Transcript
Speaker: you
Speaker: Welcome to the Britannia Library. We are librarians, Brittany and Chandler. Every week we will be recapping and discussing our current read, anything from the latest trends to longtime favorites.
Speaker: Depending on our selection, we'll cover it over multiple episodes, so be sure to stick around to hear the full story. We'll start our next read, Rebel Witch by Kristen Siccarelli. This is the last book of the Crimson Moth duology.
Speaker: And spoiler alert, we will be discussing what happens in the book. If you wish to read along, we will be following the three parts this book is broken into. Part one will cover up to chapter 30. You're welcome to catch up and come back to listen to our thoughts or follow along as we discuss now.
Speaker: we do want to add there is a bit of a PG-13 warning here for some foul language and mature themes. And speaking on that, some trigger warnings with this book include sexual assault, violence, torture, murder, kidnapping, substance and alcohol abuse, mention of blood and cutting, intimate scenes, death, and persecution for witchcraft.
Speaker: Okay. So we start with the part one opening. We learn the mythology bit about how this world was created. It says, you know, the seven sisters laughed and a world burst into being.
Speaker: They created the waves and shorelines and breathed life into all things and bound the world together with love, goodness, and beauty. Before vanishing, they selected a few to watch over the world for them and gifted them magic to protect themselves.
Speaker: The witches. witches. That also explains the seven ancients. And so we start with Gideon's perspective. So it's been two months since Cressida Rosewood shot Alexander Sharp and Rune Winters escaped with her.
Speaker: So it's... It's been a minute, but not necessarily that long. Yeah. So Gideon is working undercover in the ballroom of Prince Sorin's Larkmont Palace in Umbria.
Speaker: And his mission, obviously, assassinate Rune. Dun-dun! This order comes after intelligence via his colleague Harrow that Sorin is going to be marrying Rune in exchange for giving Cressida an army.
Speaker: So Gideon believes his alliance is dangerous for the new Republic. And Alex was like barely in the ground and Rune was already engaged to another man, a prince no less.
Speaker: A quote from Gideon. He's so butthurt. yeah But like he could, does he not understand that this could be the inner workings of something else? No. No. way too emotional about that.
Speaker: he is. So in the ballroom, Rune interacts with guests there, including having a conversation about how witches once lived full of music, beauty, and art.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. And she also then kind of blames Gideon for ending that way of life. She goes, that day ended when he, you know, murdered two queens in their beds. Ooh. Ooh. Gideon overhears this.
Speaker: Yeah. So he's like, okay. So Prince Sorin then sympathizes with Rune about leaving the witches behind. And she shares that she won't be free until every last one of my sisters is free to Ooh. very dramatic, Rune.
Speaker: She's always been dramatic. And so as the musical performance begins, Rune is visibly upset. The opening chords kind of shock her, and she excuses herself and heads to the bathroom, which gives Gideon the chance he was looking for to kind of follow through with his mission, and he follows her to the bathroom is with the intent to kill her.
Speaker: ah don Next chapter, we get Rune's point of view. As Rune is fleeing from the ballroom with a bottle of whiskey, She's withholding tears, and we learn that it's Alex's music that was playing.
Speaker: I do want to note here, Gideon had noted that the music sounded familiar. but he had't But he couldn't play Sky. And I just think that kind of shows that he did know Alex as well as Rune did.
Speaker: A hundred percent. You know? I mean, clearly, obviously. Didn't know his involvement, which is... And Rune shares how much she misses him and her home of Wintersea. She's just like, you know, she was like, I didn't think about this when I had agreed with Alex's plan for Kaylee's. But now that I'm gone, like, hmm, I miss it.
Speaker: And Rune is kind of struggling as Sorin's fiancé. um which was honestly an order given to her by Cressiva in order to make an army. Yeah. Like it started off as like, ah oh, just they can want you. And it went so quickly and a proposal came. They were like, okay.
Speaker: And so due to these like feelings of grief over Alex and the charade of being like this excited, soon to be bride, Rune has turned to drinking to endure these events.
Speaker: And Rune kind of flashes back to how their plan with the prince came about, you know, making him fall for her. And then turning down his proposal until all the witches are free, giving Cressida an army. Yeah. But it didn't really work out that way. Yeah.
Speaker: So Rune kind of dislikes this idea of working for Cressida, but she does owe her for saving her and Seraphine. Yeah. And we've learned that the Bloodguard has captured a powerful Sybil, a witch that can see past, present, and future.
Speaker: and are using her to hunt down the remaining witches. That's crazy. Right? And so, you know, the Crimson Moth would have broken out this symbol, but the only way to access the island is by sea, and all ports are searched now by guards and hounds.
Speaker: All the ships allow this except one, the Arcadia. And this doesn't stop witch hunters, though. It just forces them to go undercover on board. Yeah. And then, like, you see as soon as they hit water, the waters are, like, boarded by hounds and searched. Yeah.
Speaker: So the only way to protect witches is to destroy the New Republic and the Blood Guard and replace them with Cressida. Yet Rune really doesn't want that either. Right. you know Especially since she knows ah what Cressida has done to Gideon.
Speaker: So once Cressida returns from searching for new alliances, Prince Soren will sign the agreement, sending his troops to aid Cressida. And then forcing Rune to marry him. So as Rune reaches the bathroom, she hopes for just a little bit of a reprieve, you know, but then takes a couple swigs and gives herself a pep talk, you know, remember what's at stake.
Speaker: And she looks at her dress and it reminds her Gideon's actually, which leads her to kind of compare her recent suitors, you know, like Alex Gideon and Prince Soren. Yeah. She's wearing this gold dress and it's super fancy and low cut. Yeah. It's so, it's like she's,
Speaker: It's not her color. Yeah. And it's very showy. She's like, I don't like this. So she's not like comparing. It doesn't remind her of getting into this. It just makes her think like. How much she loved the other one. Yeah. And how perfect it was for her because it was a little her as opposed to this just showy piece.
Speaker: Because that's what is to Soren. A hundred percent. Yeah. So when thinking of Alex, she kind of knows that he would forgive her for moving on after only two months. And that's kind of like what breaks her. Yeah. um She erupts in quiet sobs at the sink.
Speaker: Uh-huh. And through her tears, she sees a green uniform belonging to Solon's guard if you're behind her. At second glance, though, it turns out to be Gideon with his gun aimed directly at her.
Speaker: Oh, jeez. Oh, my goodness. And so we switch back to Gideon's perspective. And Gideon makes the mistake of looking at Rune before firing. Yeah. And a very bad one. And he notices that she's been crying in the now less full whiskey bottle.
Speaker: Yeah. And Rune kind of taunts him saying, you know, some things have changed and asks, what would Alex think? Yeah. But then Gideon blames her. He's like, you're full, Alex. we shot Yeah.
Speaker: Which, know. He berates her dress yeah again. ah But he countered she counters with Soren's enjoyment of it. Oh, God. And Julian mentioned that she's raised her standards while simultaneously in his mind he's thinking that he never could have been good enough for her. yeah over yourself.
Speaker: Yeah. So she replies, her only requirement is that they don't want me dead. They continue to kind of tone each other back and forth and until Rune ends up throwing the whiskey bottle at Gideon's head, which he like, gets and avoids, but like it,
Speaker: narrowly avoids his head he said he like feels the wind rush past his face so she presses cape past him but he catches her and pins her to a wall i sense a theme yep still aiming the gun at her head and she wishes that gideon had been shot not alex which causes him to kind of relive again as he has kind of been constantly yes it happened But he thinks that that wouldn't have happened had Rune not helped Cressida all along. Yeah. And that his failure of falling for the Crimson Moth Strap is weakness that led to so many deaths at the hands of the witches.
Speaker: He realizes that he's going to have to harden himself and must follow through with his plan. So pressed close together, Gideon notices even more about Rune until they're both distracted by the sound of approaching footsteps.
Speaker: guards that were likely summoned by the sound of the bottle exploding on the wall right the job rune so gideon realizes he won't be able to escape if he shoots rune because obviously they'll hear the gunshot there's no exit he's in there he's in there so he tries to like understand why rune is helping cressida but rune points out it's against the people that want to hunt and kill her kind Yeah. you know He's like, do you really want to bring that back? And she's like, um, what, it's people against me? Yeah.
