I’m in the back of a van on a metal stretcher, with a Mageguard on either side. Max and Ramirez. Max lunges for me—too late. My freed fist strikes him across the nose so hard blood splatters against his cheeks.

“Stop the van!” Max’s voice is nasally and wet. Whoever’s driving us slams on the brakes, sending both Merlins sliding, while my stretcher, bolted to one metal wall, stays put. I yank hard with my left hand, tearing the other strap.

Ramirez darts forward, dodges my second punch and throws his weight behind his palm, slamming down heavy on my chest, sending me back against the stretcher. Hard. My head cracks against the metal. I see stars. The van’s gray ceiling spins, expands, threatens to turn liquid.

Ramirez screams, gripping his throat as a bright flare of silver-blue aether swarms his neck and face.

My thoughts run together. Logic feels loose, like threads unraveling and too hard to follow. Dimly, I think that if Ramirez is burning, he didn’t just mean to restrain me. He wanted to hurt me. His Oath of Service to protect the Legendborn, to me, is punishing him? I blink, confused.

The back doors slam open—there’s a scuffle. Ramirez is tossed to the floor.

“You fool!” Erebus, his aether signature rolling through the cabin like a heat wave.

“She attacked us!” Max cries. “She broke my nose!”

My head lolls to the side to see him cowering before his general. Beside him, Ramirez is moaning beneath the dimming flames.

Erebus advances on both Mageguard. “You are not to touch her again. Not that I care if your Oath takes you for it, but she is the only known heir to Arthur. If you kill her, the king’s inheritance will go to the next eligible heir in the Line—a Line for which we have no leads and no other Scion to replace her.”

“So what?” Max snarls, face bloody. “I’m supposed to let this little girl beat me?”

“She’s worth more to the Order than you are, Zhao. You do the math.”

No leads… no other heir… I can’t follow him, my brain can’t keep up, but something—

Max grunts. He pulls a third strap from the stretcher, binding my left arm against my hip. I couldn’t lift it if I tried. Not with the metal ceiling spinning and my stomach turning. I moan, and Erebus’s eyes snap to me, then to the open doors.

Someone shouts, “Dr. Reed is on the way with a stronger dose!”

“No…,” I moan, staring up at Erebus. “The Oath…”