Panic hummed in Rune’s blood. Those casting signatures damned her.
Unless…
If Rune returned to Soren’s locked bedroom before Cressida arrived, it might make her doubt what she’d seen. After all, Rune might have cast a few spells upon first setting foot in the powder room. There were a multitude for enhancing looks. Spells to fix your hair or makeup. Spells to get rid of puffy eyes or splotchy skin from crying. Rune might have gone there precisely to cast such spells. To keep Soren charmed.
How long before they find his bedroom empty?
The prince’s chambers were across the palace, on the second floor. Rune and Gideon were on the main floor.
Three minutes. Probably less.
It wasn’t enough time. Even if she got to Soren’s bedroom before Cressida, there were still a locked door and four guards to contend with. Rune would have to cast another spell to unlock it. Andthatwould solidify Cressida’s suspicion, sealing Rune’s fate.
It was hopeless.
There was no way to get back into that room in time.
NINEGIDEON
GIDEON COULDN’T HELP BUTnotice how different Rune’s spell was from Cressida’s and Ava’s. The latter had used powerful binding spells, meant to force and humiliate him. But Rune’s was so subtle, he barely sensed it.
It didn’t control him, nor did it control others. It seemed to merelysuggestthat people turn away from him, look past him, or ignore him altogether. It was almost… gentle.
“You’ll find the stable entrance in the east wing of Larkmont,” said Rune. For some reason, he could still see her. Why the spell didn’t affect him, he wasn’t sure. “My horse is the chestnut mare. Take her and get far away from here.”
He sensed the wrongness in her voice, which was strung tight as a bow.
“Where will you go?”
“I need to be in Soren’s bedroom,” she said. “Preferably before Cressida gets there. But the door is locked, and four of Soren’s men are standing guard, so I can’t get back in. If she finds me missing…”
She’ll know Rune helped him.
Why did she help me?
He recalled her words in the closet.
I’m doing this for Alex, not you. He’d never forgive me if I let her hurt you.
Right. Alex.
The one who would have been Rune’s husband by now, ifCressida hadn’t shot him. Alex’s ring was on her finger, making one thing perfectly clear:
She’s still in love with my brother.
Why else would she save Gideon—a man who’d tried to kill her tonight?
“How did you escape the bedroom?” he asked, to distract himself from this fact.
“I dropped from the balcony.”
“Can you climb back up?”
She shook her head, her pace quickening as she turned a corner. The marble statues lining this hall seemed to watch them as they passed, unaffected by Rune’s spell.
“The walls are sheer stone.” She glanced at him. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll figure something out. Just get out of Larkmont before Cressida thinks to use a counterspell that will overpower mine.”
“Can she do that?”
