“Torrrrr,” Sarah groans. “Bree, go ahead.” The look Sarah gives Tor is the look you give someone who tries your very last nerve, even when you love them more than you can stand. It suddenly becomes clear who’s really calling the shots between the Scion and her Squire.

Down in the infirmary, I find William alone, sitting in a back corner behind a desk, typing on a silver laptop. He looks up when I enter, but the smile on his face disappears when he sees me. “Are you okay?” he asks, standing up, eyes already searching me for injury.

“I’m fine,” I say. “Well, no, I’m not fine.”

His face goes from relief to a wary curiosity. “What’s going on?”

A nameless red-eyed man rises up behind my eyes, followed by his amber-eyed son. “Sel isn’t human.”

William’s gray eyes widen a fraction. “Sel’s our Merlin and Kingsmage.”

“I don’t mean his titles, William!”

A muscle in his jaw twitches. “What’s this about?”

I pace as I talk. “Lord Davis made it sound like Merlins are humans who are just naturally magical. But that’s not true for Sel, is it?” When I look up, I see the subtle flex of William’s fingers, the minute jump of the pulse in his neck. My jaw clenches; I know what secrets look like by now. “You know, don’t you?”

“Know what?” he says blithely, reaching for some paperwork.

“That Sel is Shadowborn.”

“Close the door,” William orders, his voice sterner than I’ve ever heard.

How many more secrets are there? “I—”

“Please.” His lips press into a line.

I follow my friend’s command because of the “please,” but I feel my trust in him bleeding away with every step I take back to his desk.

William runs a hand through his light hair and releases a long sigh. “I apologize for my tone. This is not information that Pages generally have access to. Hard to sell someone on the war against the evil demon hordes when you have one living under your roof.” He smiles stiffly. “Yes. Selwyn is, technically, Shadowborn.”

I knew the truth before I walked in the room, but to hear it from William, to have it confirmed… “He’s a demon. How could you—”

“He’s part demon.” William sits back in his chair with his hands folded on his lap.

“How can you trust him? How can anyone trust him to—”

He cuts me off. “All Merlins are part demon, Bree. They always have been.”