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“You might be surprised.”
A cold horror crept over Gideon as he forced himself to consider it.
If Rune was the Crimson Moth, she was a master of disguise, and the only way to catch her was to play the same game she was playing.
There was only one problem.
Alex.
If Gideon did as Harrow suggested, presenting himself as one of Rune’s many suitors, he’d be moving in on his little brother’s crush. That’s how it would look, at least.
All of Gideon’s instincts rebelled against it.
But if Runewasthe Moth, not only did he have a duty to take her down, he had a duty to protect his brother from her. If he hurt Alex in this process, so be it. It was a price he’d have to live with.
He hadn’t saved Alex from one witch only to let him fall prey to another.
It wasthis—his brother, in danger—that forced his hand.
Gideon ran calloused fingers roughly through his hair, thinking back to the opera box, wincing at the cruel way he’d spoken to Rune. “There’s another problem.”
Harrow placed her elbow on the table and settled her cheek on her fist. “Tell me.”
“I insulted her tonight. She invited me to her party, and I snubbed her.”
The corner of Harrow’s mouth twitched, as if she found Gideon squirming like a bug in a sticky web the funniest thing she’d seen all day.
She tapped her fingertips against the fuzzed brown hair of her undercut. “There’s an obvious solution, but you won’t like it.”
Gideon nodded for her to go on.
“You need to get yourself to that party and back into her good graces.”
“I need to grovel, you mean.”
“Yes. But you can’t just walk in there and say you’re sorry. You need to prove that you mean it. If you’re going to be a genuine contender for Rune Winters’ heart, you need to beat out the competition.”
He gritted his teeth at the thought.
Harrow leaned in. Even her eyes were laughing at him.
“The question is, Comrade: how are you going to do that?”
EIGHTRUNE
MINORA: (n.) a category of small to medium spells.
Minora Spells require a witch’s fresh blood. Old blood will typically not work and may cause painful consequences for the witch. Exceptions can be made when using the blood of another. Examples of Minora Spells include: closing a door from across the room or lighting a candle without a match.
—FromRules of Magicby Queen Callidora the Valiant
HER GRANDMOTHER’S SPELL BOOKSstared down from the musty old shelves of the casting room.
“Your supply is low,” said Verity, running her fingers along the corked glass vials that hung on the opposite wall. Of the six vials, four were empty and two were full; one contained Rune’s blood, the other Verity’s.
“I know,” said Rune from her casting desk, where she was tracing the mark for a spell calledTruth Telleronto the bottom of a ceramic cup. Her guests would be here within the hour, and she needed to be ready. “But my cycle doesn’t start for another two weeks.”
Rune had developed her blood storage system shortly after learning she was a witch, using vials Verity stole from chemistry labs at the university. It was how Rune kept her body free ofcasting scars: by collecting her blood at every monthly cycle, she could usually get enough to see her through the month—ifshe used it sparingly and mainly cast simple Mirage spells. The more complicated a spell was, the more spellmarks it required, and the more blood needed to keep it alive.
