No.
Something sparked inside her. An old feeling. A familiar feeling. Like she was back in the midst of a heist, outwitting a certain Blood Guard captain, risking everything for the possibility of saving one more witch from the purge.
She’d forgotten the thrill of it. How it made her feel untouchable.
Invincible.
I am the Crimson Moth.
It was the answer to her oldest question.
You are the kindest, cleverest, bravest girl I’ve ever met.
Thiswas Rune Winters. This girl. In this moment.
Rune fixed her gaze on the last car’s platform, knowing it was now or never.
And then she jumped, soaring toward it.
Seconds before the train pulled out of reach, her fingers caught the railing and locked around it. Her knees banged against the cold steel, sending pain flickering through her.
Rune held on.
Ignoring the bullets bouncing off the train car and the snarling dogs below, she pulled herself up and over the rail.
This is what I’ve been running from.Not Cressida. Not the Blood Guard.
Rune was running from herself. From what she wanted most deeply, and feared she couldn’t have.
The door of the car swung open. Gideon stepped out, pistol raised, shooting at the soldiers. Firing until he was out of bullets, then reloading and firing again. Never lowering the gun until the train left the rail yard, picking up speed and carrying them out of range.
SEVENTY-ONERUNE
TOGETHER, THEY STUMBLED INTOthe dark car, windswept and breathing hard. The train rattled and clinked. Rune pressed her palm to the wall of the cramped hallway as it lurched on its tracks, trying to keep her balance. Trying to catch her breath.
When she glanced at Gideon, she found him leaning against the opposite wall, staring at her. Through the windows, the sun was almost below the horizon.
Rune gazed at this mountain of a boy. The one who’d risked his life alongside her. A boy who’d proven, again and again, they were better together than apart.
Why in the world had she left him?
Because I’m afraid of losing him.
Except running awaymeantlosing him. Voluntarily.
What had she been thinking?
Rune never should have asked him to leave with her. In doing so, she’d asked him to go against his conscience. Hisgoodness. She knew perfectly well what it would have cost Gideon to accept her offer. And she’d asked him anyway.
It was like Rune had changed places with Alex, who’d begged her to run away, and in doing so, proven he hadn’t really known her at all.
“Are you all right?” he asked, breaking the silence.
Rune barely heard his question. She was remembering theother train pulling out of the station, remembering her reflection in the glass.
“You asked me once if I wanted children,” she said.
He tilted his head, as if this was the last thing he’d expected her to say.