Speaker: So he asks if she'll enjoy being Thornt's wife afterwards, haunting that the Crimson Moth is no caged thing. Yeah. So Rune kind of struggles against Gideon, kneeing him in the groin, causing him to collapse, and she grabs Gideon's gun and pulls it on him, right as Cressida enters the bathroom.
Speaker: Oh. Oh, perfect timing. She was out stealing the line so they didn't know if she was going to be back. And now, oh, she's back. Yep. So Gideon faces his worst nightmare as guards restrain him in front of Cressida.
Speaker: Cressida orders everyone out except for Ava, the Crimson Moth's first rescue and the Roseblood's scar artist. So Ava cuts Cressida, adding to one of her floral designs, who then proceeds to cast a spell that causes invisible Ivy to wrap around Gideon and restrain him. ah Cressida calls out to Rhone, who locks eyes with Gideon.
Speaker: He begs her to shoot him, but Cressida commands her to give the gun to Ava. She does, and then she just turns and leaves. Cressida begins to question Gideon about his plan that night, how she uses her casting knife.
Speaker: cut away his shirt. Ugh. Ugh. So she begins to thank him for making her realize how much she needed her sisters. And she reveals her plan to bring him back to life. What?
Speaker: She's kept their bodies safe and preserved for two years. Yep, those bodies weren't missing. And she explains to Gideon that it just needs the sacrifice of a close relative. Ugh. and done So Gideon kind of points out that Cressna has no one.
Speaker: And she reveals that there's actually a long lost sibling, apparently. They remained hidden as someone has concealed them with ancient magic. um So refusing to discuss the plan further, Cressna kind of explains that she needs to ensure that Gideon truly belongs to her.
Speaker: Yeah, and he taunts that she has nothing to hold against him. But she argues that she sees how he looks at Rune. And when he tries to disagree, Cressida explains that she left something in the brand, marking Gideon.
Speaker: As it activates, Gideon is in excruciating pain. He begins to think of Rune, and his pain lessens a bit. And then it just gets worse until that doesn't help. And he begs for death.
Speaker: Cressida removes her hand and asks Gideon if he's going to cooperate or not. Will you come to me willing? Or shall I force you? Ew. Cressida? I hate you? hate her.
Speaker: can't believe that you were my favorite character as Verity. suck. I know. She sucks. So, we go back to Ryn's perspective. Once on the other side of the bathroom door, Rune kind of wishes that she had been able to erase Gideon from her mind. Apparently it's possible.
Speaker: Yeah. And so she remembers what he told her about the witch queen and thinks he probably didn't share. And now worries that he's back in her clutches. Yeah. And then upon hearing his screams, Rune wants to go back in and help him. Yeah. But she realizes that she'd be defying Cressida directly because, you she's in there.
Speaker: And she wonders why Gideon isn't able to shoot her. when suddenly soren calls out for her ah he wants to escort her to his rooms to be locked away until the threat is eliminated and knowing that there isn't much can do to help gideon she convinces the prince to sign his agreement with chesita early and then she teases him with a holiday that she's planned for the two of them using you know her old seduction tactics despite her inner turmoil at doing so Yeah, she's like, it used to be easy, but now it just... It feels sick. Yeah.
Speaker: She's like numb going through the motions. We switch back to Gideon's point of view. Cressida is trying to figure out who to use this leverage against Gideon when they're interrupted by a knock.
Speaker: Prince Sorin enters and approaches Gideon. They kind of size each other up, and Gideon starts to worry how he treats her in private. He's like the way he holds on himself. He's like, hmm, hmm, hmm. So when Soren tries to yell at Gideon, he makes a smart comment back and is punched in the face.
Speaker: And so Cressida tries to intervene, but Soren states that he wants to sign their agreement at that moment. He's like, I'd rather not risk any more interruptions. and so after commanding ava to bring gideon to crescita's rooms she leaves and gideon and ava are left alone ava then casts the spell on gideon's chest and cleans away crescita's spell marks releasing gideon yeah and so he's like oh i'm free so he goes and he lunges for his pistol but ava commands him to stop and his body obeys oh her spell forces him to follow her orders and
Speaker: She then forces him to crawl on the broken glass in the bottle, as he and as he approaches the door, swings open to reveal Rune, So we switch back to Rune.
Speaker: So Rune enters the bathroom and is disturbed to see Gideon's date. And when Ava questions Rune's presence, she struggles to kind of find a lie, claiming that Cressida wants Ava to be a witness to the signing. But Ava doesn't believe her. She's like, ah you were there. Why can't you be the witness?
Speaker: And she's like, because marrying Soren. Yeah, like conflict of interest. Yeah. And so... She commands Gideon to restrain her. her And then after threatening to tell Cressida, Ava then commands Gideon to kill the Crimson Moth.
Speaker: Man, everyone wants Ruth. Why do I call her Ruth sometimes? It just happens. It's because it's a more common name. I think it's because it's Rune and then Moth. Oh, that's 100% what it is.
Speaker: Rune's Moth. Mm-hmm. So Gideon slams her like he had like you're standing in the middle of the bathroom and then he grabs her on the neck and slams her against the mirror attempting to strangle her.
Speaker: And Rune kind of struggles against him until she remembers the pistol that was sitting on the sink over there. She goes, you did Gideon intentionally pin her there? She sees the pistol just out of reach and Ava watching calmly from the side.
Speaker: And as she's struggling to stay conscious, she's able to grab the gun fires it. Oh. The shot rings out and Gideon drops his hands from Rune's neck. Ava is dead.
Speaker: Rune had been about to shoot Gideon when she recognized the spell mark on him. Binder. Shout out. Yeah. Shout out our girl Seraphine. Yep. Teaching our homegirl. And she guessed that it bound Gideon to Ava and decided to shoot her instead. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: So this freed Gideon from Ava's spell, but it freed him to face Rune as well. She points the gun at him. We also want to mention that the spell could have continued if would have passed Everlasting along with it because then it would have continued if she would have died. no Yeah, I forgot about that.
Speaker: So Gideon claims that Rune won't shoot him because the gun is empty. So she calls his bluff, aiming at him without killing him. Okay. But the gun never fires. So, yeah. With guards quickly approaching after the gunshot, Rune realizes she must cast Ghost Walker, which would reveal her deceit unless she hides her casting mark.
Speaker: So Rune forces them in the closet, grabbing some of Ava's blood as they crane men. She uses the blood to cast Ghost Walker on Gideon, protecting him from detection. And Rune clarifies that she's doing this for Alex, not for Gideon.
Speaker: However, she's run out of blood and now can't protect herself. And then Gideon offers his own blood and Rune notices the glass shards in his hands, wondering what Cresta did to him. But then she remembered like he was crawling on the ground and she She saw like he was on the ground when she came in. that's true, yeah.
Speaker: But she's still. Yeah. She's like, what else happened? So then guards enter the bathroom and one searches the closet, but the spell works and they avoid detection. Yeah. As they're sneaking out of the closet, Cressida enters, followed by Soren.
Speaker: Cressida peers into the closet that they had hidden. Because they had snuck out at this point. Yeah. <unk>re As they're sneaking out of the closet. Yeah. Yeah. So they get like almost to the front when, like almost to like the exit when Cressen appears in the closet that they hid in and they ask Thorne to confirm that Rune is still in his rooms.
Speaker: Yeah. So Rune realizes that Cressen knows of her deceit unless she's able to make it back to Thorne's room before them. Rune could kind of like explain the castle in Mark's work for like cosmetic purposes from her first trip to the bathroom. Yeah.
Speaker: But then like Rune mentally maps and times out the path back to Scorn's room and realizes she's not going to make it. No. No. We switch back to Gideon's point of view.
Speaker: And Gideon actually notices the differences in voice magic from Cressida's, claiming that Rune's was almost gentle compared to Cressida's always being very forceful. Aww. Yeah. She's telling him where to find the stables and to take her horse to escape.
Speaker: And when she explains how she escaped Zorn's room, Gideon asks if she'll be able to climb onto the balcony. She like dropped herself from the second floor balcony. And she kind of urges him to escape before Cressida can catch them. But Gideon asks if the balcony is low enough for him to lift her onto and ask that she show him.
