Rebel Witch (The Crimson Moth, #2)

by Kristen Ciccarelli

FOR THE BRAVE ONES WHO LIGHT THE WAY

“I need…” Rune tried to tug her hand out of his. When Soren appeared to grip harder, refusing to release her, Gideon stepped out of position along the wall. The guards stationed ten paces down glanced his way, reminding Gideon that he was surrounded by enemies. He couldn’t draw attention to himself.

Enough. He reached for his pistol. But before he could finish this, Rune slipped out of Soren’s grasp.

She wasn’t sure what was more upsetting: that Alex had loved her, or that Gideon didn’t.

Rune would know that cruel mouth anywhere. Gideon pushed back his hat and aimed his gun straight at her. As their gazes met, Rune’s heart pounded like a hurricane. I thought you’d forgotten me.

“Stalking a girl into the powder room with the intent to murder her is business as usual for you. Isn’t it, Gideon Sharpe?” “Funny how you can’t keep my name out of your mouth tonight.”

Gideon grabbed her around the waist and shoved her against the wall. He heard the air whoosh from her lungs. Before she could recover, he pinned her wrists over her head, then shoved his knee between her legs, trapping her there. Rune gasped, glaring up at him. Keeping her wrists pinned with one hand, he pressed the barrel of his gun to her temple. Her smell invaded his senses, like juniper and sea salt. Threatening to weaken him. He swallowed, heart racing. It was dangerous being this close to her.

He’d forgotten the way her eyes raged when she was angry. Like a storm he wanted to walk straight into.

“We both know what you want to do to me, Gideon. Well, here’s your chance.” His gaze slid to her mouth. “You have no idea, the things I want to do to you.”

“I’ve never been a gentleman.” He leaned closer. “If you mistook me for one, that’s on you.”

Instead, he’d found this Rune. His Rune. A total mess. The basest part of him wanted to tilt her head back and kiss her until she told him why she was crying.

This girl. He’d wanted so badly to be worthy of her. He’d dared to hope he could be, stupid fool that he was.

She seemed to hesitate, then tilted her chin in defiance. “Soren will make me happier than some men ever could.” To think he’d kissed the mouth those words came out of.

“I may not know Rune Winters,” he whispered, his mouth an inch from hers. “But I know the Crimson Moth. And she is no caged thing.”

Rune flinched. “Stop it.” “I pity the man who clips her wings.” “Stop talking.”

“How dare you touch her.” Gideon knew better than to open his mouth. But he couldn’t help himself. “At least she likes it when I touch her.”

He must have heard the soft hitch of her breath, because his eyes lifted. The room fell away as Gideon’s gaze met hers and his stare held her in place like a spell.

How what once lay between them was a potent kind of magic …

“Do you stay in his bedroom often?” Rune studied the same balcony. “I don’t see how that’s any of your concern.”

“Next time,” he said, hauling at the laces, “you’re going to tell me the entire plan up front.”

Suddenly, Gideon stepped between them, blocking Rune from the officer’s gaze. Grabbing the shirt he’d discarded a few minutes ago, he gently pulled it down over her head.

She glanced up to find a fire raging in Gideon’s eyes. He was shielding her from them.

She tried to hold his gaze and failed, her eyes dropping to take him in. She heard the breath he let loose, as if they’d unknowingly been playing a game called Who can hold off the longest? and now that Rune had lost, Gideon could let himself lose, too.

She was like a magnet sending the arrows on his moral compass spinning. Making him forget who he was and everything he’d committed himself to. But it was worse than that.

“Would you like some company to help pass the time?” “She already has company.” The familiar voice was like an earthquake’s tremor, reverberating through Rune.

Gideon glanced at Rune, who smiled weakly up at him. “The very one.” His attention returned to the young man. “And you were just leaving.”

“Trust me.” Gideon watched the would-be suitor search for another table. “I’m a man. I know what he wants.” She scoffed. “You’re ridiculous. All men have built-in radar telling them the thoughts of other men?” “Something like that.”

Before Rune could rail against the injustice, he cupped her legs above the knees. The warmth of his palms penetrated her dress, seeping into her skin. Rune’s grip tightened on her seat as his thumbs stroked her. Tenderly, and a little possessively.

“At some point,” she said, “you’re just going to have to trust me.” “Yes,” he murmured. “That’s the problem. Isn’t it?”

Instead, he had the strangest urge to take her leg in his hands and trace the silver lines. Memorize them with his fingers. Or his mouth.

“Love doesn’t sully you,” she said. “Love purifies you.”

“Singh,” Gideon growled, already aiming again. “Lay off her.”

When she finally relaxed, his rough cheek brushed hers. “What were you dreaming about last night?” His voice was low, near her ear. “When you called out for me.”

He glanced back again to find Rune’s eyes on him. Their gazes snagged.

Behind them, a voice roared like thunder. Louder than the engine’s noise. “What the hell do you think you’re doing with my wife?”

Gideon tore his gaze from Rune to glare at the man beside them. “Get the fuck out of here. Before I throw you into something worse than a wall.”

This time when he reached for her, Rune wasn’t fast enough to evade. He pulled her in close, his grip firm on her wrist. “I was worried about you. Afraid you were falling prey to some cad, when I should have known better.” His gaze flickered over her face. “The Crimson Moth only ever pretends to be prey. In truth, she’s the predator.”

His voice was low. Rough. “You’ve made a fool of me yet again.”

“You want the truth?” Her own hurt bubbled up, like steam from a volcano ready to erupt. “This is the truth: I would have married you in a heartbeat, had you asked me. I would have married you knowing you would hand me over to my killers—or kill me yourself—the moment you found out what I was. That’s how pathetic I am, Gideon! That’s how desperately I wanted to be yours!”

There was a part of Rune’s soul—most of it, maybe—that yearned for adventure. That craved a challenge. That liked a little danger.

I would have married you in a heartbeat, had you asked me. That’s how desperately I wanted to be yours.

He’d wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and kiss her. To tell her with his mouth and hands what he couldn’t say with his words.

Gideon saw her immediately. Like a compass that would always find north. The moment his eyes landed on Rune, she glanced up from the center of the crowd, where she danced with a young man in suspenders.

Gideon was caught in the snare of her gaze. Rune’s eyes always reminded him of a storm. Like thunder and lightning, mingled together.

“Excuse me,” he said when he arrived, cutting in. “I need to borrow my girl.”

Taking Rune’s face in his hands, drawing her gaze to his, Gideon did what he’d wanted to do for days now. Ever since he found her crying in that powder room. He slid his hands into her hair and kissed her. Rune tensed, like a deer in a hunter’s crosshairs. Don’t fight me, baby.

If this was weakness, he wanted to be weak.

If this was sin, let him be damned to hell.

Kissing Rune was like a realignment. There was before, when everything was off its axis. And there was after, when...

Instead, he tipped her head back and kissed her harder. Is this real? his mouth asked. Can I trust you?