Cressida’s whip didn’t stop, slicing Rune’s back to ribbons. Her entire body shook as she huddled in a puddle of her own blood.
Blood.
The thing that made Rune a witch. The source of her power.
There’s something I still have to do.
As the lashes rained down, she thought of Gideon’s curse.
Only the blood of the victim’s true love, spilled in a sacrificial act, can break it.
This was what she’d been waiting for.
The lashing ceased as Cressida paused to catch her breath, gathering her strength before finishing Rune off.
Barely conscious, Rune recalled the unnamed spellmarks required to breakTrue Love’s Curse. Pushing herself up on trembling forearms, Rune dipped a finger in the sticky red blood and started to draw.
She hadn’t gotten the chance to tell Gideon she loved him.
Perhaps this will suffice.
Weakened, it took her longer than it should have. Before she finished the second symbol, Cressida readied her weapon.
Forcing her mind to clear, gritting her teeth to hold off the pain and stay conscious, Rune completed the second and third symbols.
It should have been a relief. But even as the magic swelled, making her skin tingle and her ears roar, Rune knew she wasn’t finished.
“What are you doing?”
Rune’s moth signature must have materialized in the air.
Touch Gideon again and I’ll make you wish you were dead.
She couldn’t kill Cressida. But maybe she could do the next best thing.
“You thinkyoucan stopmewith a counterspell?” Cressida threw back her head and laughed. “Oh, Rune…”
Before Cressida’s final round of lashes began, Rune drew two more symbols, altering the first spell. Hoping it would work. Hoping her sacrifice would be enough.
Magic surged again, swirling around her. Binding the new spell to the first.
The whip came down, catching her off guard and engulfingher in pain. Rune’s forearms refused to hold her upright and she collapsed. Her cheekbone hit the tiles. What little strength she had left fled her body.
Rune lay on her side in a pool of blood.
Get up.
The room went dark at the edges.
Get… up…
Cressida’s shadow slid over her.
Metal scraped against leather as Cressida drew her knife.
Rune closed her eyes, waiting for the killing blow.
“It pains me to do this, Rune. But I know incurable defiance when I see it. Such a pity. You had so much potential—”