Speaker: Yeah. he's still going help. He's like, going to regret this, but you helped me, I'll help you, I guess. Yeah. So as they approach the balcony of Soren's room, Gideon tries to taunt Rome about visiting his rooms often. Oh my god. Like it's any of your business, dude.
Speaker: He continues to taunt her about going after her friends and it elevating her, you know, to an even fancier level. And she retorts with, jealous? If you wanted to marry me, Gideon, you should have said so.
Speaker: Okay. Okay. he replies in disbelief and accuses her of helping Cressida with her plans he's like uh what yeah and Rune's just as surprised by the information he shares but dismisses it kind of due to lack of the blood relative right she doesn't believe Cressida's comment to Gideon she was like he's she's just goading you there's no real air yeah And Gideon realizes that he can lift Rune onto the balcony, so he helps her up.
Speaker: yeah She climbs in, and he leaves her alone along with Markmunt. Yep. So then we switch back to Rune's perspective, and Rune makes it back into the room with seconds to spare.
Speaker: And she jumps into the bed to hide her dress and her bloody hands, wiping off the spell marks as the door opens. And she, you know, fakes sleep to convince Soren, but then feels a shadow fall over her before Cressida says, I know what you did.
Speaker: Ew. So she's like trying to calm her racing heart, you know, hoping that no one can hear it. Yeah. And Rune's just frozen as Cressida kind of continues to threaten her.
Speaker: Seraphine enters, though, and offers to stay in Walsh room so that Cressida can go and search for Gideon. Perfect. So when it's just the two of them, she gets up and is chastised for what she did by Seraphine, but explains that no one deserves a fate like that. Yeah. And Rune thinks on the likelihood of Cressida's plan working and shifts to thinking about how relentless the new Republic is about hunting witches.
Speaker: reasoning kind of behind Mac and Cressida being the lesser of two evils. Yeah. She's like, at least this way the witches are safe. Yeah. Yeah. So Seraphine urges Rune to flee to avoid punishment from Cressida for helping Gideon escape. And while thinking, um while she's thinking, Seraphine kind of rubs at the casting scars on her neck. Yeah. and finally able to see the design.
Speaker: It's a kestrel, which was her grandma's name. I mean, we knew there were besties. Yeah. Oh, those. Oh. Oh. Oh, is that where we're going?
Speaker: I mean, I love you, girl, but I don't know if I'd carve your name into my skin. You're so right. I'm like, I'm not going to catch on to this. Oh my god. So if Rune leaves, the alliance with Prince Sorin kind of falls apart, but Seraphine doesn't care.
Speaker: She begs Rune to flee to the other side of the world. Meanwhile, Rune begins to form a plan to rescue the Sybil, to protect the witches in hiding, and to find the missing Roseblood heir before Cressida gets to them. you And then she'll run away after that.
Speaker: Yep. And I do want to note that, like, she does realize, like, Alex isn't there to, like, yeah like help her plan she misses that and she was like but he's also not there to rein me in and like kind of make sure i'm in check like cautioning her like making sure she protects herself because that was something that happened in the first book he was always telling her like watch out out watch out like you're gonna be saying you don't need help where are these witches when they string you up like all of that mm-hmm
Speaker: So we switch back to Gideon's point of view and Gideon returns to his dump of a hotel room. Yep. It's the only place in Calise that was desperate enough to accept a witch hunter. And he finds a telegram from Harrow asking if he's completed the mission.
Speaker: He knows that she's worried he's been compromised again, but responds that he's learned some new information that needs to be discussed first. And Hera knows Rune hasn't been eliminated and Gideon asks for more time.
Speaker: However, she informs him the next morning that the new good commander has sent someone else to complete the mission and he must return home. And Gideon knows that he has to see this to an end in order to prevent Cressida from reaching her goal.
Speaker: You know, her sisters were apparently more cruel than her. Compared to Elowen and Amelise, she was a novice. so they may end up ushering in a deadlier reign of witches yeah i mean it's like payback for everything they went through if they come back they're gonna be mad so he's like gotta kill rink even if it destroys me that's a heartbreak game i know So the newspapers announce Roan's engagement to Prince Thorin, but they don't really share many other details.
Speaker: Gideon knows that Roan, ever the vapid socialite, needs to be out shopping. And Thorin, the vain peacock, needs to show off his treasure. yep I mean, he did that when he flaunted her around in that dress. Exactly.
Speaker: So he sees them enter a shop, but Thorin leaves shortly after, taking one of his guards with him. and leaving room there it's a bridal shop too yeah and so getting kind of slips into the store avoiding the guard notice like Avoiding the guards noticing him, basically.
Speaker: And says he's looking for his fiancé trying on dresses. And the shop owner tells him he has the wrong shop and then threatens to call in the guard. But then more customers come in. Yeah.
Speaker: So he pretends to leave while the owner's distracted and Gideon slips into the back instead where the dressing rooms are. o He plans to shoot Rune and run, but upon entering her dressing room, he finds himself at the end of her gun.
Speaker: ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. who So Rune makes Gideon enter the dressing room and he asks her if the gun is loaded this time. Yeah. Oh my God. Assy boy.
Speaker: So she confirms Thorne gave it to her and then Gideon taunts her about killing him. And she offers him a temporary truce and explains while putting on her shoes, you know, showing trust in Gideon. The gun is on the side her. So she's like, I'm showing trust in Gideon.
Speaker: Yeah. so So she doesn't want to be Soren's wife and she wants Gideon's help getting into the Republic and getting the Sibyl. She points out that killing her would only upset Soren and not actually ruin his alliance with Cressida. So Gideon begins to think of a plan to betray her and asks her for assurances that she won't betray him.
Speaker: Right. Because he's like, you know, I'm going betray her. I got to make sure she's not going the same to me. Right. So she explains how she risks helping him and she... And he shares what he's risking by bringing her back.
Speaker: But in the end, he decides to agree, knowing that he'd arrest Rune the moment they arrived on the island. Yeah. What a piece of crap. Yeah. So he tries to get, like, more details of Rune's plan, but she picks up the gun and aims it at him again. I love her.
Speaker: He taunts her about knowing about not knowing how to use it and then asks what actually changed her mind. Yeah, she refuses to answer, and then Gideon points out that she could betray him again. It's just the same argument. It So they argue about lying to each other, and Rune admits she didn't know it was Cressida that she was helping. She was like, I thought it was my friend, Verity. Yeah, and Gideon, you know, isn't sure if he believes her, but agrees to this truth.
Speaker: Yeah. So Rune begins to tell him her plan when Soren's voice interrupts them. unsuccessful and thanks warrenen gi in gideon pulls runa against him holding her pistol to her head as soren enters great wonderful yeah he continues with his ruse and gets soren to lock the door and everyone inside behind the counter and then runa directs him how to get out And he realizes she under understood his plan. Yeah, he's like, she didn't hesitate when I pulled her against me. Almost like she knew what to
Speaker: She told him to go left. He goes to the back doors to the left. like Well, they were going to leave out that way anyway. part her plan. But now she's just a hostage in this instance. and So once out in the back alley, Gideon offers to return to his hotel to devise a plan. But Brune is ahead of him. My girl.
Speaker: She pulls out two suitcases that were hidden, takes back her gun to hide it in her dress, and puts on a cloak. yeah obviously she can't be walking around in the middle of the day with a wedding dress on yeah so knowing they're being searched for he grabs that luggage and runs after room and suddenly shots ring out and room turns around and returns fire almost getting giddy and They make it to a crowded area to avoid detection and Rune informs him that she booked passage to them on the Arcadia and that it departs almost immediately.
Speaker: Gideon then realizes how far ahead Rune has planned. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She's, she, she, she thinking. and As they approach the Arcadia, he notices Soren's fleet in the harbor and guards, switching civilians nearby. Rune shares that the tickets are under Gideon's name to avoid suspicion.
Speaker: And she plans to change her appearance. So upon approaching the Ticketmaster, he congratulates them on their nuptials. And Rune immediately plays along as Gideon slowly realizes that they appear exactly like newlyweds. Yeah, he's like, oh my god, she's a wedding dress.
Speaker: And he looks down at his vintage suit from his parents. And he's like, yeah. So the Ticketmaster welcomes them aboard and greets them as Mr. and Mrs. Sharp. Shocking both Rune and Gideon. They both tense up at this.
