Rune didn’t answer.
Gideon blew out a breath. Raked a hand through his hair. Every moment he lingered here increased his chances of being caught again. But Rune had risked herself for him and was about to suffer the consequences. He couldn’t just leave her.
“Is the balcony low enough for me to lift you?”
Her footsteps slowed momentarily. “I… don’t know.”
Gideon would help her—only this once—for Alex. And then he’d get himself to safety, where he would regroup.
This was only atemporarysetback.
“Show me.”
RUNE LED HIM TOa garden at the heart of Soren’s palace. The evening was humid and warm, and the crickets hummeda low, insistent chorus. Stone walls enclosed the garden’s four sides, and balconies protruded from the second level.
Gideon guessed these were Soren’s private quarters.
“Which one is it?”
Standing in a patch of yellow dahlias, Rune pointed to the balcony overhead. Lamplight flooded out, drenching her in a warm glow. In that golden dress—which Gideon had to remind himself he despised—she looked like a burning flame.
He suddenly noticed her swollen lips.
Gideon frowned. Were they swollen when he first cornered her in the powder room?
No.He’d been so close to her, it would have been impossible not to notice.
Worse than her lips were the bruises on her neck. They weren’t bruises from Gideon’s hands. These were from a mouth.
Soren’s mouth.
Gideon’s jaw clenched. He glanced from her to the prince’s balcony overhead. “Do you stay in his bedroom often?”
Rune studied the same balcony. “I don’t see how that’s any of your concern.”
She was right. He couldn’t care less whose bed she kept warm at night. Gideon was here to pay back a debt, nothing more. If he were delivering her straight into another man’s arms, so be it.
She meant nothing to him.
Just as he meant nothing to her.
So why couldn’t he keep his stupid mouth shut?
“You’ve outdone yourself this time. Seducing a prince.”
Rune ignored him.
“As his wife, you’ll have fancier balls, fancier friends, and fancier wardrobes than you’ve ever dreamed of.”
“Jealous?” said Rune, studying the walls. “If you wanted to marry me, Gideon, you should have said so.”
Gideon heard the taunt in her voice.
As if she’d stoop so low.
“Marryyou?” he said, playing along. “The girl who plans to help Cressida resurrect her sisters and reinstate a Reign of Witches? No, thank you.”
Rune’s gaze shot to his face. “What?”
