“The queens and commanders of this world may think they know something of power,” she said. “But true power is divine, and her judgment is final.”
She plunged the knife straight into Cressida’s heart.
The witch queen gasped and the symbols on Rune’s skin glowed moon-white. As if joining in with the breath she took, coming alive as Wisdom’s magic stole Cressida’s life force and poured it into Rune.
Magic flared, disorienting Gideon and making his teeth ache. Building and building until it caused a pressure in his head so painful, it felt like it would explode.
And then: Cressida fell still.
The tension lifted.
Rune inhaled a sharp breath.
SEVENTY-SEVENRUNE
COMING ALIVE WAS LIKEwaking up to the world’s wonders.
When Rune opened her eyes, it was dark. But not the darkness of death. This dark was different. Trapped in the black web above her were tiny pricks of light.
Stars,she realized.
All her life, she’d taken them for granted. Why hadn’t she stopped to admire their beauty more often? She should have spent every night staring up at the sky, filled with awe. Knowing that one day, the stars would shine no more.
Rune inhaled. Breath filled her lungs, expanding her chest. It, too, was wondrous. She pushed it out again, into the world, then sucked it back in.
Why hadn’t she known what a precious gift it was, this breath, flowing in and out, over and over, every day?
“Rune?”
Her breath faltered.
Gideon.
His voice poured warmth back into her, melting away the last of Death’s icy hold. She sat up and found him staring at her.
Her Gideon.She wanted to trace every stern line of his face. Wanted to run her fingers through his tangled hair. Wanted to feel the roughness of his cheeks beneath her palms.
The bloody symbols—one forWitch’s Armor, the other forEverlasting—still lingered on his cheeks.
“Alex loves you,” she blurted, wondering where the words had come from. “The day he died, he made me promise to tell you. But I… I never did.”
She felt Alex now, all around her, in the way a dream sometimes lingers in the moments after you wake.
Gideon leaned forward on his knees and cupped the back of her head with his hand. As his forehead touched hers, a shaky laugh escaped him.
“Did he remind you of that just now?” His smile was in his voice.
“I… I don’t know,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck, breathing him in, hugging him close. “Maybe.”
Over Gideon’s shoulder, she saw Seraphine and Antonio kneeling over Cressida’s dead body. Seraphine was whispering something while Antonio held Rune’s spell book aloft for her to read.
Cressida’s corpse burst into black flames. Rune watched them devour the witch queen. Hersister.
Gideon’s arms came around her as she hugged him harder.
When the fire burned out, only a heap of ash remained. Next, Seraphine called up a wind, scattering the ashes into the whirlpool. Washing all remnants of Cressida Roseblood away.
“The other two?” Antonio asked, glancing toward the pool where the corpses of Elowyn and Analise lay beneath the surface. With Cressida dead, her casting signature had disappeared.