Speaker: Yeah, which, I mean, think about it. Rune would have been Mrs. Short by now. Yeah. Just a different one. A different one. So Gideon argues that he did not agree to this, but Rune thinks that he should be thanking her instead.
Speaker: Rune suggests that they find their cabin. Only one was left, and it was in third class. Oh, geez. Gideon knows that this means the room will be tiny, but doubts that she will know that. Yet he follows her as she stays ahead of him.
Speaker: Yep. So we switch back to Rune's perspective now. Upon entering the room, Rune realizes her mistake with how cramped it is. She's like, I messed up. And then they suddenly hear knocking nearby and Rune sees police questioning passengers.
Speaker: She turns around, urging him to kind of take off his suit as it's kind of recognizable. And he points out her wedding dress is also kind of noticeable. So she's like, okay, I got to get it off. Yeah, but she's unable to remove the dress herself, so Gideon helps her, and they bicker about him needing to know the plan in advance.
Speaker: Yeah. So when they when the police reach their door, Rune hides the clothes, and Gideon barely opens the door, concealing Rune. And then at this point, Rune casts an illusion spell to change her appearance, and we learn her scar designs are moths in flight going up her leg.
Speaker: That's pretty. Right? From her ankle, like, up to behind her knee. Mm-hmm. And then Rune blocks her casting mark but exposes her to an officer's gaze. Yeah, she kind of like steps more into the line of sight.
Speaker: And she's only in her underwear. Yeah. Yeah, so Gideon then goes to stand and, the you know, block her from the officer's view and throws his shirt at her to cover herself. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: The police ask them if they've seen Rune, showing them a locket that Rune had gifted Sorin with her likeness inside. Mm-hmm. So when they confirm that neither recognizes her, Gideon slams the door on the officers.
Speaker: And Rune notices Gideon's shirtless body and he begins to take in hers. Yeah. They're both kind of simultaneously. They checking each other out. A hundred percent. So talking over each other to break the silence, Gideon grabs a sweater from Sord's luggage and leaves in search of a second cabin.
Speaker: Brune knows that this was the only one and that they were reluctant to even give her that. she She prepares herself to be stuck in this room with Gideon for two nights and tries not to think of all the ways that it could go wrong.
Speaker: Yep. And then we go back to Gideon's perspective. So they can only offer Gideon a cabin in the staff quarters, but it would ruin the newlywed ruse that they were portraying.
Speaker: So Gideon thinks back to the first time he met Broom, completely mesmerized by her, but denying it due to Alex's interests and his pride. Stop it. with I'm not good enough for her.
Speaker: It's so stupid. Wallowing in his own self-pity. Ugh. Over it. So Gideon gives himself a pep talk to survive the next two days with Rune, knowing that he'll arrest her the moment they land, proving loyalty and denying his feelings.
Speaker: When he thinks about the officer eye and Rune, though, he gets mad mad. Hello, Will. He's like big man. And he finds that he has this like instinct to protect her. Yeah. And he begins to think about helping her out of that dress. It's...
Speaker: distracted until he overhears a conversation between the officers that question them and he learns that there's a spy aboard and likely has orders to kill the Crimson Moth and while normally he'd approved he's worried about the spy kind of discovering Rune and ruining his chance to negotiate with Thorne later yeah because again this person Hera and them don't know about Chris's plan yeah so they think that killing Rune is going to solve it but no No, it's just going to make get worse. Exactly.
Speaker: so
Speaker: Back to Rune's point of view, unable to wait in the room any longer, room changes and heads for dinner. Upon arriving in third class dining, she kind of realizes that she's overdressed.
Speaker: Yeah. And is drawing some unwanted attention as the patrons kind of all keep staring at her. Yeah. Yeah. So she slips into a booth alone and she realizes that she's safe for now, but she won't be once the town starts to ship on docking in the New Republic. Yep.
Speaker: And then a kind man approaches her, offering to join her, but is interrupted when Gideon appears and makes him leave. yeah He was just trying to be nice, like offer a glass of wine, but...
Speaker: you know we know men yeah and so squeezing himself into the spirit with rune she asks about his search for a second cabin and when she jokes she was worried uh he had abandoned her he says why should i be daunted i've survived the beds of witches before all right sir there's no need to compare her to crest like that that's so rude Come on So rude.
Speaker: know you liked it You know you liked it. She asked if it was something that he had to endure and he kind of goes off on her about how she was the one lying because she loved Alex whole time. And when he compares her seduction of Soren to their interaction, she realized that it it may have started out that way, but her feelings turned genuine. yeah And she realizes also that she can never make Gideon believe her true feelings. So, uh, she tries to explain that she had to lie in order to prevent him from killing her.
Speaker: Right. So needing to keep up the ruse of newlyweds, they hold hands and, you know, it exchange loving touches. And this kind of distracts Bryn who goes on to explain that she had to lie to everyone due to being hunted and hated for what she is.
Speaker: And when Gideon points out that she didn't lie to Alex, she explains it's because he never hated her for it. And Gideon blames Alex's death on that. Dude. I'm like, dude. It's Cressida's fault.
Speaker: It is. Sorry. If anything, it's Alex's fault because he stepped in front of the bullet. But really more than that, it's Cressida's fault. She pulled the guy in the gun. She pulled the trigger. Yeah. So trying to avoid this topic and keep up their ruse, Rune asks Gideon about his plan to avoid the hounds.
Speaker: Apparently the dogs can make mistakes by selecting people that unknowingly came into contact with witches. But Rune should be fine due to her lack of scars. Rune shares that she has them, but she like refuses. She's like, I'm not going show Gideon where.
Speaker: Yeah. She asks if Gideon would really let his wife be searched. And he responds with, you're not a girl. You're a witch. How dare you? Sorry. How dare you? So Gideon shares he's going to have to, like, pretend to arrest her, and Rune doesn't believe that he'll let her go. Yeah. She's like, you're actually going to arrest me. That's not. You're never gonna let me go.
Speaker: No. And suddenly, Rune catches the eyes of the officer that stared her down in their room earlier and notices Gideon glaring at him. So playing with Rune's hair, Gideon tries to get Rune's plans from her to ensure that she won't turn on him.
Speaker: So when she refuses to, he offers a new trade, getting her to safety on the island in return for her plans. He then grabs her legs and continues with his own selection techniques.
Speaker: who Knowing that keeping quiet won't help getting Gideon's trust and being distracted by his butt, she shares that he plans to find the missing roseblood heir. Learning that the heir is hidden by magic,
Speaker: Rune shares that she can summon them to a location that she will not share. She's like, I'm not going let you guys just and wait and ambush us. So when Gideon worries that Rune is actually helping Crossita, she slips and she says that she's trying to escape.
Speaker: like escape Cressida yeah he's like I thought it was Sorn she's like oh oh that was the excuse she's also a little tipsy at this point yeah so with Gideon still unable to trust her she shows him her locket with a portrait of Sorn inside as well as the lock of Cressida's hair and she'll use this to summon the air and then disappear forever and Gideon suggests using the Sybil to recruit witches for Cressida but Rune points out that that's not her plan like He's like, that's what I would do. And she's like, yeah, but I'm not doing that. Yeah.
Speaker: Like, get it through your thick skull. I'm telling you what I'm doing. Not everyone's nearly as manipulative as you, sir. Exactly. So trying to keep up the ruse, Rune touches Gideon's lips and he freezes.
Speaker: o She realizes that this must be how he felt with Cressida and worries about his disgust. After drinking another glass of wine, Rune tries to sell her act with Gideon. heat rises between them until a woman's voice interrupts recognizing gideon oh god timing used to be verity that always interrupted them yeah now it's soaring and other people um i literally was telling my guy about this um this gives me iron flame vibes because it's the same argument over again oh no it's it's the two main love interests and now have
Speaker: Two exes, or one's a new guy, but it's like they have two other love interest things that are interrupting them. Like, they're... It is literally the same.
Speaker: But also the same because they're having the same argument over and over again. No, 100%. So, back to Gideon's perspective, like I said. So, Gideon recognizes the woman as Abigail Redfern, a patriot he met in the meetings and trained with for new the new dawn.
Speaker: And we learned that it was more than just the friendship between them. But it didn't last as they kind of fell out of touch. And as he stands to hug her and like he learns that she works on the Arcadia now and they banter and rune kind of like comments on it.
