He narrowed his eyes.
“According to Cressida, this person is concealed by a powerful spell,” he said. “No sibyl can See them.”
Interesting.
He hadn’t mentioned that.
Gideon’s legs still pressed against hers, pinning her like a moth to a board. “It will take months, if not years, to track them down.”
“For you, maybe. But I know a spell that will summon them to a specific location.”
His stroking stopped. “Which location?”
“You think I’d tell you?” She shot him a haughty glance and took another sip of wine. The familiar fog of intoxication was creeping in, blurring everything beyond their booth and muddying her thoughts. “If I give you the location, you’ll have your witch hunters lying in wait to ambush us.”
Rune wasn’t naive: if Gideon found this missing Roseblood first, he’d kill them. There would be no hesitation. Killing them would put a permanent stop to Cressida’s resurrection plans.
“Why should I believe you?” he said. “You could summon this person and hand them over to Cressida.”
“I’m trying toescapeCressida, not help her.”
“I thought you were trying to escape Soren.”
Rune flinched.Right.Soren was the reason she’d given Gideon for making this truce.
“I’m escaping them both,” she said, finishing the second glass of wine. The warmth of it flooded her thighs.
She really needed to eat something.
“How do I know you’re not lying?” he said. “To convince me to get you past the hounds?”
Annoyed, Rune reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a gold locket. It was identical to the one the officers had brought to their room. Only inside this one was a portrait of Soren.
And something else.
Cupping it in her hands to hide it from prying eyes, she popped the locket open.
Gideon peered down. “What is that?”
Rune picked up the lock of white hair and held it to the light. “Cressida’s hair. To summon the missing Roseblood, I needed hair, blood, or nail clippings from someone directly related.”
Hair was the easiest to obtain. Rune had usedGhost Walkerto creep into Cressida’s room the night before last and snipped it while she slept.
Dropping the hair back into the locket, she snapped it shut.
Gideon’s eyes lifted to her face, and Rune thought she saw admiration there.
Must be a trick of the light.
“Once I have the sibyl,” she said, “once I’ve found and warned this missing heir, you’ll never see me again. I’m done with all of this. I’m going to run as far away as I can get.”
“You could use the sibyl to find the remaining witches on the island and recruit them to Cressida’s war. To attack from withinandwithout. It’s what I would do.”
“But I’mnotdoing that.”
They stared each other down. His gaze was a heavy weight, his eyes full of calculations.
He was trying to decide if he believed her.
