RUNE
THE BANG RANG IN her ears.
Gideon’s hands loosened from around her throat as he stumbled back, staring in horror. Behind him, Ava dropped to the floor. Dead from the bullet in her brain.
The only sound in the room was Rune’s and Gideon’s uneven breaths.
Rune shook out her hand, which stung from the force of the pistol’s release, then lowered her gaze to the spellmark on Gideon’s chest. She’d nearly shot him. But at the last second, she had recognized the symbol.
Binder. A spell that bound its victim to a witch’s command.
It was a calculated guess, but considering Gideon’s hands were no longer locked around her neck, a correct one. Which meant Gideon hadn’t necessarily wanted to strangle her; he’d simply had no choice.
If Ava had cast Everlasting alongside Binder, the spell would have held despite Rune’s killing shot, and it would be Rune dead on the floor. But Ava hadn’t expected to die. She’d had no need of Everlasting—an enchantment that kept a spell intact beyond the death of the witch who cast it.
Seraphine had taught Rune many things since they’d escaped the New Republic, and this was one of them.
“Don’t make any sudden moves,” she said, gun pointed at Gideon’s chest, where the blood-red symbol still blazed. With Ava dead, Gideon was free to go back to trying to kill Rune. This time of his own free will.
Except …
Rune glanced at the sink. Had Gideon intentionally thrust her against the mirror directly beside it? Had he wanted her to reach for his pistol, to shoot Ava and sever the spell?
Her mind swarmed with too many thoughts at once.
“Don’t think I won’t shoot you, too,” she said, still aiming the gun at him.
Rune hoped she sounded confident. She’d never fired a gun before today and had hit Ava by sheer luck.
Gideon looked from her to his pistol, his eyes inscrutable. “The barrel’s empty. You need to reload.”
Is he messing with me?
“Go ahead.” He nodded. “Fire away.” “You think I won’t?”
He smirked.
Rune narrowed her eyes. Fine. She would call his bluff.
Lowering the gun a few inches so she’d wound him, not kill him—or so she hoped—Rune pulled the trigger.
The pistol clicked but didn’t discharge. She pulled again, but no bullet fired.
Ugh! Who infiltrates a heavily fortified palace with only one bullet in their gun?
Throwing down the pistol, Rune grabbed the casting knife strapped to her thigh and held it out in front of her, making it clear she was still armed and he better not try anything.
Gideon glanced at Ava’s body on the floor, unconcerned. “Someone will have heard that.”
Rune crossed the room to the door. “Which is only one of many reasons we need to get out of here.”
Cracking it open, she glanced out into the hall.
The sight of distant guards running straight for them made her quickly pull it shut again.
“They’re already on their way.”
With no way out, her only option was to use her invisibility spell, Ghost Walker. But doing so would leave her Crimson Moth signature behind— letting everyone know Rune was responsible for this.
Unless I conceal it.
Rune scanned the powder room, fixing on the door of a small closet.
Pointing to it, she said, “Get inside.”
Gideon, who was at the sink washing the blood off himself, looked to the closet. Then back to Rune. His eyes were doubtful.
“Not the best plan you’ve ever come up with.”
He must have buttoned his trousers when her back was turned.
“I can’t cast a spell out in the open.” She walked toward the blood pooling around Ava’s body. “Cressida will see my signature and know I helped you. I need somewhere to hide it.”
He stepped away from the sink, shaking his head. “You’re not putting a spell on me.”
“It’s only a Minora,” said Rune, scooping Ava’s blood into her cupped palm.
Gideon took another step back. “I’ve already been subjugated by two
spells tonight.”
Rune rose to face him. “If I don’t—” Shouts from the hall interrupted her. The guards were almost here.
“Listen,” she hissed. “I’m perfectly happy to save myself and abandon you. But if you want to live, I suggest you let me do this.”
Gideon glanced toward the door and back to the blood dripping from Rune’s fingers. Instead of answering, he walked to the closet, opened the door, and got in.
“There’s not enough room in here for two people.”
“Then make room.” Sheathing her knife, she followed him in, careful not to leave a trail of blood in her wake.
Gideon was right. There wasn’t enough room for two people.
Shelves lined the tiny closet, each one full of towels, soap, and cleaning supplies. That left only a few feet of space for Rune and Gideon to cram themselves into. Gideon took up most of it, forcing Rune to squeeze in between him and the shelves, leaving less than an inch of air between their two bodies.
Sweet Mercy. She’d forgotten how large he was. Like a mountain.
The closet door stood open, letting light from the room beyond flood in. Before she ran out of time, Rune used Ava’s blood to draw three symbols
across Gideon’s freshly cleaned chest.
“Just so we’re clear,” she whispered, using the last of the blood on the final symbol, “I’m doing this for Alex, not you.” Under her breath, she added, “He’d never forgive me if I let her hurt you.”
When she glanced up, Gideon was staring at the ring on her finger. The one Alex gave her when he proposed.
“Understood,” he said, glancing away.
With the spell finished, magic burned in Rune’s throat. It flowed out of her and around him. Gideon shimmered like a mirage and would have vanished from her sight entirely if not for Rune knowing precisely where he was.
