Текст книги "Heartless hunter"

Автор книги: Kristen Ciccarelli

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 20 (всего у книги 23 страниц)

Gideon ran a hand through his hair, not liking where this was going.

“I disagree,” said Laila, leaning against his worktable. “If the suspect is Verity de Wilde, Rune was likely in on the scheme. Asking her will send her running to warn her friend.”

“Hold on,” said Gideon. “We can’t know this”—he held up the vague sketch—“is Verity de Wilde. Even if it resembles her somewhat, the print shop owner might have given a false description.”

Harrow started to say something, but Gideon held up his hand, locking eyes with her. “More importantly: Rune wasn’t in on the scheme.”

Harrow slit her eyes. “You’re certain of that?”

Gideon remembered Rune sitting outside his front door, weeping. Believing him dead.

He thought of everything they’d done last night.

“She’s not a witch.”

“Do you have proof this time?” Harrow’s voice dripped with suspicion.

Aware of Laila’s gaze, Gideon shifted uncomfortably. But if this was a standoff, he wouldn’t be intimidated. Rune deserved to be exonerated.

“The proof is currently sleeping in my bed.”

“You slept with Rune Winters?” Laila’s eyes widened. “Are you out of your mind?”

Gideon glanced at his hunting partner, wanting to defend Rune. But Harrow already suspected he was bewitched by her. If he proved that suspicion true, she would accuse him of being compromised. If he was compromised, Laila would have to report him.

So he said, “It was the only way to know for sure.”

“He means it was the best way to search her for casting scars,” Harrow clarified, her honeyed eyes still fixed on Gideon. Like a cat waiting for a mouse to show itself. “And? How was it, Comrade? Was she everything you hoped she’d be?”

His whole body prickled, not liking her tone—or the question. But he needed to be careful here, for Rune’s sake as much as his own. He needed to make Harrow and Laila believe he felt nothing for her. That what he’d done with Rune was pure business.

He forced the words out.

“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.”

Harrow looked like she was about to respond when a floorboard creaked outside the room. As if someone stood listening on the other side of the door.

All three of them looked to the closed door.

In three strides, Gideon crossed the room and swung it open.

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 …”

Visibly trembling, she stammered, “I-I have to go.”

Before he could stop her, she turned on her heel and stumbled out into the street.

OceanofPDF.com

FIFTY RUNE

RUNE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT hurt more: that Gideon would stoop so low in his quest to unmask the Crimson Moth, or that she’d fallen for his ruse.

I’ve had better. The words haunted her as she stepped into the street, lurching toward Lady, who waited dutifully at her hitching post. She’s a pretty face, nothing more.

As if sleeping with her was a task to accomplish. Something to get over with.

If she hadn’t walked in on that conversation, she would still believe it was the real thing. That he truly liked her. Maybe even loved her.

She wanted to cry.

This is over. No more courtship games. No more playing pretend. I am done with Gideon Sharpe.

He’d done her a favor. Cured her of what might have been the start of a pathetic, one-sided, deadly infatuation.

And yet …

Gideon caught up to her.

“Rune, wait.”

As he grabbed her wrist, Rune wrenched herself free and spun to face him.

“Don’t.”

He stumbled back, raising both hands in surrender. His breath puffed in the brisk morning air. “I … I didn’t mean any of that.”

Right. Sure.

Afraid she might burst into tears, not wanting him anywhere near her when she did, she ran the rest of the way to Lady’s side.

Around them, people stopped what they were doing to stare.

“Please give me a chance to explain. What you heard—”

“What I heard was sickening!” she said, stepping into Lady’s stirrup and pushing herself up and into the saddle. Because she was furious, she added: “Even for someone like you.”

Gideon stepped back. “Someone like me.”

She shook her head. “I was right about you from the beginning. 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.

Unable to look at him a moment longer, she gathered Lady’s reins and turned away from the Blood Guard captain. “You and I are done, Gideon. I never want to see you again.”

Rune urged the horse into a canter.

She couldn’t put him behind her fast enough.

OceanofPDF.com

FIFTY-ONE GIDEON

GIDEON SLOWED HIS STEPS, watching her flee.

She didn’t look back. Not once.

He was that forgettable.

Did you really expect this would end happily?

Suspicion had tainted his relationship with Rune from the beginning. 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.

And now that he trusted her fully, now that he knew what it felt like to wake up beside her, to believe a life with her was within reach, he’d gone and ruined everything.

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.

OceanofPDF.com

FIFTY-TWO RUNE

THE NORTH WIND WHIPPED Rune’s hair across her cheeks. Lady’s hooves kicked the dirt of the country laneways. Fields and bogs and forests blurred at the edges of her vision.

I want all of you, Rune. Not just tonight, but every moment from now on.

She felt feverish. Possessed. Unable to stop thinking about what she and Gideon had done. About the possibilities she’d let herself want.

I am such a fool!

