Rebel Witch (The Crimson Moth, #2)

by Kristen Ciccarelli

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.

Gideon let out a ragged sigh. Stepping back. Watching her sleep. Forcing himself to remember she wasn’t some innocent girl. She was the Crimson Moth. A rebel witch.

“Listen, you demon: I will carry you out of here if I have to, and you know it.”

Lol demon

He couldn’t let Rune weaken him again. Even if he wanted her to.

“And what is her type, Captain Sharpe?” Rune studied the witch hunter in the shadows. Stupid brutes, apparently.

But Rune’s heart and her head refused to align. They were two ships on different courses. Her heart had gone rogue a long time ago.

She was prepared to give this boy whatever he wanted so long as he promised to never stop. I’m doomed, she realized. Gideon Sharpe will be the end of me.

He was thinking about how, now that he wasn’t allowed to have her, she was all he wanted.

“You are far worse than a thorn in my side,” he said, his dark eyes gleaming at her. “You are a knife in my heart.”

“Why would you lie to me?” Gideon remembered Rune’s knife pressed to his throat. Remembered the tears in her eyes as she fled. Because I love her.

His eyes blackened. “Who did this to you?”

“The problem with love is the more you try to destroy it, the stronger it becomes.”

“It might look like weakness on the surface. But in truth, it’s tougher than steel. Love can’t be controlled. Love can’t obey unjust laws. Love will always oppose tyrants.”

I don’t deserve this girl. He slid his palms against her cheeks and tilted her head back. But I want to. I want to be the man who deserves Rune Winters.

But Gideon wasn’t about to give up on her. Not yet. Somewhere beneath the fear was the girl he loved. A girl who stared down danger with a smile and a knife. His brave, clever Crimson Moth.

Something sparked inside her. An old feeling. A familiar feeling. Like she was back in the midst of a heist, outwitting a certain Blood Guard captain, risking everything for the possibility of saving one more witch from the purge. She’d forgotten the thrill of it. How it made her feel untouchable. Invincible. I am the Crimson Moth. It was the answer to her oldest question. You are the kindest, cleverest, bravest girl I’ve ever met. This was Rune Winters. This girl. In this moment.

Sometimes our paths must diverge from those we love. But if love is the highest power, our paths will converge again—if not in this world, then the next. Pressing her hand to Gideon’s heart, Rune whispered: “Come find me in the next world.” And then Death found her.

Gideon thought of his Crimson Moth and smiled through his sorrow. Even in death, my love, you are a wonder.

“It’s time to make a new world, Rune. Are you ready?”