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when Rune’s words seeped in through the chill. Like the first spring day after a harsh winter. You are not the things that happened to you, Gideon.
The air still smelled faintly of Cress’s magic, too. Like blood and roses. The scent was stale and cloying.
Alex didn’t leave Gideon’s side until he no longer shook with the cravings. Gideon didn’t know what he would do without his little brother.
As Alex dealt the cards, Gideon noticed a pale line of untanned skin at the base of his smallest finger, where a ring usually rested. Our mother’s ring, he remembered. Gideon had given it to Alex after their parents’ funeral.
Uhohh
The man had worn a ring on his smallest finger. Plain and thin. Silver, maybe. A poor man’s wedding band.
UHOH
Of the two Creed siblings, Gideon had always preferred Laila, who kept her aggression like she kept her gun—out in the open, where he could see it. Noah was … less straightforward.
Alex pressed him. “Empty your pockets.” Gideon raised his eyebrows but did as his brother requested.
Fifteen minutes later, he lost that round, too. And with it, his prison clearance. “I’ll walk you out,” said Alex, tossing the coin once and depositing it into his pocket.
Again, Rune let herself imagine it: a life far away from the Republic. No more worrying about who was watching or listening. No more pretending to be something she wasn’t. Rune would be free.
T^T
Rune said, suddenly needing him to agree with her. “Because you killed her.” He was silent for a long time. The silence turned the room cold.
Deep down, I didn’t believe the bloodshed and vengeance my brother craved would bring about a better world. Murdering them would make us no better than them. And that was what scared me: that despite my convictions, it could be so easy to give in to the bloodlust.
Gideon was in terrible danger. It frightened her. It angered her.
“You’ll be convicted of sympathizing with witches.” He stopped to look down at her. Quietly, and a little sadly, he said, “I do sympathize with witches.” The words softened her. This was Alex, after all.
Alex wouldn’t look at her, ashamed of the lie. Ashamed of himself and the mercy he’d shown. Rune wanted to stay angry at him, and yet she knew the qualities that made him spare Cressida were the same ones that made him spare her.
“Sparing the life of someone you hate doesn’t make you weak,” she said, perhaps more to herself than to Alex. “It makes you better than the rest of us.” It was the lie that was wrong.
The amount of magic it would take to alter her appearance so drastically … Gideon paused, thinking it through. It would be possible for a witch as powerful as Cressida, but it would drain her considerably.
Harrow’s logic was sound, and it worried Gideon that he’d considered none of this. Suddenly, Harrow barked a laugh.
she collapsed against the door, pressing her forehead to the wood, wondering where this tempest of emotions had come from. A whirlwind of sadness and longing and something else.
“Gideon, the thought of you inside that building … it felt like being held underwater.” She lowered her gaze to the pulse at the base of his throat. “Like being starved of air.”
“That might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
“You have never been more beautiful than this moment.” The words made her pulse kick. What?
She was like a deer making eyes at the wolf that wanted to eat her for lunch. Stupid deer.
Bruh
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.
RUNE HAD WORKED IT all out in her head on the way up the stairs.
LMAO
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.
SURE
“I won’t change my mind.” “But if you do …” “Gideon.” Close to his ear, Rune whispered: “Less talking.” He smiled against her skin.
This is so cuute
“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 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.”
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. Because he wanted this.
“Every day, after my shift ends, I’ll come home to you, and we’ll cook dinner together.” “I have servants for that.” He nipped the tip of her nose. “You’re ruining this fantasy already.” “Sorry,” she whispered. “Go on.”
Theyre so cute
“You won’t come to resent me?” she whispered. “For what?” His breath tangled with hers. “For being shallow and silly.” “You aren’t those things, Rune.” She wrinkled her nose. “Sometimes I will be.” “Sometimes I’ll be a brute. Can you handle that?”
she smelled like herself. Like standing at the edge of the bluffs after a storm. Like a gulp of fresh sea air. Gideon wanted to inhale her.
Her magic
I’m afraid you’ll be the end of me. Gideon wanted to convince her that she couldn’t be more wrong.
A girl stared back at him. Her dark, shoulder-length curls matched her dark sunken eyes, which were partially hidden behind spectacles. “Looks remarkably like Rune’s friend, don’t you think?” said Harrow. Verity de Wilde, she meant.
Gasp
The lie sank inside him like poison.
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.
Like damn.....
Verity and Alex were right about you. You’re a selfish, horrible brute. You don’t care who you hurt, as long as you get what you want. You repulse me.” He recoiled at those words. But Rune wasn’t sorry for saying them.
He was that forgettable. Did you really expect this would end happily?
I know u have a lot off self doubt....but ur words were incredibly harsh first (witch annd hunter issues aside)
Gideon had only agreed to this farce of a courtship because he’d believed her to be the Crimson Moth, a belief proven false last night. He’d been wrong. So wrong.
Well.....
“Do you think this is what Kestrel wanted for you? A life spent atoning for an impossible choice—a choice she wanted you to make? Do you think she wanted you to risk yourself again and again until the day they finally kill you? It’s time for you to forgive yourself.” It wasn’t as simple as that.
I can see his point but shes taken on a cause bigger than herself T^T
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 …
When he stepped between her legs, pulling her flush against him, Rune felt the tiniest spark flicker somewhere inside her. One day, maybe, that spark could catch and burn into a steady flame.
Ugh i wanna cry for Alex
“You deserve to be happy,” he murmured against her lips. “Let me try to make you happy.”
I weep
“I am upset. You’re like a sister to me.” She looked stern, suddenly. “I don’t want you to leave, but I also want you to be happy. And safe. In Caelis, you can be both. Besides, Alex adores you. He’ll spoil you for sure.”
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.
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.
Facts
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.
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.
Types of Arcana Spells range from complex illusions sustained over long periods to forbidden acts like raising the dead back to life.
Could Rune be so tired she’d forgotten where her best friend’s room was? This didn’t bode well for this afternoon.