Ghost Walker wasn’t a true invisibility spell. Instead, it coaxed the gazes of others to bounce off you, allowing you to evade notice. But if someone knew you were there, the spell couldn’t hide you.
THUD THUD THUD.
Rune jumped.
“Everything all right in there?”
She glanced toward Ava’s body across the room. She still needed to draw the spellmarks on herself, but she’d used all of Ava’s blood on Gideon.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
“Who’s in there?” demanded the guard.
Gideon grabbed the closet door and shut it, plunging them into darkness. Slivers of light filtered in from the cracks.
“Here.” He thrust out his hand. “Use mine.”
Rune glanced down to find blood shining on his palm, seeping from what appeared to be dozens of tiny cuts. When he held his hand up to the light filtering in, Rune saw shards of sparkling glass embedded in the skin.
He needed to dig those out before the cuts got infected.
“Better hurry,” he whispered, as the door to the powder room burst open and guards flooded in.
Out of time, Rune touched the blood on Gideon’s palm and quickly drew the same three symbols on her wrist. Her fingers trembled as she
rushed. If she got even one mark wrong, the spell wouldn’t work. But if she didn’t finish in time …
The briny taste of magic prickled her tongue. A second later, Rune’s skin tingled as magic flowed out and around her, hiding her the same way it had Gideon.
She glanced up to find two iridescent moths flickering a few feet over their heads. Burning red in the darkness.
She’d barely finished the spell when footsteps headed in their direction. As if on instinct, Gideon’s arm slid around her waist, pulling her hips against his, moving her away from the closet door.
Heat poured off him. His scent filled the closet—woodsy, with a hint of gunpowder. Fire raced through her as old memories surfaced: reverent glances; whispered promises; the feel of his hands and mouth and body on hers, skin to skin.
How what once lay between them was a potent kind of magic … Warning bells chimed in her head.
It was a lie. She fought the memories down, locking them away. Every second of it.
The closet door swung open. A soldier poked his head in.
Glancing around, the man looked straight at Rune and Gideon … and away. The spell did its job, repelling his gaze away from them.
He didn’t bother looking up. Why would he? It was an empty closet.
If he had looked, he’d have sighted the two crimson moths burning like flames in the air overhead.
“Nothing here!” he called out, withdrawing.
Gideon’s grip on her relaxed. Rune released a breath, pulling slightly away. Reinstating that inch of space between them.
The closet door hung open.
It’s now or never.
Rune needed to get them to the stables, put Gideon on a horse, and send him on his way. Grabbing the belt loop of his trousers, Rune exited the closet, tugging him after her.
“What happened here?” A sharp voice cut through the clamor of the guards.
Rune and Gideon halted.
Cressida strode toward Ava’s corpse, her eyes narrowing as she stopped to take in the bullet wound and the blood. Bending down, she picked up Gideon’s pistol, staring at it.
Her cool gaze lifted. Fear sparked through Rune, who didn’t know if her spells were strong enough to withstand Cressida’s detection. They were only Minoras. And Cressida was a far more powerful witch.
Cressida scanned the room, moving past the open closet before pausing at the space where Rune and Gideon stood.
Rune’s grip tightened on Gideon’s belt loop.
But as Cressida rose to her feet, Soren entered the room. “Dear god.” At the sight of Ava, his face went pale. “What happened?”
“Our prisoner escaped,” said Cressida, turning toward the prince and away from Rune and Gideon.
Rune relaxed. Cloaked by her spell, she crossed the room with Gideon in tow. When they reached the open powder room door, Cressida walked over to the closet. “You said Rune is locked in your bedroom, yes?”
Gideon stepped into the hall, and Rune glanced back to see Cressida peer inside the closet … then glance up.
No.
Soren nodded. “I posted four guards at the door. No one’s getting in there.”
When Cressida turned back, her eyes were blue flames. “Perhaps we should make sure.”
She knows.
Soren shook his head. “I assure you, Rune is—”
Cressida cut him off. “Gideon Sharpe came here to assassinate Rune Winters. He is now roaming the palace. Best to be sure he hasn’t found her, don’t you think?”
Rune’s heart faltered. If they went to Soren’s bedroom and found her missing …
Cressida strode straight past her, into the hall. The prince followed.
Panic hummed in Rune’s blood. Those casting signatures damned her.
Unless …
If Rune returned to Soren’s locked bedroom before Cressida arrived, it might make her doubt what she’d seen. After all, Rune might have cast a few spells upon first setting foot in the powder room. There were a multitude for enhancing looks. Spells to fix your hair or makeup. Spells to get rid of puffy eyes or splotchy skin from crying. Rune might have gone there precisely to cast such spells. To keep Soren charmed.
How long before they find his bedroom empty?
The prince’s chambers were across the palace, on the second floor. Rune and Gideon were on the main floor.
Three minutes. Probably less.
It wasn’t enough time. Even if she got to Soren’s bedroom before Cressida, there were still a locked door and four guards to contend with. Rune would have to cast another spell to unlock it. And that would solidify Cressida’s suspicion, sealing Rune’s fate.
It was hopeless.
There was no way to get back into that room in time.
