Rune didn’t answer. Just stood up and stripped off the bloodstained dress, throwing it into the fire crackling in the hearth. She watched the flames eat the fabric, destroying the evidence of her crime. After searching through Soren’s armoire, she found a long-sleeved shirt and pulled it over her head.
Seraphine drew closer. “Where is he?”
“Gideon? I don’t know.” Rune strode into the adjoining bathroom.Long gone, I hope.
“Soren said he came here to kill you,” said Seraphine, following her in.
At the sink, Rune turned on the tap and thrust her hands beneath the cold water. “He did.”
Seraphine threw up her hands. “Then why save him?”
As Rune scrubbed the blood off herself, her thoughts trailed back to the powder room and the scream she’d heard from behind the closed door. Gideon’s torn shirt on the floor. The undone buttons of his trousers.
She might not know exactly what Cressida had done to make him scream, but she knew what the witch queen had beenaboutto do.
“No one deserves a fate like that,” she whispered, staring at the bloody water swirling down the drain.
Not even her worst enemy.
She intends to raise Analise and Elowyn from the dead.Gideon’s voice rumbled through her.
It scared Rune more than she’d let on in the garden.
Queen Raine had outlawed resurrection spells centuries ago. But Cressida wouldn’t care about that.
Still, Rune wanted to doubt it was possible; Analise and Elowyn were long dead, and resurrection spells required the sacrifice of someone closely related to the deceased—like a parent, sibling, or child.
Without direct kin to sacrifice, the spell wouldn’t work. The only living Roseblood was Cressida herself.
She seems to think otherwise,Gideon had said.
Could it be true? Was there another living Roseblood?
And how could Rune put Cressida on the throne, after tonight?Knowingwhat she would have done to Gideon?
It wasn’t the first time she’d asked herself this question.
The answer was always the same: if she didn’t, Gideon—or some other witch hunter—would come for her again.
The next time my gun is to your head, I will pull the trigger.
His words were a reminder:They will never stop hunting us.
Gideon wouldn’t return to the New Republic empty-handed. Not when a bullet in Rune’s head would deprive the witch queenof an army. He was probably regrouping at this very moment, waiting for his next chance to assassinate her.
It was why the alternative to Cressida was worse. The alternative to Cressida was witches being slaughtered until there were no witches left. The only way to stop the Blood Guard was to put Cressida on the throne.
Gideon can take care of himself.
If Cressida conquered the New Republic, Gideon was more than capable of fleeing the island and never looking back. Whether he had the good sense to wasn’t Rune’s concern.
Rune had no reason to care what happened to him or any other patriot once Cressida returned to power. How many of them had informed on girls like her? Cheered as innocent witches were butchered in the street? Had done the butchering themselves?
They deserved what was coming for them.
But isn’t that what they said about us?
Rune shook off the question.
