Heartless Hunter (Crimson Moth, #1)

by Kristen Ciccarelli

His hand touched her chin, bringing her eyes back to his. Studying her for a long time. “That might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

Lmfao.

“You have never been more beautiful than this moment.” The words made her pulse kick. What? He stepped closer. Lifting his hand to her hair, he tangled his fingers in it. “You’re exquisite, Rune.”

But she knew the fear of not having him now, and she suddenly wanted all of him. Body and soul. It was a dangerous feeling. One that could cost her everything.

She was drowning, and he was air. She hadn’t even realized how much she needed him until he was gone. “Do you want to come in?” he breathed against her lips.

Oh no. He better not still just be trying to get her naked to check for scars :/…

IT WAS UNNATURAL, THE way he wanted her. Like nothing else in the world mattered more than bringing her upstairs, peeling her out of those riding leathers, and guiding her down to the bed. Like nothing mattered more than her. Maybe it was the brush with death, but even his little brother’s feelings were suddenly of no consequence.

Okay good. Not just for show.

Rune was everything that he hadn’t believed could exist in a girl.

Preparing myself for the inevitable heartbreak when the truth comes out :'-(.

He would start there, and if he proved himself worthy of her, maybe this could be more than a game. Not just flirting and kissing and courting, but a life shared. Maybe Gideon could have all of her. But would she want all of him? He was terrified to even hope for it.

She needed him. It had nothing to do with the way he growled her name against her throat. Or the way he worshipped her with every stroke of his hands. Or the fact that he thought she was most beautiful when she was a huge mess.

“Promise you’ll tell me if you change your mind …” Arching her throat, she buried her hands in his hair. “I won’t change my mind.” “But if you do …” “Gideon.” Close to his ear, Rune whispered: “Less talking.”

LOL I love how the author brought this back.

Rune had never known this kind of hunger. He was drowning her in it. Drowning her with his mouth and his hands and the growl of her name deep in his throat. Bringing her to the cusp of a world she’d never dreamed existed.

When she arched against him one last time, something broke. The blood roared in her ears. The world beyond them disappeared. Lost in the shattering, she called out his name. He sighed. “Rune.”

“Powerful,” she whispered, kissing the crease between his brows away. “Like two souls fusing into one.” Like a kind of magic. “Oh,” he said, and grinned. Grinned. Rune had never seen Gideon Sharpe grin in her whole life. Were there other ways to make him light up like that? She wanted to find out.

I’m in love with him. Instead of getting Gideon Sharpe out of her system tonight, Rune had gone and gotten herself addicted. The hunted had fallen for the hunter.

Ugh. I'm already getting sad thinking about Gideon finding out she's a witch.

“You’re afraid of something,” he said. “Tell me what it is.” She bit down on her lip. Gideon wanted to close the gap between them, take her face in his hands, and tell her he’d protect her. But he held himself still. “You,” she whispered. “I’m afraid of you.”

“The way you make me feel is …” She hugged the bundle of clothes tighter. “I’m afraid it’s something I could get used to. Something I could need.” She shook her head. “I’m afraid you’ll be the end of me, Gideon.” And then, much more quietly: “Maybe you already are.”

Oh man :(.

The right thing to do, the noble thing, was to choose the first road. To end this tonight. All Gideon had to do was lie and say he didn’t feel the same way. But Gideon wasn’t noble. And he didn’t do the right thing.

“I want all of you, Rune.” Gideon kissed her brow. “Not just tonight, but every moment from now on.”

“I’ve had better,” he said, staring Harrow down. “You were right; it was no chore. But I’m not about to repeat the endeavor anytime soon.” The lie sank inside him like poison. “She’s a pretty face, nothing more.”

Rune stood in the frame, her face pale, her hair a tangle. The look of shock and hurt in her eyes was like an axe splitting open his chest. “Rune …”

Of course she was listening.

Letting his head fall back, Gideon let out a shuddering breath. He deserved every bit of her wrath. After agreeing to Harrow’s asinine plan, Gideon was all that Rune accused him of and more. Sickening. A stupid brute. He deserved to lose her.

I knew the happiness wouldn't last long.

She looked down to see him push a silver ring onto her second smallest finger. It was thin and cool against her skin. “I have stood by for years and watched you strategically pick out suitors. I look at the men you choose, notice the ways they don’t deserve you, and wonder why you don’t see what’s right in front of you. But you can’t, can you?”

OMG NO FUCKING WAY!!! Alex!!!

“It’s why you’re so afraid to look at me sometimes. Because I know what you are, and I know what you’ve done, and I love you.”

“Be my wife, Rune. Come with me to Caelis. Let me give you the life you should have had.” One by one, the tears fell. Rune pressed her hands to her eyes to hide them. His wife.

Damn.

When Alex kissed her, there was no hungry fire burning through her. No desperate yearning. No warm ache. But there was gentleness, and comfort, and safety. There was love. Maybe I could …

“Okay,” she whispered. He pulled back, lips parting in surprise. “Really?” She nodded. “I’ll go with you to Caelis. I’ll be your wife.” Alex wasn’t the strategic choice; he was the safe one. The boy she could be herself with. The boy she could actually share a life with—because he didn’t want her dead.