Speaker: Yeah. She's like trying to inject herself in the conversation. And Gideon kind of like is taken aback by this because he kind of forgot that rune was there yeah and then gideon goes to introduce her but rune says her name is pestle sharp yeah she makes sure to introduce herself that way in front of another woman and so abby realizes their connection and congratulates them inviting gideon to play poor man's trap with some friends and catch up Rune agrees, singing is a card game. And she's drunk.
Speaker: Yeah. So she's like, let's go. Yeah, he's like, she's kind slurring her words a bit. Yeah. So Abby leaves to let Gideon explain, I guess, the game to her. When we're, yeah.
Speaker: When Rune questions their relationship, he accuses her of being drunk. And he does wonder what Abby is doing there, if she's the spy that Harrison's. Mm-hmm. So Rune goes for another glass, but Gideon stops her to prevent anything from happening. He's like, you're going to say some stuff we don't need.
Speaker: We don't need out in public. Yeah. So once back in their cabin, Gideon helps Rune to bed, but stops himself when he realizes what he's doing. he is... He literally sets her down and he's like taking off her stockings and her shoes and stuff like that. Yeah. And he's like, oh my God, I'm treating her like I would if she was like my actual drug wife. like oh And he is he realizes it and he's like, okay, snap out of this.
Speaker: So he heads off in search of food and water to kind of help him sober up. And then he returns to find Rune passed out in bed in his shirt. He's like, doesn't she have proper nightgown? Yeah.
Speaker: He notices runes casting scars and resists the urge to trace them. He's like, I thought I'd be disgusted by them, but I'm fighting this. won't touch them. He likes them. Recalling his touching rune at dinner and how he felt at her touch, he feels bad about his feelings because she still wore Alex's ring. Yeah. Remembering that this is the Crimson Moth, he debates his plan of betraying rune.
Speaker: He realizes that he can eliminate the threat by taking out the missing roseblood heir. However, he can't figure out how to get her past the hound at the harbor. kind of a big deal there, bud.
Speaker: So then we switch back to Rune's perspective and Rune is arguing with Gideon until it turns physical. And she hears her name and is woken up by Gideon. yeah What dream? Yep.
Speaker: And realizing this and her proximity to him, she tries to cover herself more with his shirt. And then she kind of asks about the heat in the room and Gideon answers that the window is still shut. Like he already tried to open it.
Speaker: Yeah. So kind of trying to see if she embarrassed herself with a dream and Gideon hesitates, but hands her water to help with her head before laying back down, unable to sleep so close to him.
Speaker: She waits for him to fall back asleep or dressing and slipping out of the room, vowing to stay away from alcohol. We've all been there, girl. girl We get it. We've been there. i was there a couple weeks ago. um So Rune, you know, sneaking out into the first class library, our girl,
Speaker: hu gotta be surrounded by boats so she sleeps there until morning and she's actually like awoken by like a librarian coming in for work or something so then after that she explores the ship you know looking for possible ways to smuggle aboard sybil and the air and herself yeah and herself but she keeps kind of getting redirected like every time she goes past a door that she's not supposed to people find her the staff sees her and she's like can't pass by notice dressed the way am yeah So unable to come and use magic to gain entry to the below decks and risk revealing herself, she heads back to the cabin.
Speaker: Later that night, they head to the gathering of Abby's friends and Gideon suggests no drinking to which Rune quickly agrees. Yep. She's busy thinking about having only one more day to figure out her escape on the Arcadia when a gunshot breaks her concentration. They come upon Abby and her friends shooting at plates and Rune realizes that this is poor man's trap.
Speaker: Yep. And Gideon then removes his jacket and puts it on Rune because she's kind of like shivering as another staff member notices her and she's revealed to be Gideon's wife. Rune quickly realizes she's out of her element.
Speaker: Doesn't know how to act or kind of behave around this type of crowd. She's like, give me a ballroom. I'm good. But this is new territory. So when Rune questions the waste of this game, she's informed that they only use damaged Shina.
Speaker: Like By the young man that tried to sit with her earlier, William. Mm-hmm. Now we have name. She speaks with another staff member named Ash Singh and learns that he fought with Gideon as well as Abby, but that he left because the New Republic became the very thing that they were fighting against and went too far.
Speaker: Oh, my God. Gideon doesn't beat Abby's record and Rune offers to give it a try. Her first shot goes wide and Abby congratulates her very, you know, patronizingly. Ugh, rude.
Speaker: I'm annoyed. I'll over her. She continues to try shooting after getting advice from Abby's friends, but soon notices that both Abby and Gideon have gone off to the side alone. I was seething this moment.
Speaker: So after a couple more failed shots and being distracted by seeing Abby flirt with Gideon, you know, using Rune's old techniques, know, touching his arm, blah, blah, blah. Laughing up at him.
Speaker: So she shoots and she almost hits Abby. yeah I'm obsessed. Yeah. And so then, super angry, Keaton rushes over to Rune and decides to teach her to shoot properly, giving her advice.
Speaker: <unk> And I love this because, like, she takes all of his advice, shoots, and then she misses, and he's like, good job. And she's like, I missed. I was like, yeah, but your aim's better. Yeah. I'm like, that's so cute. And it keeps going. It's like a couple more shots after that each time. She gets better and better, but she's missing.
Speaker: But it, you know. he's just constantly correcting her and they get into this kind of like rhythm and it's so so sweet so when he's behind her he asks her what she was dreaming about when she called his name oh and trying to keep herself calm gideon continues to tease and distract her and when the next plate is thrown she fires and yeah Maybe that's the direction she needs to focus.
Speaker: So proud of herself, for her excitement, ah sharing it with Gideon is cut short when Abby summons him inside for cards. hate this. Go away. Gideon like hears her voice and he's like, I'm like, you?
Speaker: So Gideon follows and Brune kind of notes how right they look together. Yeah. And then William comes up and asks if Gideon always behaves like that, attentive to other women at your expense.
Speaker: I don't like that. I don't like It's a little too close to home. So realizing that they may not just be old friends, Rune compares herself to Abby and thinks like she's unable to compete with her since Abby is a normal girl.
Speaker: And William offers to show Rune to a place to warm up and Rune takes the opportunity to gain access to kind of more of the ship, leaving Gideon's jacket outside. Yeah, kind of leaving him outside.
Speaker: Yeah. ah So we switch back to Gideon's point of view. Gideon goes to play cards with some of the Arcadia staff as they ask how he ended up a prone. And he thinks back to last night when he heard her call out his name. Ooh.
Speaker: So Gideon seems kind of hesitant about leaving Rune alone with William, but had to learn that Abby is her spy. And Abby going to point out that Rune isn't Gideon's type, and he likes to be challenged and have someone who can stare into the darkness too.
Speaker: you don't miss You don't even know Rune. Also, you don't even, i feel like it's been a while since you've seen Gideon. You don't know him anymore. ah hundred percent. It's been like a year. It's been longer than that.
Speaker: it's been it's been like a couple It's been like a little over a year out or something. i thought Yeah, that's what I said. Over year. I thought you said about a year. My bad. Abby says Rune is more concerned about clothes than shooting a gun, which amuses Gideon knowing that Rune is a crimson moth.
Speaker: I mean, she helped two witches escape through a sewer. So, come on. ah So, Gideon hesitates again about seeing Rune with William, but continues to question Abby how she ended up on the Arcadia.
Speaker: And she shares that Harrow told her to work on ships and that they spoke last time they docked about a week ago. About a week ago. I'm so glad i had the same thought when I was thinking that.
Speaker: yeah So unable to ask her directly if she's a spy, Gideon asked Abby to advance and tries to keep an eye on room. But suddenly he can't find her and he realizes that William's gone too.
Speaker: Abby doesn't seem concerned, but Gideon doesn't know if Brune can see through William's game. Gideon leads Abby to find Brune before someone else does. ah done Because he's like, when William first walked up to her at the dining area, was like, wanted to get with you. And she was like, what? No, he's just being nice. And he's like girl, you can't see it. Yeah.
