How what once lay between them was a potent kind of magic…
Warning bells chimed in her head.
It was a lie.She fought the memories down, locking them away.Every second of it.
The closet door swung open. A soldier poked his head in.
Glancing around, the man looked straight at Rune and Gideon… and away. The spell did its job, repelling his gaze away from them.
He didn’t bother looking up. Why would he? It was an empty closet.
If he had looked, he’d have sighted the two crimson moths burning like flames in the air overhead.
“Nothing here!” he called out, withdrawing.
Gideon’s grip on her relaxed. Rune released a breath, pulling slightly away. Reinstating that inch of space between them.
The closet door hung open.
It’s now or never.
Rune needed to get them to the stables, put Gideon on a horse, and send him on his way. Grabbing the belt loop of his trousers, Rune exited the closet, tugging him after her.
“What happened here?” A sharp voice cut through the clamor of the guards.
Rune and Gideon halted.
Cressida strode toward Ava’s corpse, her eyes narrowing as she stopped to take in the bullet wound and the blood. Bending down, she picked up Gideon’s pistol, staring at it.
Her cool gaze lifted. Fear sparked through Rune, who didn’t know if her spells were strong enough to withstand Cressida’sdetection. They were only Minoras. And Cressida was a far more powerful witch.
Cressida scanned the room, moving past the open closet before pausing at the space where Rune and Gideon stood.
Rune’s grip tightened on Gideon’s belt loop.
But as Cressida rose to her feet, Soren entered the room. “Dear god.” At the sight of Ava, his face went pale. “What happened?”
“Our prisoner escaped,” said Cressida, turning toward the prince and away from Rune and Gideon.
Rune relaxed. Cloaked by her spell, she crossed the room with Gideon in tow. When they reached the open powder room door, Cressida walked over to the closet. “You said Rune is locked in your bedroom, yes?”
Gideon stepped into the hall, and Rune glanced back to see Cressida peer inside the closet… then glance up.
No.
Soren nodded. “I posted four guards at the door. No one’s getting in there.”
When Cressida turned back, her eyes were blue flames. “Perhaps we should make sure.”
She knows.
Soren shook his head. “I assure you, Rune is—”
Cressida cut him off. “Gideon Sharpe came here to assassinate Rune Winters. He is now roaming the palace. Best to be sure he hasn’t found her, don’t you think?”
Rune’s heart faltered. If they went to Soren’s bedroom and found her missing…
Cressida strode straight past her, into the hall. The prince followed.
