Bloodmarked

That evening, William and Sel walk Volition’s perimeter. Bree joins Alice, Lucille, and Miss Hazel to prepare dinner. Bree tells Lucille how she’s been calling Arthur, with the offering of blood and a family heirloom as a focal object.

Miss Hazel, Lucille, and Mariah correctly guess that Bree can not only occupy Arthur’s memory but also bring Nick into them. Miss Hazel is a Doctor of Biology and thinks Bree’s power can help her travel “spirit DNA” (442). William and Miss Hazel bond over using “biology and magic both” (442).

The next morning, Bree goes with Lucille and Miss Hazel to a “communion circle.” The circle will allow Bree to call everyone in Vera’s line and choose who to speak to. She calls her mother first. It’s her first time seeing Faye since her death, and their reunion is emotional. Behind Bree, Alice cries, and Faye thanks her for watching Bree. Bree asks if she could call root on purpose and her mother says no. She begins fading; Bree asks if she knows where Natasia is, and she says no.

Next Bree calls her Grandmother Charles. She also never purposefully called root. Next is Jessie, who’s already shown Bree what she knows. Bree asks if she knows who the Hunter is; she doesn’t. Emmeline shows Bree how she was able to call a whip of root flame. Emmeline was killed by hellfoxes; the Hunter showed up to watch her die. She doesn’t know if he’s the one who bloodmarked them.

Next is Corinne, who died in childbirth. Next is Regina: Power came when she asked, but the Hunter came with it. She won’t show Bree out of protection. Regina lived through Emancipation, and she lingers long enough to ask Lucille if “this place” is theirs now. Next is Mary, who also quelled her power for fear of the Hunter. Selah, Vera’s daughter, “ran” and “survived.”

Last is Vera, who says she never saw the Hunter. Bree is frustrated when Vera says she is their weapon but won’t help her. She says Vera “trapped” her descendants without having to live with the consequences.

Vera turns to leave. Angry, Bree orders her to return. When she doesn’t, Bree releases a pillar of magical power that busts through Volition’s wards.

Bree is immediately ashamed. She runs, and Sel follows. Bree knows she’s endangered all of Volition. Sel comforts her. He brought her bloodwalking pin so she can go see Nick. Bree has an idea: She grabs Sel’s arm before making the offering.

In Arthur’s memory, they celebrate the defeat of the “Shadow King.” Bree calls Nick. He wants to talk, but she wants to play the memory out to see if she successfully brought in Sel. The original Merlin brings Arthur the Shadow King’s crown. Arthur says the “Shadow Court” has fallen.

Bree touches Merlin, and he becomes Sel. Nick and Sel have an emotional reunion.

Nick has been working to find a way to end the cycles of inheritance without harming Bree. Nick sees the Order’s hubris and displays of power as something that needs to stop. He thinks that even if these Regents are stopped, the Order’s “logic will still stand” (462).

Nick and Sel have an exchange in Welsh that Bree doesn’t understand, but she thinks Nick is telling Sel he trusts him. Bree’s bloodwalk begins to crack. She and Sel wake in the woods.

After more than a week passes, Bree decides to practice calling aether without summoning Arthur, with Lucille’s permission. She still has trouble, so they leave Volition grounds to see if the pressure of sparring will help. One of Sel’s hits sends Bree into Emmeline’s memory of being chased by the Hunter. The Hunter Jessie saw was white, but the one Emmeline saw was Black. Bree wonders if there are several, or if they are different members of what Arthur called the “Shadow Court.”

The next day, William, Alice, Sel, and Mariah surprise Bree with a 17th birthday party. After midnight, Bree is outside alone when Sel joins. He says he has a present for her on the other side of the barrier. On the way, she asks Sel if he wished he still had romantic feelings for Nick; he says what he felt wasn’t healthy because of their power imbalance.

He takes her to a firefly-filled clearing. She asks him what he meant the day he called her “cariad.” As she lists each possible translation, he kisses a different part of her face. Bree kisses him. It is intense and consensual, until Sel pulls away, saying there are too many unanswered questions between them and Nick.

When they return to Volition, they see Mageguard outside the barrier.

Bree sneaks herself and Sel into Volition. They meet the others and strategize until Erebus calls for Bree. Erebus brings Patricia out of a car to bait Bree. He’ll release Patricia if Bree emerges alone. Bree says she has a plan, and everyone trusts her.

Sel goes with her to the barrier to grab Patricia if Erebus doesn’t release her. Just inside the barrier, Bree calls Arthur. He’ll give her his power if she lets him possess her entirely. She agrees, and they walk together to the barrier.

Patricia can see that Bree has let Arthur possess her; it distresses her, but she goes through the barrier to safety. Bree and Arthur “rip through” the Mageguard. When four Mageguard pin Bree down, Sel emerges to fight. Alice emerges next, setting off the ultrasonic device Samira gave her. It takes down everyone but Erebus. Alice and Mariah struggle to get Sel into the barrier. Bree guards them from Erebus, fighting wildly.

When a hand grabs her shoulder, she heaves them up and into a van. It wasn’t a Merlin like she thought, but Alice. Seeing Alice’s motionless form, Bree tries to wrestle control from Arthur. Arthur begins repeating “I will not die” (493). He “snaps” Bree’s spirit away from her body.