BANG.
The door burst open.
Rune’s vision blurred; the darkness dragging her under.
“That’s enough!”
Someone stepped in front of Rune. Shielding her from Cressida.
Seraphine?
“You will heed me.”
Her voice was like a clap of thunder.
“Heed you?” Cressida cackled. “For all I know, you’re in league with her.”
The voices seemed a world away.
Just before the darkness claimed her, she heard Seraphine say:
“You will heed me, my queen, because Rune is your sister.”
FIFTYRUNE
WHEN RUNE WOKE, THEroom was rocking. Tipping from side to side. Creaking loudly as it did.
She opened her eyes, but everything was hazy. There was a bed, and sheets tucked around her. The scent of magic hung in the air, stale and faded. Mingling with the smell of the sea.
Somewhere nearby, glass clinked. She heard water being poured. Turning her face toward it, Rune found a figure silhouetted by the light.
“Where am I?” The croak of her voice surprised her. Rune swallowed to moisten her throat.
“Entering New Republic waters,” said a feminine voice.
Rune frowned. That couldn’t be right. She was supposed to be at Larkmont.
“You’ve been in and out of consciousness for several days. You lost a lot of blood.”
We’re on a ship,Rune realized as her vision cleared and cabin walls solidified around her.
And the witch tending to her was Juniper.
Rune tried to sit up and immediately regretted it: fiery pain blazed up her back. She gritted her teeth and went still.
“Here.” Juniper sat down on a chair beside the bed, holding out a glass of water. “Drink.”
Rune eyed it carefully. But even if she was being drugged, her thirst won out, and she let the girl press it to her lips.
Rune gulped the water down.
“My spells slowed the bleeding and mended the torn muscles and tendons,” said Juniper, rising to replenish the empty glass. “I sped up the healing, but it will hurt for some time.”
Rune remembered the lashes raining down; the whip slicing across her back. She remembered the warm, sticky blood on the floor.
I’m her sister.
The horror of it sank into Rune, chilling her all over. She was a Roseblood. Heir to a cruel witch dynasty. Sister to a terrifying murderer.
