween costume replica. No one dared approach the princess as she stared at her creation, her eyes screaming at the top of their lungs even though her mouth was silent. 

"Princess... this is only our twentieth trial," Commander Dev said cautiously, attempting an encouraging smile. "We will get it right, eventually. We only need to review the relationship between the force generated by the wings and the strength of the adhesives holding them together." 

"We're not ready," Juliana shook her head as she lowered her hands, her face entirely devoid of emotion. "None of this is ready. Oh, for goodness' sake it was a school project. It was nice in class and all, but I don't know why I let myself believe it would work in the real world." Her lip quivered, and Chase could see her fighting back her tears. 

Royals are only human. Even prodigious ones. 

"We should give her some time alone," Hayley whispered to Roy. Surprisingly, he didn't argue with her. The two snuck quietly out of the chamber, closely followed by Commander Dev, ducking as they made their way back through the panel in the wall. Chase lingered behind Juliana, wondering if he should follow them, when he felt her hand on his wrist. Somehow, without him even realizing it, she'd made her way to his side. 

"Tell me, Chase, what's an angel without wings?" Juliana whispered. 

Chase didn't know how to respond. 

"The Crimson Angel was a character in my head," she continued. "She was brave and strong and noble... and she could fly. She was everything I ever wanted to be, but I'm not her. I learned that the day I sat there in pain and defeat while the Eagle gloated at me. I learned that no matter how great I think I am, there will always be a stronger enemy looking down at me like I'm nothing." 

"Brave, strong, noble, could fly..." Chase echoed Juliana's words. "So those are the criteria. Last time I checked, only one of them involves wings. That means that right now, assuming you don't get that suit right- which you will- you're 75% of the way to being The Crimson Angel. As you, an Order member, should know, that's not a bad percentage at all." 

For a moment, Juliana looked ready to punch him, but her features immediately softened. She even seemed to fleetingly smile. 

"Oh, Chase, you beautifully clueless American," she let out a bittersweet laugh as she approached him, wrapping her arms around his neck. 

It took Chase a moment to process the fact that he was being hugged by none other than the Crown Princess of Arcana. Finally, he allowed his shocked muscles to loosen, slowly and awkwardly wrapping his arms around her.