Rebel Witch

Rune detours to the kitchen for a knife so that she can cast the Ghost Walker spell but crosses paths with Soren on the way. He’s shocked and relieved to see her, assuming that she was saved from her kidnapper. When he makes an ill-timed romantic advance on Rune and she rejects him, he becomes angry and forces himself on her. Desperate to escape his grasp, Rune pulls the gun holstered on his hip and shoots him in the head.

Leaving Soren’s body behind, Rune casts the Ghost Walker invisibility spell. She finds Harrow in the interrogation rooms. Harrow is wary of Rune but allows her to unshackle her using a Picklock spell.

Rune keeps them both concealed as she helps Harrow escape the palace and reach the stables. When Rune asks where Gideon is, Harrow grudgingly reveals that the Blood Guard went west and might have taken Gideon with them. She suspects that they’re heading for an abandoned coastal fort, the Rookery, to rearm. Rune conceals a horse with Ghost Walker and instructs Harrow to escape the city. When Harrow asks what Rune plans, she admits that she’ll escape the island but first plans to visit her home, Wintersea House, to grab her grandmother’s spell books. Before they part ways, Harrow admits that she was wrong about Rune.

Taking her grandmother’s horse, Lady, from the stables, Rune rides to Wintersea House and finds it crawling with Blood Guard soldiers. She sneaks through the garden at the back of the house and climbs up the old vines to the window of her casting room. It’s exactly as she left it, with the secret entrance wall sealed tight, meaning that Noah Creed hasn’t found it. While searching through her grandmother’s spell books, Rune accidentally drops one. After pausing a few moments to ensure that no one is coming inspect, Rune begins flipping through the fallen book. Inside, she finds a summoning spell capable of calling an Ancient from the world beyond. A creak outside the room is Rune’s only warning before the false wall opens.

Gideon stands against the dining room wall of Wintersea House in manacles, while Noah meets with his council of ministers at the table. Meanwhile, other Blood Guard soldiers rush to pack his belongings to take to the Rookery, where the army is headed.

In the chaos, only Laila and Gideon hear the faint thump on the floor overhead. When Laila decides to investigate, Gideon asks her to take him with her because he knows the house better. She reluctantly removes his manacles, and he follows her upstairs. Each searches one side of the upstairs. Out of Laila’s sight, Gideon heads straight for Rune’s bedroom and searches it before facing the false wall concealing her casting room. Gideon opens the wall yet barely steps inside before he’s hit over the head with a blunt object.

Rune and Gideon grapple in the dark until they realize that they’re fighting each other. Pinned beneath him, she winces at the pressure on her reopened back wounds. Gideon pulls away, misunderstanding her reaction. In doing so, he notices her ripped bodice from when Soren assaulted her earlier that evening. Gideon demands to know who hurt her, but Rune insists that her assaulter is dead. They’re interrupted by a sound from the hall. Gideon warns her that dozens of Blood Guard soldiers are in the house and have instructions to shoot her on sight. Before she can hide, Laila, Noah, and several Blood Guard soldiers burst into the room with their guns drawn. Noah orders his guards to take Rune out back and shoot her while he deals “with the witch’s whore” (303). Feeling pure rage at Noah’s words, Rune throws a knife at him, impaling his shoulder. When she rushes to attack him with her bare hands, Laila apprehends her. Several soldiers hold Gideon back as he begs Laila to spare Rune. Laila explains that Rune helped put Cressida on the throne—the woman who killed Laila’s father. Gideon points out that Laila’s father killed Rune’s grandmother, but Laila doesn’t yield. She takes Rune to the gardens and forces her to kneel. Laila cocks her gun, and Rune closes her eyes, waiting for the shot to come.

Noah orders his guards to manacle Gideon. Rather than kill him, Noah plans to give him to Cressida in exchange for the prisoners she’s executing. When Noah leaves the room, a young guard named Felix, whom Gideon trained, slips a key into his palm. Gideon is hauled out of the room behind Noah as he works to unlock his chains. Breaking free, he lashes out, punching Noah several times before going to save Rune. He distracts Laila just as she shoots, causing her to narrowly miss Rune.

Gideon convinces Laila to allow him and Rune to escape. She gives them 15 seconds before the guards are on them. Gideon and Rune run through the gardens as soldiers pursue and shoot at them. Gideon is hit in both the shoulder and the hip but continues pushing them forward, placing himself as a shield between Rune and the guards. When they reach the woods, Gideon nearly collapses from blood loss.

Rune blows a silent whistle to summons Lady and receives permission from Gideon to use his blood for a spell. She draws spell marks on his body that heal him just enough for them to mount Lady and escape the approaching soldiers.

