“If Cressida suspects you helped him escape,” said Seraphine, “it’s only a matter of time before she punishes you for it.”
Finished washing blood off her hands, Rune turned off the taps, staring into the sink, trying to think.
“You need to get far away from here, Rune.”
She glanced up to see Seraphine lift her fingers to a scar near the base of her neck, tracing the raised lines. It was a habit Rune had witnessed dozens of times in their spell casting lessons. It meant she was concentrating hard on something.
Seraphine’s clothing normally hid the casting scar’s shape. But the thin straps of her evening gown left it exposed tonight. Rune recognized the form of a bird, shining like silver against Seraphine’s brown skin.
It was the same bird as in Rune’s grandmother’s seal. The one Nan used to stamp her letters with.
A kestrel.
“If I run away,” said Rune, turning to her, “this alliance will crumble.”
Seraphine stopped tracing and dropped her hand. “So?”
So, who would save the witches they’d left behind?
There were still girls being hunted down like animals in the New Republic. There was still a sibyl in Blood Guard custody, being blackmailed into helping them unmask her own kind. Rune couldn’t abandon them.
Alex would say that she could. That sheshould. That Rune had done more than enough to save witches from the purge.
But Alex wasn’t here.
Rune was adrift without him—the boy who’d cherished her. Alex would never help her with another heist, or protect her with another alibi.
But neither was he here telling her tostop; to keep her head down and not risk herself for others.
She was free to be who she wanted.
There was no one holding her back.
If I rescue the sibyl,she told herself,the Blood Guard can’t learn where other witches are hiding.
She couldn’t protect them the way Cressida could—permanently, by seizing power. But she could protect them for now.
If there is a missing Roseblood heir, I can find them before Cressida does and keep them from danger, too.
Rune knew the summoning spell required to find a missing person. It needed to be performed in an ancient location, and the only one she knew of was a ring of summoning stones back on the island.
“Rune,” said Seraphine, stepping toward her. “Buy passage aboard a ship and take it to the other side of the world. Hideyourself somewhere she’ll never find you. Run and don’t look back.”
Rune had a better idea.
A plan was forming in her mind. A dangerous one.
“Rune.”Seraphine’s hands gripped her shoulders. “Promise me you’ll run.”
“Okay,” she said. “I promise. I’ll run.”
As soon as I complete one last mission…
ELEVENGIDEON
GIDEON SHARPE
THE LARK & CROWN, CAELIS
