“Stop!” I shout.

Erebus releases Sel at once, dropping him onto the ground in a heap—but he does not step away. “My apologies, Crown Scion.” Instead, he watches Sel cough and wheeze, bent low on all fours.

I step forward. “Sel—”

Sel shakes his head once, halting me. After another moment of gasping, he pushes upright to his knees with glistening, bloodshot eyes and flushed cheeks—and anger barely contained in closed fists, behind tight lips. Erebus’s hand had been around his neck for just a moment, but there are already deep purple bruises forming beneath his jaw. They’ll heal and be gone by morning, but I know they hurt in the meantime.

“Kingsmage Kane, do you have an explanation for what occurred here tonight? If you do, by all means, speak”—Erebus’s eyes narrow—“but do so with care.”

A pause. Sel swallows once, twice, before he speaks in a strained voice. “I have no explanation for failing to protect the Crown Scion.”

“I see.” Erebus nods. “What do you have?”

Sel looks at me for a long moment before he turns back at Erebus. “Only my own actions upon which to reflect.”

“In this regard,” Erebus echoes Sel’s earlier quip icily, “we are in agreement.”

The Mageguard surround us on the walk back to the Lodge. I don’t hear or see them, but if I so much as stumble on a branch, their eyes sting against my skin.

Erebus speaks in a low voice with William on my left. Sel is a silent shadow to my right. I try again to catch his gaze. To communicate my remorse, to let him know that I realize I messed up.

He won’t look at me. The tension in his neck and shoulders speaks loud enough. As we approach the lights in the Lodge backyard, I see the injuries I’d missed deeper in the forest: A cut along his collarbone caked with ichor and dried blood. Blood at his temple, half-smeared from sweat. Even the silver plugs in his gauged ears are half-covered in dirt. A pair of claws must have sliced down his left shoulder blade, ripping right through the black shirt. Guilt sours in my stomach.

Sel’s middle ward washes over my face. Two of the Mageguard materialize from the woods and turn to face the ward from the inside, raising their palms to the barrier.

Sel scowls at the Merlins tinkering with his work. “I just cast that ward.”

Erebus answers. “And it will be reinforced.”

Sel rolls his eyes, and we leave the two guards behind. When we reach the back lawn, more lights are on inside the Lodge than when I left. The rest of the Legendborn, returned from patrol. Eating late meals, rustling through the fridge and pantry, no doubt. William walks toward the side entry door. “Please excuse me. I always check in with the others when they return in case there are injuries.”