Rune and Gideon break into a summer home of the Wentholt family—a remote cottage in the woods, far from the main roads. Rune searches for medical supplies but finds none. She’s startled when two half-dressed men enter the room—Bart Wentholt and the Wentholt family’s cook, Antonio Bastille. They reveal that Bart’s maid, Bess, is the only other person in the house. Noticing Gideon’s injuries, Antonio offers to help, claiming that he’s trained in the healing arts. Bart elaborates that Antonio was an acolyte at the Temple of the Ancients, which the New Republic raided when they took power. Bart is surprised to learn that Rune, whom he has known for years, is a witch, but he and Antonio don’t hate or fear her for this. Though Rune worries that they’ll turn her and Gideon in, Antonio assures her that they all have something to lose and must trust each other. He refers to Bart’s secret about his sexuality; if his family knew, his father would marry him off to a woman against his will or disown him.

After Antonio tends to Gideon, Rune warns Bart and Antonio that they aren’t safe because Cressida will eventually find them. Bart claims that they have nowhere else to go. He mentions how he’s not fond of either the Republic or the Rosebloods: He doesn’t have a favored side in this war. Gideon speculates aloud about a world where no one is persecuted and everyone lives as equals. Gideon suggests a third outcome, where neither the New Republic nor Cressida wins.

Gideon asks Rune if any witches are willing to defy Cressida. She believes that Seraphine might but doubts the others. While many witches don’t support Cressida, they’re too afraid to outright betray her. Rune is afraid to risk fighting both Cressida and the Republic. She tells Gideon that Alex was right: If they wish to be free, they should run and never look back. Rune claims that she’d rather be a coward than a fool and storms off.

Rune casts a Messenger spell to tell Seraphine where she is, should the witch wish to join her. While the maid, Bess, prepares a room for her, Rune asks about the nearest train station. The maid admits that Cressida has begun shutting them down so that no one can escape. Rune asks Bess to buy her a ticket for whichever train is headed the furthest northwest while they’re still in operation.

Antonio and Bart begin making a list of potential allies—aristocrats who might be sympathetic to their cause. Meanwhile, Gideon worries about Rune’s well-being. She has been different since they reunited. He wonders if it’s because of Soren’s attack or something else.

The next morning, Gideon wakes to find Harrow at the front door, arguing with Antonio about seeking an audience with Gideon. When Gideon appears, Harrow asks him to return to the Blood Guard; she believes that they’re directionless without him and stand no chance against Cressida in their current state. Gideon refuses to return given Noah’s plans for him and says he no longer slaughters witches. Seraphine, Juniper, and Rune appear. Harrow immediately pulls a gun on Juniper, informing Gideon that Juniper is the girl who left her in her parents’ cellar to die. Rune steps between Juniper and Harrow, informing Harrow that Juniper convinced her to rescue Harrow. Harrow reluctantly lowers her weapon. When Antonio meets the newcomers, his gaze lingers on Seraphine, as if he knows her. Gideon notices a subtle nod of understanding between them. Following Rune into the gardens for breakfast, Gideon notices a red mark on the back of her neck, like a freshly healed scar, and wonders how she acquired it.

The group sits at a table on the terrace. Gideon proposes that all band together to fight for a world where their loved ones can be happy and safe. Though they hesitate to trust each other, they hope they can work together. Harrow insists that they find the lost Roseblood heir and kill her to stop Cressida from resurrecting her sisters. Seraphine and Juniper tense at the suggestion, and Rune eyes Gideon, whom she hasn’t yet told of her identity. She’s unaware that Gideon already knows. Juniper instead offers to return to the capital and learn where Cressida keeps her sisters’ bodies so that they can destroy them; she offers to try recruiting more witches to their cause while she’s there.

When Rune expresses disapproval of these plans and the risk they pose to everyone, Gideon becomes annoyed and tells her to run away if that’s what she wants. Antonio and Bess arrive with breakfast and visitors for Gideon. Behind them are Abbie and her friend Ash from the Arcadia. After receiving a telegram from Laila about the state of the Republic, they returned to help. Seeing how Abbie looks at Gideon, like she believes in him completely, Rune flees the table and ventures to the hot springs to bathe privately, with no one around to see her scars. In the water, she begins to cry.

Gideon returns to the table and asks where Rune went. Bess says Rune went to bathe in the hot springs, which Bess suggested would help heal her wounds. Gideon asks what wounds Bess is referencing. Juniper admits that Cressida whipped Rune severely after Rune defied her to break the curse on Gideon’s brand. Seraphine elaborates that Cressida allowed Rune to live only when Seraphine gave Cressida the name of the missing Roseblood heir. Gideon realizes that Rune knows she’s Cressida’s sister.

Gideon rushes to the hot springs and sees the scars marring every inch of Rune’s back. She’s startled at his arrival and rushes to cover herself with a towel. When she begins to cry, he comforts her, assuring her that he doesn’t care if she’s Cressida’s sister and doesn’t find her scars ugly, as she feared. He kisses her scars and then her mouth. She asks him to sail to the other side of the world to live safely together. However, as much as he loves her, Gideon refuses to abandon everyone else to die.