What was Alex’s sailboat still doing here?
“Here,” said Gideon, interrupting her thoughts.
Rune tore her gaze away from the boat to find him holding out two ice cream cones. “What’s this?”
“I didn’t know what flavor you’d like. All of them are good, honestly.”
“You bought them… for me?”
“One’s for you. The other’s mine. I’ll take whichever one you don’t want.”
Rune eyed the ice cream cones—one chocolate, the other vanilla—then glanced to Gideon in his blood-red uniform. She’d gotten used to him in regular clothes—if you could call a prince’s clothesregular. In uniform, it was harder to forget what he was.
A soldier.
A witch hunter.
Her enemy.
Yet here he was, buying her ice cream.
Is he trying to lower my guard again?
Rune reached for the chocolate ice cream. He relinquished it.
“What were you staring at out there?” He nodded toward the water. “You seemed deep in thought.”
“Oh, um…” She looked back toDawn’s Aria. “Is that Alex’s boat?”
Now that Gideon knew she planned to smuggle witches aboard theArcadia—and intended to stop her—Rune needed a new escape plan.
Would a sailboat work?
It wasn’t her first choice. The Barrow Strait was known for its rough waters, and Rune alone could only handle a small boat. Something easily tossed about—or capsized—in a bad storm.
But if she didn’t have another option…
Gideon followed her gaze to the water.
“It’s Alex’s boat, yes.” His voice softened. “I couldn’t part with it after…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “I suppose it can’t sit out there forever. I’ll have to sell it eventually. Ancients knowIcan’t sail it.”
Rune, who was plotting out her new escape plan, distractedly said, “I could teach you.”
Gideon glanced at her. “Teach me to sail?”
Their gazes met.
Why had she said that? They weren’t friends. If she managed to pull this off and escape with her life, she’d never see him again.
And that was thebest-casescenario.
“Forget it. It’s silly.” Desperate to change the subject, she motioned to her ice cream. “Thank you for the treat.”
Gideon hesitated, as if he wasn’t ready to let the topic go.
Not wanting to linger on Alex’s boat, in case it made him suspicious, Rune forced a change of subject: “So, is this your standard romance routine? You take whatever girl you’re courting for ice cream and a promenade?”
His mouth quirked. “Are we courting? I wasn’t aware.”
