RUNE
THEY SAILED INTO UMBRIAN waters five days later, assisted by Rune’s enchanted wind. While at sea, Rune taught Aurelia how to sail so they could take turns sleeping. It was morning when she navigated them up the fjord’s dark waters leading to Larkmont, where she dropped anchor near Soren’s estate, keeping out of sight.
Alex’s boat had proved a sturdy escape craft, and Rune intended to use it to take them further south. Right now, though, she needed to sneak inside Larkmont, grab supplies for the rest of the journey, and find Seraphine.
She hoped to do all of this without being seen.
Cressida couldn’t know she was back. The witch queen would expect her to make good on her promise to marry Soren, and Rune didn’t want to think about what Cressida would do to force her hand. Especially after Rune’s last act of defiance.
Before she jumped into the waves, Rune took off her boots so they wouldn’t fill with water and weigh her down.
“You’ll be all right here?” she asked Aurelia. Dropping her boots in the boat, Rune glanced back. Aurelia’s long hair was stiff with sea salt. She wore Gideon’s jacket to keep out the cold and looked like she hadn’t slept in days.
I’ll stay with the boat, Aurelia had told her when they entered the fjord.
I have no desire to run into Cressida.
Aurelia, it turned out, vividly remembered Roseblood cruelty and wanted to keep Meadow far away from it.
“We’ll be fine,” Aurelia said, her hand on her daughter’s head as the girl played with the compass she’d found belowdecks.
Rune looked on with a small smile before diving into the dark water.
The icy cold stunned her. It took several moments for her body to recover from the shock. When it did, she swam for the shore.
She was halfway there when the crack of flapping sails made her pause. To keep the boat hidden, Rune had lowered the sails. But when she looked, not only did she find them hoisted, but she saw Aurelia drawing up
the anchor.
“What are you doing?” she called, treading water.
Aurelia reached into the pocket of Gideon’s jacket. “I found this on the boat shortly after we left the island.” Pulling out some small object, she threw it in Rune’s direction.
It plopped into the water. A jewelry box.
“If I showed you, you would have gone back for him. And I couldn’t let you do that.” Aurelia pulled the anchor over the side, dropping it in the boat’s interior. “I can’t let them catch us again.”
The tiny box bobbed on the waves before starting to sink.
“What are you talking about?” Rune grabbed the box before it descended too deep and couldn’t be retrieved.
“I’m sorry.” Aurelia sat down at the rudder. From the way her voice trembled, she sounded truly remorseful. “I have a child to think of. I need to get Meadow somewhere safe.”
And before Rune could think of how to stop her, Aurelia turned the boat around and started sailing out of the fjord. Abandoning Rune.
She watched, dumbfounded, as Alex’s boat—her escape craft— disappeared into the distance. She’d risked her life to get Aurelia and her child to freedom, and this was how the sibyl repaid her?
What am I going to do?
She could steal a horse and ride for Caelis. Or perhaps commandeer one of Soren’s boats. But the prince’s sailboats were large, sophisticated crafts requiring whole crews to manage. Rune doubted she could handle one by herself.
The sea’s chill was seeping into Rune’s bones, and her teeth began to chatter. She needed to get out before hypothermia set in. She could figure
out the rest once she was on dry land.
So, with the jewelry box clasped in her fist, she turned and swam for shore.
Wading out of the water and onto the rocks, Rune pushed back her sopping hair, held up the tiny box, and opened it.
A folded, waterlogged note sat inside. As Rune unfolded it, a small coin dropped into the sand, catching the light.
She picked up the coin, holding it up to the sunlight. A hole was punched in the silver, and a thin chain was fastened on.
A penny. But not just any penny.
A word stamped into its surface warmed Rune’s shivering body.
Cascadia.
She flipped it over. Queen Althea’s face stared out at her, pressed into the silver.
Althea had ruled over Cascadia for a quarter century, during a period of peace and stability. She was the last queen to commune with the Ancients— or so some believed—and legend had it that Wisdom could often be seen walking with her in the royal gardens.
After the revolution, coins like this one had all been melted down. Like the old maps that had to be burned, there were to be no reminders that witches once reigned in the New Republic. The Good Commander wanted history erased.
Someone must have kept this contraband, or found it—at the back of a drawer, perhaps, or between the cracks in some floorboards—and turned it into a necklace.
But why?
She glanced at the note in her other hand. The wet paper was translucent, and Rune had to squint to make out the words written in washed-out ink.
Rune—
I hope you find the freedom you’re looking for.
Yours, Gideon
Rune stared at the note. She couldn’t make sense of it. It was Gideon’s handwriting. But the words … the coin …
I found this on the boat shortly after we left the island. But what was a gift from Gideon doing on Alex’s boat? Unless …
Rune’s heart plummeted into her stomach.
He put it there for me to find.
Which meant he knew she would use Alex’s sailboat to escape.
If he knew, why didn’t he stop me?
Rune recalled the guards swarming the waterfront, descending on her and Aurelia’s hiding place. The only reason they hadn’t found and seized them was because …
He called them off.
Rune thought back to that night. To the hammer of her heart as Aurelia cocked her gun, ready to shoot. To the relief that flooded her at the soldier’s shouted command.
We’re needed on the other side of town. Captain’s orders. All hands.
Make haste!
Gideon had drawn the Blood Guard away, allowing Rune to escape. She hadn’t outwitted him.
Not at all.
And now he’ll be accused of sympathizing with witches.
He likely already had been.
If the Good Commander knew Gideon had let Rune go, Gideon was as good as dead.
Rune glanced up from the note, staring across the sea, feeling like she’d made a terrible mistake. Like she’d abandoned half her soul behind in hell.
Did he have a change of heart at the eleventh hour, or had Gideon been deceiving them all for a while now? And if so, when did he decide to let her go?
If she’d paid attention, she might have figured it out. But now Gideon’s life was forfeit, and there was nothing she could do. An ocean sat between them, and Rune had no way to cross it.
An urge to leap into the sea and swim back overcame her.
Would he have come with me, had I asked?
But even if she had, where would they go? She and Gideon could never be together.
Not in the New Republic, perhaps. But the world is a vast place.
Why hadn’t she asked him?
Aurelia was right. Rune couldn’t let Gideon die. Not after he’d saved her life.
And if they’ve already executed him?
Rune had to believe he was alive—that he would find a way to skirt death long enough for Rune to save him. Slipping the necklace over her head, she rose to her feet.
I have to go back.
She walked barefoot on the sand, following the shoreline until Larkmont came into view. Her gaze lingered on Soren’s private wharf, where several sailboats were docked, all too big for one girl to manage alone.
But a witch?
With the right spells, a strong enough witch could sail one.
Rune’s gaze lifted to Larkmont. Cressida was in there. Cressida, who kept dozens of spell books in the room she was staying in.
All Rune had to do was sneak inside and find the right one.
