The Mageguard are coordinated and deadly. The foxes are gone between one blink and the next. They make quick work of the demon as well, slicing it into pieces. Just as the uchel’s head drops to the road with an earth-shaking thud, three cars pull up slowly behind me.

Even more Merlins. A shadow materializes at my shoulder, and inserts itself between me and Sel.

“Here to try again, Kane?” It’s Max Zhao, the Merlin who wouldn’t let me through the funeral barrier. His hand already grips Sel’s upper arm.

Sel snarls but does not struggle. “Took you long enough.”

“What was the plan?” Max scoffs. “Come out from hiding to attack the Crown Scion?”

“No!” I shout, confused but protective of Sel nonetheless. “He saved me. Saved both of us. Lark would have been dead if he hadn’t shown up!”

Max follows my pointed finger to the far side of the road, where a barely conscious Lark is being helped to his feet by a member of the Guard. Still holding Sel, Max shifts his gaze to the right to examine the Beast upside down, its heavy metal door dented and tossed aside. “Or he arrived just in time to kill you while you were unprotected.”

“Unprotected?” Sel rolls his eyes. “Come on, Maxwell. We both know Larkin, even unconscious, is far more protection than you could ever be.”

Max growls, and it’s too vicious, a precursor to violence. I move without thinking.

“Stop!” I lunge toward Max, palm open—and notice too late that my fingertips are still lit with root. As soon as my hand touches his arm, it singes through his coat.

The Merlin releases Sel with a roar and jumps back, teeth bared and eyes wide. He stares at my hand. “Holy shit.”

Sel squeezes his eyes shut, groans.

Max’s eyes narrow. “What the hell—”

“So it is true. The reports about your red aether, generated from within.” Erebus’s voice flows over my shoulders, a rich blanket of deadly promise. He reaches my side with a long, silvery aether staff in his left hand, his right hand tucked in his pocket. His dark eyes are all for the root flickering at my fingers. “I have read the Legendborn’s debrief reports of course, but it is… remarkable to see it in person.”

I glance to Sel, who shrugs. Too late to hide it now. And like Erebus said, he knows about my root already. “Yes,” I say slowly.

Erebus tilts his head, watching as I close my fist until the flames wink out. “Fascinating.”

I swallow hard. The last powerful Merlin to say that I was “fascinating” was Isaac, and that didn’t end well. But unlike Isaac’s predatory scrutiny, Erebus’s interest seems scientific. He turns back to study Max, who is still scowling at the pink skin exposed beneath the burned fabric of his jacket.