“They just beat us. How did Nick know they were coming?”

“You said Lord Davis had spies on the inside, yes? Probably got just enough warning to hunker down. There are over fifty private cabins up and down this mountain, with outcrops and forest and private roads between. If their cars are still here, that means they only got a tip about the location. They don’t know which cabin they’re in. Yet.”

“Do you?” I ask, stating the obvious.

“Sure, but even if we get there first, there’s Isaac.”

A door slams, and we duck down instinctively. A tall man in a pair of jeans and a dark denim jacket steps out of one of the three cars, long legs carrying him toward the front entrance. He’s making an effort to walk like a normal person, but I know a Merlin gait when I see it. Smooth, long strides, silver-ringed fingers loose at his sides.

“What if they get there first?” I ask.

“Might be a good thing, actually. Unless they find a way to get void cuffs on him, they’ll have their hands full with Isaac. Should be enough of a distraction for us to grab Nick, and if he’s free and able to fight—”

“What if he’s not?”

“Have not exactly thought that far ahead.”

The Merlin walks back to one of the cars, and they pull out in front of us, accelerating left, and Sel follows.

He pulls the SUV into a tight left turn—then clutches his head with a roar of pain, letting the steering wheel spin in one palm. I lunge forward, holding it tight, just barely keeping the car from flipping. Instead of tumbling, we fishtail out, spinning one hundred and eighty degrees and coming to a jarring stop facing the way we’ve come. Both of Sel’s hands clutch at his hair, pulling it as he yells.

“Sel!” I shout, reaching a hand out to his wrist.

“Don’t touch me!” he yells, his voice hoarse. “Don’t—”

I withdraw. “What’s happening, what’s—”

He releases his head and grabs the wheel again, panting as he grips it. His eyes flare a deep orange.

“Nick.”

“What—”

Sel puts the car in reverse, swinging it back up onto the road, and slams his heel on the pedal.

“Is he—”

“In mortal danger?” Sel grits out, his voice strained. “Yes.”

We take the final turn on the mountain road barely slow enough to remain on it, and come around at the base of a drive up to a cabin on a hill.

Battle mage flame flares bright in the windows, flashing like lightning inside the cabin’s walls.

They’re already here.