Rune couldn’t shake off the memory of his mouth trailing reverently down her body, or the tenderness in his voice as he whispered sweet things in the dark.

I’m scared, too, he’d told her.

We could trust each other, he’d said. As if he’d meant every word.

She let the tears fall as she rode, letting the wind dry them. She pushed Lady harder, wanting to kill the thing inside her that bloomed at Gideon’s touch. Wanting to put him behind her forever.

Rune had known all along that he was hunting her. That he wanted her dead. Gideon was nothing more than a cruel boy who liked to kill witches.

Sweet Mercy, why does this hurt so much?

Suddenly, Lady slowed. Rune palmed the tears from her eyes and looked up. She hadn’t even realized the destination she’d been riding toward until it loomed before her.

Thornwood Hall.

One of the stable hands saw her arrive and met her at the entrance to the house. Rune dismounted and handed him Lady’s reins, quickly taking the steps past the two marble lions and through the doors.

Alex was in the hallway, speaking with a servant. The moment she appeared, he paused and turned toward her.

“Rune?”

At the sight of her tearstained face, his own darkened. Dismissing the servant, he moved toward her and took her shoulders in his hands. “What’s happened?”

She closed her eyes. Alexander Sharpe. The boy she didn’t have to hide from. Gentle Alex who would never hurt or betray her. The person she could tell anything to.

“You were right about Gideon. I’m done with him.”

A series of contradictory emotions chased each other across his face. Shock. Relief. And … something else. Something Rune couldn’t put her finger on.

“Did he hurt you?”

“What? No.” Not physically. “He …” She glanced toward the servant still lingering in this hall. Not wanting to be overheard, Rune took one of Alex’s hands and led him into the conservatory, shutting the door behind them.

“Your brother has suspected me this whole time.” Pressing both hands to her temples, she shook her head. She walked past the piano and toward Alex’s writing desk, pivoted and walked back again. “He was only pretending to court me because he thought I was the Moth.”

“Does he still think you’re the Moth?”

Rune thought back to the snippet of conversation she’d overheard. After waking in an empty bed and realizing it was midmorning, she’d dressed and followed the sound of Gideon’s voice downstairs. She’d only heard the end of his upsetting conversation with Laila and Harrow, but Gideon had seemed adamant: he didn’t think she was a witch.

“I don’t think so.”

“But you don’t know for sure.”

“I …”

“Rune.” Alex’s voice sounded strange. Rune, still pacing, had reached the writing desk again. “Please don’t make me leave you here.”

She turned to face him. “What do you mean?”

“Here. On this island.” He started toward her. “If I have to leave you behind, it will kill me. Please come with me.”

She shook her head. “You know I can’t leave.”

Rune watched Alex reach into his breast pocket and pull something out. Stopping in front of her, he reached for her hand.

“I didn’t think I’d have the courage to ever do this …”

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?”

Rune pulled her hand from his, cradling it in the space between them, running her fingertips over the thin band.

What is he saying?

“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.”

Rune’s heart fluttered in her chest.

What?

His face was inches from hers now, his breath warm on her lips. “I love you, Rune Winters. I have since the day I met you.”

Her eyes burned.

“I love you,” he repeated, taking her face in his hands. “Do you believe me?”

He loved her. Not like a friend, or a sister. But like a …

“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.

Alex was her safe harbor. He was everything she didn’t deserve.

But do I love him?

As a friend, yes. Like a brother, definitely.

Could he be more than that?

Rune didn’t know. Maybe.

But there was a problem. He was leaving soon. Leaving for good. And she couldn’t go with him.

She stepped back, shaking her head. “If I went with you to Caelis, I would spend every day eaten up by guilt and self-loathing.”

“You do that now,” he pointed out.

She glanced away. “Maybe so, but at least here I can do something about it. I can’t leave helpless witches to be murdered while I live out some fantasy far away.”

“Rune.”

His hands settled on her hips.

“Look at me.”

She dragged her eyes back to his.

“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—”

“Cressida is alive and she’s more powerful than you’ll ever be. Let her take up your cause.” Before she realized what was happening, Alex leaned in. “She can finish what you started.”

And then: he kissed her.

Kissing Alex wasn’t at all like kissing his brother. Gideon was dangerous. Deadly. Literally hunting her. She could never be with Gideon unless she wanted to be dead.

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 …

Alex’s hands trailed down her arms and settled around her waist, pulling her closer. When his kisses turned hungry, she leaned in, open to the possibility of him. He backed her toward the desk and lifted her onto it. 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.

“Come with me, Rune. Your grandmother would want you to be happy.”

Rune had no defense against his arguments this time. Nan had loved her more than anything; she did want Rune to be happy. And Alex was right about Cressida—there wasn’t a more powerful witch alive. It was silly to insist she could do more than the youngest witch queen could.

“You deserve to be happy,” he murmured against her lips. “Let me try to make you happy.”

Rune couldn’t remember the last time she’d cried so much in one day.

