Samira fixes me with a stare, walking closer. “You four can go after Nick yourselves with our resources. Supplies and the leads we’ve picked up. This rescue mission isn’t going to be easy. The Regents have sent the Mageguard after him. The Shadowborn and Morgaine alliance may still think he’s king, which means they want him dead, too.” She pauses, looking around the cabin and to Gill, who nods. “Or…”

“ ‘Or’? What exactly is the second option here?” Sel scoffs. “Rescuing Nicholas has been the plan for weeks, and that was before we thought the Order might kill him. We have to find him before the others do, end of story.”

I nod. “Agreed.”

“The second option…,” Gill says, taking a deep breath, “is that Bree goes into hiding. With all of you.”

“Fuck no!” Sel exclaims.

“Are you serious?” I cry.

“You’re all fugitives from the Order of the Round Table.” Gill spreads her hands. “Bree, you’re fugitive number one. The Regents need you more than they need Nick. Keeping Sel imprisoned means they’d know through his Kingsmage bond if Nick’s in danger. Could be useful. William knows far too much. And Chen here”—she looks at Alice with a grin—“well, she’s going to be on their radar after tonight if she wasn’t before. You—all four of you—will have a better chance of avoiding recapture by the Regents and Mageguard and evading any Shadowborn legions who have somehow already found out who you are, Bree, if you get off the grid. If you go truly dark. Even from us, in case we get implicated in your escape.”

“You want me to run away?” Indignation and disgust flood my chest. “I escaped the Institute. We’re out now. We’re together. The serum will leave my system soon, right, William?”

He nods. “Yes. Twenty-four, thirty-six hours max from your last dose.”

“Great. So, give me a day or two, let’s get our plans together… look at the—the intel,” I stammer. “There’s no way in hell I’m letting them win!”

Samira glances down at my balled fists and sighs. “Not every move is about winning. Not in a war like this one.”

“Bullshit!” Sel’s on his feet in a flash. “Bree and Nicholas both have Shadowborn after them. The demons who still think Nicholas is king and the ones who know Bree is. The difference is that the Regents will never kill her, but they will kill him.”

“How could they even do that?” Alice asks. “Aren’t they Oathed, too? Aren’t the Merlins?”

“The Regents don’t take that kind of Oath,” Sel mutters, “and the Mageguard only swear to protect the Regents and the king.”

My jaw clenches. “I’m not a coward. Nick needs our help.”