Ugh. This is fucked.

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?

Damn. That's so freakin' sweet.

Types of Arcana Spells range from complex illusions sustained over long periods to forbidden acts like raising the dead back to life.

She thought of the way Verity was always poring over Rune’s spell books, her fingers tracing the symbols. Was she memorizing them? She thought of the perfume Verity doused herself in, the scent so strong, it often gave Rune a headache. What if she douses herself intentionally to cover another scent? The scent of her magic.

VERITY IS CRESSIDA?!?!

“Can I ask you something, Miss Winters?” “Of course,” said Rune, happy for the interruption, but wondering why he was being so formal. “Was any of it real?” “Real?” She frowned. “What do you mean?” “You. Me. Us.” Gideon shoved his hands in his pockets. “What we did three nights ago. Did you mean any of it? Or were you toying with me the whole time?”

Rune saw what lay on each of his palms. A vial of blood and an access coin. How …? “This is how you manage it,” said Gideon, lifting the vial to study it. “It’s why you don’t have any casting scars.” Rune froze. He knows what I am.

It was only a matter of time.

“I’m not sure what disgusts me more,” said Gideon. “What you are, or that I fell for your act.” Those words stung like a slap.

Ouch.

For someone who’d been hunting her so relentlessly for two years, he should be more triumphant, she thought. Gloating and preening. Instead, he looked … destroyed.

“That’s right. I am engaged to him. Your brother is twice the man you’ll ever be.” The hurt in his eyes was unmistakable. “You know what?” Stepping close, he took her hand and shoved the ring onto her finger. “Keep it.”

Why did it even matter? She was the Crimson Moth—a perpetual thorn in his side for two years now. A fucking witch. He’d been deceived a second time. He’d opened himself up only to be skewered again. He’d believed in the girl Rune pretended to be. He’d allowed himself to hope. To think that maybe they could have something beautiful together. Something good.

“I knew she was the Crimson Moth and I didn’t tell you!” “Alex,” Rune interrupted from behind them both. “Don’t do this.” Gideon’s heart twisted as he watched their eyes meet. Heard the tremble in Rune’s voice as she said, “Please, please walk away.”

This is making me so sad.

So, with his heart breaking in his chest, Gideon took the cold chains from Laila and locked them around his little brother’s wrists.

Wow.

“Gideon.” He flinched and stopped, but didn’t look back. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so sorry for all of it.” Finally, he glanced at her, and the wounded look on his face pierced like a knife. Above the heavy plink of the rain, she heard him say, “So am I.”

My heart.

“Cressida Roseblood is alive …” Seraphine’s eyes narrowed. “… and has somehow gained a witch army.” “That’s not Cressida.” Rune corrected her. “That’s my friend Verity.” Rune had met Cressida. Verity and the youngest witch queen looked nothing alike. “I assure you,” said Seraphine, “that girl is a Roseblood. She’s simply altered her appearance.”

I called it!!!

Cressida Roseblood, not Verity de Wilde, had been Rune’s closest confidant for two years—without her knowing. This whole time, Rune had trusted and confided in a murderer. In the girl who’d tortured Gideon and killed his little sister.

As her victim screamed and fought, trying to get away, Cressida bared the girl’s pale throat to her knife’s crescent edge, and slit it. Rune glanced away too late to unsee the red blood, running like rivulets down her neck. The girl dropped to the stones, choking on it. Cressida dipped her fingers in the blood and drew a new symbol.

Damn she really is evil.

A cold numbness spread through Gideon’s chest. He stared at his mentor—a man who’d been like a father to him—now dead on the stones. “That’s enough of that,” said Cressida.

“You don’t know what you’ve done.” Alex said nothing. Only turned to deliver the guns, followed by Rune and Seraphine. Gideon watched his brother lay the weapons at Cressida’s feet. Watched the smile spread across her lips. It was the smile from his nightmares. The smile of someone who knew the power they wielded over you, and wanted you to know it, too.

Gideon waited for the bullet. Welcoming it. He hoped death would come swiftly. Except the bullet never came. When the gun went off, his brother stepped in front of it.

HOLY SHIT.

“Rune,” he whispered as she lowered him to the ground. “Do me a favor? Tell my brother I love him.”

Wow. Just wow.

“Use my blood. I won’t require it much longer.” He smiled, a little sadly. “Take as much of it as you need.”

“The point is to live,” he said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. “The point is to let me give you this one small thing, because I couldn’t give you the rest.”

Sobbing.

quivering. “Promise me my death isn’t for nothing, Rune. Tell me you’ll use it to save yourself.”

With his hand in her hair, Alex pulled her mouth down to his, kissing her one last time. Rune kissed back, that small spark flickering inside her. A spark that would never get the chance to grow into a steady flame.

“I will never stop hunting you, Rune Winters. No matter where you go, I will come for you.” In her absence, Gideon saw something flutter in the air above the chasm. Small and red and delicate, its wings shimmering in the gloom. A crimson moth. Gideon’s heart hardened at the sight of it.