Uncertainty flickers across the Lord Regent’s face. Quick, but I see it—and he knows that I did. Aldrich calls to the Seneschal of Mesmer. “Tacitus, if you would?”

As soon as the room empties, Tacitus wraps his hands around my face, squeezing tight. “Look at me.” I flex my fingers, send pain shooting up the arm William burned until it clears my mind. Still, I stare into his golden eyes and feel the deep pull into his well. Today, his mesmer feels… warm. Invitational.

“You will remember the decisions made here as if they were your own, and release your dissents.”

His words wash over me in a rhythmic wave, all care and generosity, and my thoughts start to follow them…. Releasing my dissents sounds lovely. It is lovely—

No. Tacitus’s voice lifts the heavy anchor awareness from my mind, but I pull it back.

“If anyone in the Order asks you what happened here, you will say you were in conference with us for the past three days and agreed to remove yourself from the public eye for the safety of the Order and the Legendborn spell.”

“Yes,” I whisper. “I will remember what was said here today.”

Tacitus’s brow dips momentarily, pausing at my wording. “Your assistance is an act of kindness to help us save your friends and the lives of thousands. You want to help others. And staying here is the best thing you can do with the gifts you’ve been given.”

“My… gifts?” I can barely keep the surprise out of my voice.

He nods. “Your inherited powers of Arthur.”

“Yes, of course,” I reply. “Arthur’s blood is a gift.”

My stomach twists into something rigid and painful. A knot burrowing into my gut. What happened to Vera was not a gift. It was assault. Theft. I want nothing else in the world in this moment but to burn this Merlin. Tear him apart.

Recognition flashes in Tacitus’s eyes. I shutter my rage, but it’s too late. He glimpsed what I’ve been hiding. He leans closer. “Briana, your heart is racing—and it shouldn’t be.”

I freeze. “Is that bad?”

“Only if it means this mesmer has not taken.” He tilts his head, voice mild. “We will hold you captive here. But if, by some chance, you escape, I will hunt you down to the ends of the earth and rip your power from its source. Do you understand?”

I hold his gaze, keeping my own steady and blank. “I am here for my own safety. Why would I choose to escape?”

17

EREBUS ESCORTS ME to my new lodgings. We take an elevator near the conference room and walk down a long, enclosed suspended bridge with a glass ceiling and glass sides. For the first time, I see where they’ve been keeping me.