Aurelia shot her a startled look. “Stupid girl!” Her eyes burned like green fire. “Whatever he’s made you believe, it isn’t true.” Aurelia cradled Meadow with one arm, still holding the gun beneath Gideon’s chin. “He’s going to betray you. He has no other choice. If he lets you go, they’ll execute him.”
Execute him?
The words rippled through Rune.
She knew the laws had changed. There was no longer leniency for sympathizing with witches. Butexecution?
Aurelia pressed the gun harder, forcing Gideon’s chin upward.
Rune lifted her second hand to her own gun, gripping it tightly. Keeping it trained on Aurelia. To Gideon, she said: “Step away from the door.”
With his hands in the air, Gideon glanced at Aurelia, as if hesuspected she’d shoot him anyway. But her child was in the line of fire; she wouldn’t risk it. Or so Rune hoped.
Slowly he backed away from her.
To Aurelia, Rune said: “Take Meadow downstairs and wait for me outside.”
Aurelia scowled her disapproval, pushed open the door with her hip, then stepped out, leaving Rune and Gideon alone.
Rune lowered the gun.
“I heard your conversation with William in the cargo hold,” she said. “I know what you’re planning. You’re going to follow me, kill the Roseblood heir, then arrest me so you can barter with Soren. Do you deny it?”
Gideon dragged his hands through his hair, turning it into a ragged mess.
“No,” he said, heaving a sigh. “I don’t deny it.”
“Is that still your plan?” she asked him.After everything?
He dropped his hands to his sides. “What would you have me do, Rune? Let you escape? If our positions were reversed, you’d be planning the same.”
She shook her head. “That’s not true.”
“No?” He stepped toward her. At his proximity, a tiny bell rang in alarm:danger, danger.“Then tell me, whatwouldyou do?”
Rune stepped back. “I already told you. I’m going to find the last living Roseblood and get them away from Cressida. Then I’m going to break off the engagement with Soren and sever the alliance.”
“And if it doesn’t work? If Soren decides he has a taste for war despite your broken promises? If Cressida hunts you and this Roseblood down and drags you both back?”
“I…”
His presence scrambled her thoughts.
“I… don’t know.”
“Because you don’thaveto know,” he growled at her. “All three witch queens back on their thrones would be a boon to you—not horror and misery. If it’s a Reign of Terror for everyone else, what’s that to you… right, Rune?”
That wasn’t true or fair.
“What am I supposed to do? Side withyou?” She raised the gun again, keeping it cocked and ready to fire. The way he’d shown her. “You want me dead, just like every other Blood Guard soldier.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off.
“Not every witch is a monster, Gideon. Most of us aren’t.”
He took another step. Rune narrowed her eyes. If he came much closer, she’d be forced to shoot.
“And yet,” he growled, “you did nothing while people suffered under witches like Cressida. None of you did.”