Speaker: so switching back to rune's perspective rune is led by william into the ship's boiler room and descending through the steam and the noise she feels like the heat and worries about her disguise because she's wearing spell mark and blood on her thigh to keep her identity hidden and you know like the damp conditions kind of make it risky because the mark could smudge and expose her yeah so rune reflects on what gideon and abby actually were but turns her attention to william asking and if he fought in the new dawn with them kind of trying to redirect their thoughts and he says he didn't but like he did because of how much ash and abby talk about it and rune finally gets the courage to ask if gideon and abby were more than friends and william kind of nods and confirms her suspicion yeah he's like not saying anything he's like yeah but he nods so he says something
Speaker: So William tells her that there's a cargo hold at this level, though locks, hatches, you know, might block access. Wynne sees this as a chance to inspect whether witches might be smuggled aboard.
Speaker: William explains that the cargo holds can only be accessed from the outside, that they load them a few hours before departure, and they seal them shut with hatches that are bolted and caulked after the winch hunting hounds check on the luggage.
Speaker: He then further explains that on the level they were on, ah though is only used for ship supplies and coal isn't bolted yeah so as they walk past the furnaces rune is kind of uneasy over william's proximity and intentions and she kind of wonders like whether he's leading her there for more than just a chore and so before they can go progress further Gideon appears from the steam and confronts them. and ah He grabs William and demands an explanation, you know, like, what is William doing with room down in the ship's ended rooms? He's like, what are you doing with my wife?
Speaker: Yeah. Excuse me, sir. Mm-hmm. So Rune intervenes to stop violence, insisting that William was just showing her around. But Gideon is furious. He believes that Rune is manipulating William as part of her own hidden family.
Speaker: Gideon insists that she come with him, but she refuses. Then Gideon says, listen, you demon, I will carry you out of here if I have to, and you know it. I'm dead. One of my favorite quotes. yeah It's not at the bottom, but that was in my top five.
Speaker: So Gideon suggests that William leave and then tells Rune, And then Rune tells William to head up and that she will be fine. So then Gideon kind of accuses her of luring William there to infiltrate the ship, but not before he says that he thought William was taking advantage of her.
Speaker: Like, he makes sure to say that. man And so Gideon then says, you look you lured him here to use for your own purposes. And this kind of cuts Rune deep.
Speaker: She's like, yes, that's me. Yeah. So then she speaks back. Yes, Gideon, that's me, grand seductress. I love her. So sassy.
Speaker: So then she tries to pass him to avoid any more confrontation. But then Gideon again says he thought she was calling prey, but he should have known better because the Crimson Moth only ever pretends to be prey. In truth, she's the predator.
Speaker: You cannot get over this. You really can't. Just get over it. He literally mentions it like six times. Yeah. He's like, you lured him down here. You did this. And it's like, you're not even letting her talk.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. So Rune seems to accept the fact that Gideon will never see her for anything but what she is, ah witch trying to betray him. Rune tells Gideon that hurting his pride wasn't personal. She says, as you said, use everyone.
Speaker: Gideon goes on to say he could have forgiven her for that, but he can't forgive her for making him fall for her while she was in love with his brother the whole time. And when she tries to explain it wasn't like that, he yells that she is still wearing his ring.
Speaker: And then she tells Gideon the truth, that she would have said yes to marrying him if he had asked, knowing that he would hand her over to be killed or kill her himself. yeah And she calls herself pathetic and desperate for wanting to be with him after that.
Speaker: Like, she's like, you don't even understand how yeah difficult it was and she confesses that she said yes to alex because she thought it was the safer more certain choice even though her heart still holds like a fierce loyalty to herself and her witch identity and she says that she loved alex but only as a dear friend and that it could have potentially become something but that it wasn't fair to him and Rune knew that being with Alex would make her less of herself. Yeah. And in the heat of the argument, Rune removes her glove and pulls off the ring she has on and presses it into Gideon's palm.
Speaker: She tells him she wants to be seen as more than just a witch to be hunted, that she is dangerous, but also human, capable of love and agency, which is how Alex saw her as just a girl and that Gideon would never see her that way.
Speaker: Oh, that's so heartbreaking. And then we switch back to Gideon's perspective. So Gideon kind of struggles with doubts about room, especially suspicious that she might have been intentionally deceiving him or working with Cressida.
Speaker: So he considers all the evidence he has and his hopes and fears kind of clash. You know, Gideon thought about the reasons he has to mistrust her. First, she deceived her identity as the Crimson Moth, but then Gideon says he would have done the same.
Speaker: Yeah. Second, she said yes to Alice's proposal, but Rune made it clear that being with Gideon would be a death sentence, so she chose the safer option.
Speaker: Third, she helped Cressida rise in power, but Rune had said she didn't know that Verity was Cressida in disguise. So, Rune hasn't really given him... He's not, he's given she's given him no proof to have all these things upset with him, you know?
Speaker: He reminds himself that even though Rune loathes Cressida, her support of Cressida's cause, or at least her standing in this political arrangement, might not be innocent. Maybe there's more at play. Perhaps secretly she benefits or there's some deal or alignment with Cressida that Gideon doesn't yet fully see. Oh my God, get over yourself.
Speaker: Like, again, not everyone is as manipulative as you. Meanwhile, Gideon also reflects on how much he still cares for Rune. Memories of her in the steam with tangled hair, mouth, and expression cause him both longing and pain.
Speaker: The emotional pull is very strong, but he tries to remember that he needed her as a bargaining chip. That's it. God. He's so cold. ah So Gideon kind of contemplates going back to the cabin, but remembers there's a spy on board and that he has to find room before they do.
Speaker: So Gideon heads toward the noise and into the room. In the quote, Gideon saw her immediately, like a compass that would always find north. Aww. So Rune was dancing with another man, and when their eyes met, he recognizes that hollow look haunting her gray eyes, and then realizes, oh, gray eyes.
Speaker: Your illusion is fading. Uh-oh. We gotta to go. So Gideon remembers that the guards would have shown Rune's picture to everyone on the ship and needed to conceal her. He approaches Rune and shoots the man away.
Speaker: He shows Rune that her her illusion is fading and realizes they need to get out of there. Gideon looks around the room and notices Abby isn't with her friends, but then notices the same officers who interrogated everyone were at the door at the only exit of the room. Uh-oh.
Speaker: So Rune says she can't recast the illusion out in the open and that the guards have split up. Like, she notices that. And as the song ends, some dancers like around them kind of start to disperse.
Speaker: And Gideon, hersh pushed by this urgency, kisses Rune in front of a crowd to make this disguise as newlyweds more believable. Ooh. And like, oh, there's a quote.
Speaker: Don't bite me, baby. Ooh.
Speaker: So, like, they're kissing, and as they kind of move through the dancers, he uses, like, that moment and physical closeness to kind of, like, reinforce that illusion. And I love it. Just, like, tensing up, but then they, like, both relax.
Speaker: Yeah. And then it's, like, it's the only thing. They're the other ones in the room. Yay! When Gideon pulls her into a dark corner to let her recast her disguise spell, which hides her identity, the moment gets more intimate. Their connection flickers back.
Speaker: The memories and attraction reemerges strongly. But that the ah as the intensity of their kiss continues and Gideon about taking in bed, pain erupts inside, starting in his brain.
Speaker: ah The words of Cressida wasn't in his mind. I need to ensure you're mine. Mine alone. Girl, what did you do? and So it's still Gideon's perspective, but it opens up with Gideon waking from a dream or a hallucination.
Speaker: And he thought Cressida was against him, pushing him into a memory of when she branded him or activating the curse on him. And in his confusion, momentarily believes the person pressed up against him on the wall Cressida.
Speaker: the dream trauma blur together he recoils and shudders away from the person and almost reaches for his gun. But then he realizes it's Rune, not Cressida.
Speaker: Rune's there, but the illusion is gone. Rune, looking visibly at him, pushes past Gideon and makes for the crowd. He goes after her, remembering the spy. He smells Rune's magic, a scent that reminds him of sea air, and chases after her, but he loses her in the throng of people.
Speaker: The shock from realizing and the send contact trigger something but that or that Cressida's curse is more insidious than he understood, hits him. He recalls all the times he and Rune had touched and notes how none of them were full skin contact until that moment, and he'd never hated her, Cressida.
Speaker: more oh yeah neither have honestly rue oh so then we switch back to rune's perspective and so rune crouched under a poker table casted her ghost walker spell to conceal her identity and then she kind of looks under and sees gideon looking for her through the crowd she also couldn't see the officers so she stays under the tables to kind of hide Yeah.