“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.

OceanofPDF.com

FIFTY-THREE RUNE

RUNE SPENT THE FOLLOWING day packing suitcases and making a list of things to send for once she and Alex were settled on the Continent. They had decided Rune would leave on the same ship as Alex the morning after Seraphine’s rescue.

Which was in two days.

An electric feeling zipped down her spine.

“There’s a pile of suitcases sitting on your front doorstep,” said a sudden voice. “Do you have visitors?”

Rune looked up from her packing list to find Verity sweeping into the casting room, her heeled boots clicking on the floorboards as she pulled her gloves off her hands.

Rune had sent a carriage to fetch her friend early, before Alex arrived for their last meeting about tomorrow’s heist. Rising from the desk, Rune bit her lip and turned toward her friend, who scanned the room, her attention homing in on the stacks of wooden crates crammed full of spell books, and the empty shelves beyond them. Verity’s brows knit.

“That’s what I wanted to tell you about.” Rune’s stomach knotted. She wasn’t looking forward to this conversation—or to leaving Verity behind. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I’m leaving the New Republic.”

Verity’s gaze shot to hers.

“I’m going with Alex to Caelis.” Rune touched the thin chain around her neck, lifting it out of her bodice so Verity could see the ring hanging from it. “He asked me to marry him.”

Verity blinked. “And you accepted him.”

“I know you wanted me to choose someone more useful …” Rune wrinkled her nose, not liking the insinuation that Alex wasn’t valuable. “But I—”

“No,” Verity interrupted, shaking her head. “No, I’m glad you didn’t take my advice.” She stepped toward Rune and reached for her hands, gripping them tightly. Her dark eyes glittered as she said, “I never should have made that stupid list. I wasn’t thinking about you. I was thinking about the mission.” She shook her head harder, as if angry with herself. “I’ve been a rotten friend.”

Rune let out a breath. “I thought you’d be more upset.”

“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.”

Rune smiled. “You’ll visit us?”

Verity squeezed her hands. “Of course.”

Rune pulled her into a hug, not even minding her perfume. “Thank you for understanding.”

“I’ll always understand,” Verity whispered.

SHORTLY AFTER ALEX ARRIVED, the three of them gathered in Rune’s casting room one last time to discuss tomorrow’s plan. As the sun dipped below the horizon, Verity pulled out two stolen Blood Guard uniforms from her rucksack.

“It might be a little big,” she said, handing one over to Rune. “But it should do the trick.”

The red wool coat, cotton shirt, breeches, boots, and hat were all stolen from the student in her dormitory. Hopefully, the girl wouldn’t notice before Verity returned them.

Rune took the stack of clothes. “Why are there two?”

“This one is for me,” said Verity, taking off her spectacles to rub her fingers against her tired eyes.

“But why do you need one?”

“I’m coming with you.”

Rune frowned at her friend. “Absolutely not. It’s too dangerous, Verity.”

Verity ignored her, picking up the black soldier’s hat and placing it on her head. “Everyone knows that witch hunters work in pairs, if not packs. It might look suspicious if you’re alone.”

“I agree,” said Alex. He sat cross-legged beside Rune, one hand planted on the floorboards behind her, his shoulder touching hers. With his closeness came the comforting warmth of him, along with his leather and oak smell. “You’ll be safer with Verity at your side.”

Rune slit her eyes at them both. “And if something goes wrong?”

Verity tilted her chin back so the brim of the soldier’s hat stopped obscuring her view. “Then you won’t be alone when they throw you in a cell.”

From the firm press of her lips, she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Admittedly, Rune felt calmer knowing Verity would be there. “Fine,” she sighed. “Thank you.”

She set her stack of clothes on the carpet in front of her, next to Gideon’s access coin and her last remaining vial of blood. It was mostly full. She’d been trying to save as much of it for tomorrow’s heist as possible, in case something went wrong and she needed to cast a spell—or several—to get them out.

It would have been nice to replenish at least some of her blood stores before tomorrow, but her monthly cycle hadn’t started yet.

“It would make me feel better if we went through the plan one last time,” said Alex.

So they did.

At three o’clock in the afternoon, Rune would meet Verity at her dormitory, and together they would don their Blood Guard uniforms. While crowds of people filled the streets for the Liberty Day festivities, they would travel to the palace and enter the prison.

Alex would wait with the horses a block away.

Once inside, Rune and Verity would use Gideon’s access coin to get past the seventh gate, telling the guards they had orders to bring Seraphine to her purging. They would retrieve Seraphine, usher her out of the palace prison, and bring her to Alex and the waiting horses.

From there, Rune and Alex would hide Seraphine at Thornwood Hall. The next day, they would board the ship to Caelis with Seraphine concealed in their cargo, bound for freedom.

Rune’s heart stuttered at the thought. In two days, she’d be sailing across the Barrow Strait, toward a new life.

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.

OceanofPDF.com