Heartless Hunter (Crimson Moth, #1) (97)

As if hearing her thoughts, Alex reached for her hand, lacing their fingers together.

Verity yawned.

“We should all try to get some sleep tonight,” said Rune, worried about her exhausted friend. She pushed up from the casting room floor. “Come on. I’ll walk you both out.”



* * *



AFTER SEEING BOTH VERITY and Alex off, Rune returned to her bedroom and changed into her nightgown. Just before climbing into her bedsheets, she saw a box tied with a ribbon at the foot of her bed.

Rune had been so busy packing for Caelis all day, Lizbeth must not have wanted to bother her with it.

Sitting down on the bed, she pulled the box toward her and tugged the folded piece of paper out from under the ribbon. Unfolding it, she recognized the handwriting and immediately stopped reading.

It was from Gideon.

The conversation she’d overheard between him and the girl called Harrow flared anew inside her, burning like a hot iron. Anger and hurt blazed in her chest.

She wanted to throw his letter onto the fire, unread.

Except … was it fair to hate him so much for pretending? Rune had pretended right along with him. She’d used him the same way he’d used her.

It was Rune who’d invited him to her bedroom the night of their first kiss. She had considered crossing that uncrossable line in her attempt to extract what she needed from him. She’d practically begged him to take her into his bed the other night—to trick him, once and for all. To make him believe the lie she’d built in order to dupe him into marrying her, so she could use him in the future.

At least, that was part of it. The smallest part of it, but still.

Rune had been holding Gideon Sharpe to a different standard, despite playing the same game. Really, she was no different than him.

The thought made her squirm uncomfortably.

Taking a deep breath, she lifted the letter and started to read:

Rune—

The things you overheard yesterday morning—as despicable as they were—I said to protect us both. If I’d told Harrow the truth, she would declare me compromised. I needed her and Laila to believe in your innocence, and the best way to do that was to make them think I felt nothing for you.

It doesn’t absolve my actions—it’s true that I started courting you to try and uncover the Moth. I don’t expect your forgiveness. But I need you to know that what we did the other night wasn’t a lie. Not for me. Everything I said that night, I meant.



Gideon

Rune felt like someone had dropped an anchor inside of her, pulling her down to the bottom of the sea.

She wanted to believe him.

She’d be a fool to believe him.

And that was exactly the point, wasn’t it? No matter what he said or did, Rune couldn’t trust him. He thought her innocent—that’s why he was apologizing. That’s why he fancied himself in love with her. But if he knew the truth …

He’d arrest me right now and hand me over to be purged.

The thought steadied her. Gideon was her enemy.

And I’m marrying his brother.

Rune worried her lip in her teeth. She wasn’t only marrying Alex; she was leaving with him. At the very least, Gideon deserved to hear that from her.

She needed to tell him. And say goodbye.

Glancing down to the box, Rune freed the ribbon, lifted the lid, and pushed back the brown paper inside.

A bouquet of silk buttercups sprung from the packaging.

Her pulse hummed in her throat as she reached to pick them up. The flowers were simpler than the rose he’d given her at her after-party, but ten times as plentiful. Rune held the bouquet in her hands, stroking the tiny petals made of buttery silk, tracing the fine stitches.

He made these.

Rune had told Gideon that buttercups were her favorite flower, and instead of picking some, he sewed them for her. Had he stayed up all night doing so?

The humming in her throat turned to pounding.

Why did it have to be Gideon who knew how to speak to her soul?

It made her eyes prickle.

I can’t accept these.

She needed to give the flowers back.

Tomorrow, she thought. I’ll return them before I meet Verity. Because after tomorrow, who knew when she’d see him again?

Before rescuing Seraphine, she would put Gideon behind her for good, and with him, her role as Rune Winters. She’d play the shallow socialite no longer. The path she’d started on when Nan died was ending; the days of risking her life as the Crimson Moth were almost over.

Rune was headed down a new path. One that led to Caelis, and to Alex. To safety and joy. Rune was going to live the life Nan wanted for her. The one that was stolen from them both the day the Blood Guard dragged her away.

So, she laid the bouquet of silk flowers back in the box and closed the lid.

Tomorrow she would say goodbye to Gideon Sharpe—forever.





FIFTY-FOUR

RUNE




ARCANA: (n.) the deadliest category of spell.

Arcana Spells require blood taken from someone against their will in a quantity that often results in the donor’s death. Arcanas are not only deadly for the donor, they are corrosive to the soul of the witch who uses them. For this reason, they were outlawed by Queen Raine the Innocent. Types of Arcana Spells range from complex illusions sustained over long periods to forbidden acts like raising the dead back to life.