Speaker: She remembers the kiss. It started as pretend, but Rune realized that she lost control and briefly thought it's the same Gideon. But while Rune softened, Gideon stiffened. Rune thought it was because it was, you know, he was disgusted that she was a witch.
Speaker: And Rune asked herself, of all the boys in the world, why did she have to fall in love with the one who could never, ever love her back? My heart. So from under the table, she sees Gideon go into the hall and then sees Abby follow him out.
Speaker: And she knew that the way they were drawn to each other, that one of them or both wanted to kind of act on that. Ugh. Bleh. So she puts those feelings aside quickly and then heads towards the boiler rooms to kind of complete her search for a way to smuggle witches aboard. Yeah.
Speaker: So we switch back to Gideon's point of view. And Gideon arrives at the shared cabin and finds that Rune isn't there. He assumes that she's used her invisibility or stealth magic to avoid being found. He examines the brand on this chest in the mirror.
Speaker: It's still glowing red and hot, constant reminder of Cressa's curse. And Gideon's mind keeps returning to Rune, the sound she made when he touched her throat and the conflict of, you know, wanting her, but knowing he can't be with her.
Speaker: Not really because of what Cressida has done now. And he considers drastic actions like cutting out the brand. He's like, she had in the knife, like I could look around for and use that.
Speaker: Yeah. Which he had apparently tried and he had tried doing, he mentioned in the first book. but was never able to do it. I think at this point though, he's like, I'll put myself through that. Yeah, the pain.
Speaker: And then there's a knock at the door and Gideon hopes it might be Rune, but it isn't. It's Abby. Uh... eye roll gross and she walks into the room and steps in shutting the door and she wants to i'm sure that's all she wants to do abby tells him that she wants to help she says that she saved money for a long time that she can settle his debt which initially got him into trouble she claims she doesn't care about why he married moon i.e their agreement to cover relationship and she offers her support
Speaker: Then, unexpectedly, Abby kisses Gideon. He's surprised, thinks through whether the curse will be triggered, and he and Abby continue to share this kiss. Ew.
Speaker: Disgusting. Ew. You're sitting here getting all upset that she doesn't love with your brother and you're straight up kissing another woman right there. Facts! yeah So Gideon realizes nothing happens.
Speaker: The curse brand doesn't flare up. There's no excruciating pain, but also it's not like kissing Rune. It doesn't feel the same. The moment lacks that deep, raw connection that he has Rune and that contrast hurts.
Speaker: And Gideon questions whether Abby is the spice in Vajero, so he kind of suspects there might be someone else. Like Rune, Abby insists that she isn't and so then she runs away from all that not like she was saying like I ran away from all that behind the scenes and intrigue and all that it was just too much yeah so Abby asked Dean if she heard anything and anything he said and he states that their their past is the past and that when Abby asked him why kiss me back in which he says i needed to answer a question oh my god
Speaker: Oh my god, why indeed?
Speaker: oh no gideon murmurs why indeed gideon thinks about we're their tangled relationship and the moment is definitely emotionally raw and messy four hours why yeah the best answer so abby shaken and not knowing what to believe leaves the cabin and gideon is left emotionally mentally tormented both by what happened to abby and by his continuing thoughts about rune the curse and whether there are spies around so a lot conflicting feelings here and getting to remember is william who'd been circling rune like a hawk ever since they boarded and has this uneasy feeling that he could have been wrong that william could have led rune down there and not the other way around like she was trying to tell you you just listen
Speaker: You big brute. ah So we switch back to Rune's point of view. She found her way back to the cargo hold door and casts just pi her picklock spell to open it. She fumbles around, finds the light, and notices all the cool and supplies lining the walls.
Speaker: She notices no luggage, which meant no hunting hounds. Great. So she looks around some more, trying to determine how long they would need to conceal themselves here. As long as they made it out of New Republic waters, because the Arcadia was sympathetic to the cause, they would be safe.
Speaker: But suddenly, the door shuts behind her and William appears. And she kind of questions to herself why he can see her through the ghost walker spell. And she's like, maybe it but like maybe it wore off like yeah like it's it's not like a true invisibility spell it just if he knew that in a way he knew that she was there he could see her so she tries to brush him off and says that she should get back before gideon comes looking for her william wants to know that he's going to be busy because he and abby weren't in their cabin it would take a while oh my god william tries to shoot his shot with rune and she says that he has the wrong impression
Speaker: Yeah, she jacks up and hits some crates behind her and and turns around and William is right in front of her. And he caresses her face and says, it's obvious to anyone with eyes that you pine for a man who doesn't want you. Ooh.
Speaker: Ouch. And then he says that he sees that she is special. And I'm like, you're disgusting. Get out. And then remembers her knife at her thigh, but that she wasn't going to use it unless absolutely necessary.
Speaker: So she ducks under his arm and starts to move toward the door. Once she puts some space between them, she asks to play a round of cards when William says he was hoping for something more intimate. ah And then Rune hears the click of a pistol as he says, turn around, Crimson Wall.
Speaker: Oh! He tells her to turn around and then accuses Gideon of not being her husband. And why is a blood guard captain smuggling a fugitive witch back into the new Republic? ah I mean, asking real questions.
Speaker: Yeah, right. Asking all the questions.
Speaker: So then Rune kind of stays silent, looking around the room for an escape, but there was none. And William offers a deal. If Rune comes back to his room, he won't shoot her.
Speaker: it And Rune shoots back, I'd rather be shot. yeah My girl. And then shadows move behind William and someone steps out from behind a pile of grates. Gideon steps closer and says, she said no William.
Speaker: Didn't your parents teach you that when a girl says no, she means it? Gideon, my man, I'm sorry, a man who knows consent. Instantly hot. Instant turn on. Gideon taunts him some more, then tells him to drop the gun.
Speaker: William complies and then kicks it towards Roan. Gideon tells Roan to go back to the cabin and that he will finish this. Ooh. And so, we're back to Gideon's perspective. Gideon, now alone with William, can update him on all the new information.
Speaker: William questions why Gideon is pretending to be married to the Crimson Moth whenever he had orders to kill her. He's like, what the heck? Yeah. And William goes on saying that Harrow knew Gideon wouldn't be able to do it and that now Gideon was getting in the way of his orders.
Speaker: Then he asks, how many times are you planning to betray the Republic? Ooh! He then tells William, the only person I'm planning to betray is Rune, and then tells him he needs his help. Gideon tells William needs to bring the Crimson Moth in alive, because the war is going to come either way, because Sorin will give his army to Cressida regardless, for marrying Rune or for revenge for his dead fiancé.
Speaker: Yeah, Gideon goes on to tell him that Cressida plans on reviving her sisters from the dead. And he says their main goal should be destroying Cressida and use Rune as a bargaining chip.
Speaker: And he needs get Rune into the New Republic so that he can set a trap to catch her in the Roseblood heir that Rune had told him she was going to summon. Gideon tells William all this information back.
Speaker: Tells, yeah, blah, blah, blah. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Gideon tells William to get all this information back to Harrow, and if in one week the Roseblood heir isn't dead and he hasn't delivered the Crescent Moth to the blood guards, Harrow can kill him herself.
Speaker: He then says he also needs to get Rune past the Witch Hunter and the Hound in which port, and that he would let the good commander know he helped, which would include perks. Yeah, like a raise and things like that.
Speaker: So William says he can do that, and then Gideon tells him to stay out of sight for that Rune thinks he's dead. And then Gideon threatens that he won't be so gentle with the other spies that get in the way of his mission. And then William shoots back, for someone running out of chances, you make a lot of threats.
Speaker: And I'm like, so true. I mean, yeah. So true. he's pulling out every card he can. And so he continues to say that if Gideon screws us up, he will be coming for his little moth.
Speaker: oh we switch back to rune's point of view chapter begins with rune hiding in the ship's boiler rooms overhearing his vow the only person i'm planning to betray is rune she's enraged but not surprised he long suspected something like this but just hoped for otherwise And as Gideon and William walk away, leaving her behind in the scene, Rune steals herself, you know, she resolves that she must always keep her guard up around Gideon because even though she has feelings, he remains a threat.
Speaker: And she decides she might have to betray him first to survive. And so Rune returns to the cabin to find it empty. And remember something William said about Gideon and Abby.
