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She remembered the look of steel in Nan’s eyes as she read the note. But instead of coming up with a new escape plan, she said:He’s right. You must report me immediately.
Horrified, Rune shook her head.No. There must be some other way.
Nan pulled Rune into her arms, holding her close. Rune could still remember the smell of the lavender oil dabbed behind Nan’s ears.My darling: they’ll kill you if you don’t.
Rune wept and ran to her room, locking herself in.
If you truly love me,said Nan from the other side of the door,you will spare me the agony of watching them kill you.
Rune’s eyes burned with tears; her throat choked on sobs.
Please, darling. Do this for me.
Rune squeezed her eyes shut, wanting to wake from this nightmare. But it wasn’t a nightmare. These were her choices: turn her grandmother in or die a grisly death at her side.
Hot tears spilled down her cheeks.
Finally, Rune opened the door and came out.
Nan squeezed her in a fierce hug. She stroked Rune’s hair, the way she used to do when Rune was a child.You must be very clever now, my love. Clever and brave.
With Lizbeth’s help, Nan put Rune on a horse and sent her galloping into the night.
Rune remembered the biting wind and pelting rain. Remembered the way her body trembled. The night was freezing cold, but the fear in her heart was colder.
She could have refused to do it. Could have marched straight up to the soldiers and handed herself in instead of Nan.
But she didn’t.
Because deep down, Rune didn’t want to die.
Deep down, she was a coward.
Drenched and shivering, Rune stumbled into Blood Guard headquarters and spoke the words that would doom her grandmother.
Kestrel Winters is a witch planning to escape,she told them, forsaking the person she loved most in the world.I can take you to her. But we must hurry, before she gets away.
She led the Blood Guard straight back to Wintersea, where they arrested Nan, dragging the old woman out of the house while Rune watched, silent and still. Holding everything in.
It was only after the soldiers were safely away that she collapsed to the floor and wept.
Rune had spent the past two years trying to make amends for that night.
But Nan was right: turning her in had proven Rune to be as loyal to the New Republic as the rest of them.Moreloyal, even. After all, what kind of person betrayed their own grandmother? A person who hated witches above all else.
The lives of countless witches now depended on that ruse.
Rune’s trembling hands squeezed Lady’s reins, and the leather strips bit through her deerskin gloves as she scanned the foggy streets of the capital. If she was lucky, the Blood Guard would detain Seraphine at a holding location. The Guard would wait until they hunted down a few more witches before transferring them to the palace prison together.
If Rune was unlucky …
The thought of the alternative—Seraphine already imprisoned beneath the palace, waiting to be purged—made a sick feeling surge in her stomach.
Rune pushed her horse harder, trying to outrun it.
That’s what she needed to learn tonight: whether Seraphine was still alive, and if so, where the Blood Guard was keeping her.
As she and Lady arrived in the city center, a massive domed structure arose out of the gloom, rivaling the palace in magnitude.
