“Gideon,” she said, her breath rushing out. She’d been so busy daydreaming, she hadn’t seen him come up the street.
Rune looked him over as he clambered up to the perch where she sat. He’d traded Soren’s clothes for his scarlet uniform, and the shackles they’d taken him away in were gone.
In fact, he seemed completely unharmed—not to mention unfazed.
What did they want?
And what did he give them in exchange for being released?
But Rune already knew. She’d overheard every word of his plan down in that cargo hold.
Beneath his arm was a folded Blood Guard uniform. He held it out to her.
“What’s this?” she asked, taking the jacket and pants.
“For you.” He came to sit on her perch. Their hips touched as he sat down, but he didn’t move away. “I need your help.”
Rune cocked a brow. “Yeah?”
“The sibyl has a child. A little girl named Meadow. We’ve been using her as leverage to make the witch talk.”
Rune’s stomach clenched. Achild.
She had assumed the Blood Guard must be doing something horrible to Aurelia Kantor to get information. Otherwise, why would a witch give away the location of other witches, knowing they’d be hunted down?
Thiswas why.
They had her child.
“She refuses to leave the prison unless I free Meadow first.”
A heist?
Gideon wanted to do a heist. WithRune.
It shouldn’t have, but it thrilled her.
“I suppose I could help.” She ran her hands down her dress, trying not to sound pleased about being needed.
“Good,” he said, already rising and making his way to the roof’s edge. “Then put on that uniform and let’s go. I have boots for you inside.”
“Wait…now?” said Rune, grabbing her shoes and following him down on bare feet, the stolen uniform tucked under her arm. “Could we at least eat something first? I’m starving.”
GIDEON BOUGHT THEM DINNERfrom a street vendor. It would have scandalized Nan to see Rune gobbling up chicken pie with her fingers and licking off the grease. But Rune was so hungry, she didn’t care.
Gideon tried not to laugh as he offered her the rest of his.
Afterward they fetched his horse, Comrade, from the stable and rode to the city’s east side, where most of the aristocracy lived in residential neighborhoods along the water, away from downtown’s hustle and bustle.
Rune illusioned herself before coming, because she knew the area well. Many of Nan’s friends had lived there before the Blood Guard purged them and redistributed their homes to revolutionaries. The neighborhood butted up against a quiet port where the wealthy docked their boats. Alex had kept one here before he died.
As Gideon went to tie up Comrade, Rune waited. The housethey needed to infiltrate backed onto the promenade, and Rune wanted to inspect it before they went in.
She looked out over the calm water, where several sailboats were anchored. Nan had taught Rune how to sail when she was a child. Since her birth parents had died at sea, Nan was determined that Rune would never be afraid of it. Rune had even sailed Alex’s two-person sailboat on occasion.
As she waited for Gideon to return, she read the names painted on each boat, until one that was painfully familiar made her breath catch.
Dawn’s Aria.