Speaker: So she's thinking like, oh, he probably went to Abby's room. And she allows herself a moment of jealousy and hurt. But then she gets in the bed wearing her shift, not his shirt or like the special clothes that she packed, and tries to pretend she's asleep when Gideon enters.
Speaker: Man, that's her go-to move now, I guess. Yeah. Gideon joins her in bed and there is tension, both emotional and physical, as Rune perceives his heat, his smell, his closeness.
Speaker: She tries to shut out her feelings, particularly memories of their recent kiss. and She whispers that she wants them to forget the kiss. Gideon agrees that that is what she truly wants.
Speaker: It's not what both of y'all want. Neither of y'all want to forget. You love each other. Yeah. Unable to sleep, Rune eventually leaves the bed and goes for a walk on the upper deck, you know, wanting to clear her head.
Speaker: She reflects on memories Cascadia, the name used for the island before it was renamed. And in particular, her act of rebellion by keeping the old maps with the name Cascadia on it Because apparently they were all like burned or destroyed.
Speaker: So she's looking out at the morning sky, island ahead, you know, stirs up some longing in her. She's like, I missed, missed all this. You know, Gideon finds her out on deck.
Speaker: He asks her if she missed it, her it being the old name, old home, what was lost. Rune stares at him and answers simply, yes, with my whole heart. And that's the end of part one.
Speaker: So much has happened. And so much still has to happen. What's going to happen next? So we're going to dive into our questions to finish this out. So who is your favorite character for this part?
Speaker: Well, so this is a bit hard for me. I know I had a long list of people I didn't want. have a long list of characters I hate. Yeah. um Honestly, though, little pop-up Ash. i He was mine, too. He seemed the only one that was really kind of like accepting of Roam.
Speaker: and down to earth yeah and he just seemed open i also loved his take on the republic yeah being like you know we're going and appreciate that yeah so ash was one of mine but my overall all favorite character i think for this part was room fair honestly saying yeah just the whole like her being five steps ahead of getting in and being so smart i just i'm obsessed with her But also, like, it shows the conflict that she has. Like, she doesn't want to be helping Cressida because she knows that she's not good.
Speaker: but she's like, it's just the lesser of two evils is what I have to go with. I just love her. Yeah. What was your favorite twist? I have, like, three. Huh?
Speaker: ah Like, okay, but finding out there's another Roseblood heir. Obviously a good twist. That's a big twist. like But it's almost kind of smoothed over a little bit. like it's not like It's not made as big of a deal as I feel like it should be. I think it will be more made a big deal when we actually find out who it is.
Speaker: Yeah. So the next twist is kind of going into the wedding shop scene where Rune kind of steps out and already has the luggage and all that stuff, like being like 15 steps ahead of Gideon. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: love it but then also like big twist that i saw coming but still didn't was when you being the spy oh i saw it i know you saw it i know but i'm sorry but this random character is introduced literally immediately following getting and over here in the conversation about the spy yeah know i mean granted i was like well maybe it is happy getting us thinking that i was like man yeah Mine was actually had two.
Speaker: Mine was them pretending to be married. That's a good one. Because like, honestly, like at the end of the last book, I had no idea how they were going to like reunite and be together and like all that stuff. And I just never saw that.
Speaker: and never saw that coming. I did not see that coming. No, not at all. And also, I loved Seraphine's casting scars being a Kestrel. Like I said, I think it kind of alludes to there being a little bit more between Kestrel and Seraphine. You're 100% right.
Speaker: right I mean, Kestrel had a locket with Seraphine's picture in it. my god. I'm so dumb. I'm so dumb.
Speaker: It's okay. I'm literally... Why did that not click in my head? We love the gay love. I know. What was your favorite quote? um I had a couple.
Speaker: So my favorite was she was like a magnet sending the arrows on his moral compass spinning. And I really loved it too because this quote comes after Rune sees Gideon and Abby go off after she invites in for cards. And she's like, they're like magnets. We're just drawn together.
Speaker: No. Gideon feels that way about you. That was one of my favorite quotes too. I also really like this. He said instead he found this room, his room, total mess.
Speaker: The long quote of that is my thing. Like, it's just, so sweet because like he doesn't, he doesn't need this perfect princess, but you know, vibe that she puts on. he loves the messy, the arguing, the fighting with her. He likes that it's not perfect.
Speaker: Yeah. I have three. Yeah. yeah you Because you can't stop picking them. Okay. To be fair, since I am reading and listening to this book and I am reading on the Kindle, I highlight a lot more quotes on the Kindle. So it's hard for me to like limit which ones I like because her writing is amazing. I'm not going to lie. I have started seriously to be considering annotating my books.
Speaker: Yeah. Just because I like having that there. But I also have a separate reading tracker that I already know my favorite quotes in so like right should just be using that and so my favorites my first one is he'd forgotten the way her eyes raged when she was angry like a storm he wanted to walk straight into love that one it's so like true and it has that connection to her magic yeah and the next one obviously the one that keeps popping up i know the crimson moth and she is no cage thing
Speaker: ah he knows her yeah and then the last one is it's a quote from when you're kissing and how like when it like feels all good and he goes if this was his weakness he wanted to be weak if this was a sin let him let him be damned to hell and i'm like honestly we're here for it we're here for it give in to the feelings you feel all right
Speaker: Which one sounds better? i I just forgot to cover that when we were reviewing stuff. What's your biggest question on this part or do you have any theories so far? I think if the theories one works. Yeah, theories is fine. Okay. Because at the end we discuss our theories. of fear of mis reference Yeah. but Sorry, Clay.
Speaker: Sorry. Do you have any theories so far? I just want to know who the missing Roseblood heir is. Like, that's one my biggest one. Like, I, we talked about this a little bit earlier because this was one of yours.
Speaker: And you immediately were like, I think it's Rune. Yes, do. And i was like, I do too. Because it would just make the most sense for her. it to be this It makes more sense for the story. It does. it really does.
Speaker: And then my next one, like my question kind of is who the new good commander is. Yeah. Because you, we were talking like it could be When I read the first message from Harrow. Yeah. I read it. I missed the top where it said spymaster.
Speaker: Yeah. And it just said office of the good commander. Yeah. And I was like, oh, so Harrow just stepped up. i was like, but she wasn't even like an officer. She was just a spy person. I was what? Yeah. Who is this? I'm still like. Who is her?
Speaker: um I want to know who the new good commander is. like Is it Layla? Is it someone we don't know? because you had the theory that it could be Layla because she was the daughter. Yeah. Is it Noah?
Speaker: Even though he wasn't in involved? yeah you know I don't know. Who knows? yeah I have a theory. This is just a little small one. It's not like an overarching the storyline. But the music that was playing at the beginning that freaked Grun out that was Alex's music.
Speaker: I feel like Cressida is behind it somehow. Oh, yeah. I just feel like she is just that evil, mean, manipulative person and just wants to hurt her. i don't know. She's mean like that.
Speaker: And then agreed that the Missing Roseblood air is a rune. 100%. Yeah. My big thought was, like, one, you know, there can this air is covered by an ancient magic as is says. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Seraphine was exiled because of her, because of Cressida. I'm wondering if maybe was because she told them y'all have a missing sister, missing sibling. Cause Cressida doesn't even know it's a sister. She just said sibling. Yeah.
Speaker: So I'm wondering that's it. And maybe Seraphine is the one that entrusted Nan with Cressida. rune because also we know that rune's parents aren't around and they were supposedly killed yeah uh early on so also why did rune tell her to go find seraphine at such a young age before they knew she was a witch they had no way of knowing if she'd be a witch or not oh they know you got good theories girl i also have one more that i just popped up in my head we mentioned the spell everlasting yeah
Speaker: I have a really sick feeling in my gut that Cressida cast Everlasting on Gideon's brand. Yeah.
Speaker: So. um I'm definitely worried about that too because then that means he can never be with Ronan. So many things to happen.
Speaker: And we're going to come back for our next part next week. ah Well, I know we are looking forward to the rest of the book. Thank you for listening and tune back in next week for part two.
Speaker: And if you have a story you want us to tell, you can let us know on one of the platforms listed in the description. And while you're there, you can like and follow to stay up to date for the next story. Thank you for stopping by for our tale. The library is now closed.
Speaker: Bye-bye.
Speaker: you
