Fifty-Nine. Gideon
FIFTY-NINE
GIDEON
“ YOU WOULD HAVE GONE down in history as a hero,” said Noah as Felix and the other soldiers wrestled Gideon into his chains. “Instead, you fell in love with a witch.”
She was always out of your league, Sharpe.
Gideon suddenly remembered the way Noah used to look at Rune—from across a ballroom, or an opera box. The way his eyes tracked her.
He wanted her, Gideon realized.
He remembered the things Noah had said about Rune at Alex’s card game, months ago. Ugly things meant to hurt her reputation.
To punish her for rejecting him.
It all suddenly made sense.
“Is that really what bothers you—that I fell in love with her?” Gideon growled as they tried to lock the manacles around his wrists. “Or is it that she loved me back?”
Noah’s mouth twisted in a scowl.
“You don’t want her dead because she’s a witch,” said Gideon, “you want her dead because she didn’t want you .”
Noah stepped closer, raising his gun. Silently telling Gideon to cooperate with his captors. “Soon she won’t want you, either, since she’ll be six feet underground.”
The thought of Rune dead made Gideon’s heart turn to stone. But he’d heard no gunshot. That meant she was still alive—for now.
He struggled harder against the soldiers trying to subdue him. But it was four against one, and despite his efforts, the manacles clicked, locking his wrists behind his back.
How was he supposed to get to her, chained as he was, with so many armed soldiers intent on preventing him?
Rune is resilient. She’ll find a way to survive.
She had to.
Gideon didn’t want to live in a world without her.
He turned his angry gaze on Noah.
“The problem with love is the more you try to destroy it, the stronger it becomes.”
Noah sneered.
But not so long ago, Gideon believed the same thing Noah did: that loving Rune made him weak. That trusting her made him a fool.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
“It might look like weakness on the surface. But in truth, it’s tougher than steel. Love can’t be controlled. Love can’t obey unjust laws. Love will always oppose tyrants.”
Gideon felt Felix glance at him.
“Love is the real enemy of the regime, and that’s why you despise it. It’s why Cressida tries to crush it. Because you both know, deep down, it has the power to topple you.”
“I’m tempted to shoot you right here if it will end your blathering,” said Noah, stepping closer. “But I have something better in store.”
Chained, Gideon was little more than a muzzled dog. He posed no threat. Which was precisely why Noah came so close. He wouldn’t dare threaten Gideon if they were on equal footing.
The two young men stared each other down.
Looking at Noah was like looking at a younger version of Nicolas—a man who’d taken Gideon under his wing and treated him like a son. Noah and Nicolas were nothing alike. It made Gideon wonder how a son could fall so short of his father.
Nicolas had fought hard for everything he had; Noah was handed everything on a silver platter. Nicolas was valiant and brave, a natural leader. Noah was a coward and an opportunist who’d seized the position of Good Commander before his father’s body was even in the ground.
“I’m going to propose a trade,” Noah told him. “ You , for the prisoners Cressida is executing.”
The thought of being handed over to Cressida made Gideon’s blood run cold.
“I have a feeling the witch queen will give me whatever I ask for, if it means she gets her whore back.” Noah smirked, then turned to Felix. “Bring him downstairs and put him on a horse. We’re leaving for the Rookery as soon as the witch is dead.”
“Yes, Commander.”
Felix and his comrade seized Gideon’s arms as Noah strode from the room and into the dark hall. But before following him out, Felix pressed a small object into Gideon’s hands. Something cold and hard and slender.
The key to his manacles.
Gideon glanced at Felix, who stared straight ahead as he and the other soldier hauled him through the darkness.
His chest swelled at the gift.
And then he got to work.
In the darkness, Gideon slid the key into the lock. His chains clinked as they moved, masking the sound of his manacles opening.
Gideon shook them off. The chains fell to the floor with a thud .
Hearing it, Felix’s comrade turned. Gideon grabbed the boy’s gun, shoved him out of the way, and took off down the hall.
“Hey! Stop him!”
Gideon heard the soldiers ahead turn, but the hallway was dark, and they couldn’t see well. Gideon had the advantage.
He barreled past them, catching up with Noah on the stairs. The Good Commander turned, his eyes widening at the sight of Gideon, who grabbed his coat.
Thrusting him up against the wall, Gideon sent his fist soaring into Noah’s face.
He did it again.
And again.
The pain that bloomed in his knuckles was nothing compared to the catharsis. He shook off the sting while Noah slid to the floor, dazed. As much as he’d love to finish him, Rune was in danger. He had to get to her.
Moonlight filtered through the windows here, giving the soldiers behind Gideon a better view. They fired on him as he raced down the steps. Gideon jumped the rail, and their bullets missed.
He shouldered the front door open and bolted outside, hoping he wasn’t too late. That Rune was still alive.
Shouts echoed from inside as Noah raised the alarm. By then, Gideon was already rounding the house.
He stopped in his tracks at the sight of Rune on her knees and Laila raising her pistol, about to fire.
“Laila! No!”
Startled by his shout, Laila flinched. The crack of her gun split the night. Gideon looked to Rune, who seemed startled but unharmed.
The shot had gone wide.
Laila drew a second gun and pointed both straight at him.
“Are you out of your damned mind?” she shouted, fury etched across her face.
He lifted his hands to show her he wasn’t a threat. “This is not the way we win.”
Her chest rose and fell with her unsteady breaths, but her aim remained steady.
“Laila—”
“Shut up, Gideon.”
Shouts echoed from the house. Soldiers would swarm them soon, and it would be over. With Rune’s hands tied, she couldn’t cast any spells. And Gideon was one man against dozens of soldiers—many of whom he’d trained.
Laila glanced over her shoulder, toward the house.
“Laila…”
“I said, shut up . I’m trying to think.” She dropped her arms in an infuriated huff. “I’ll give you fifteen seconds, all right?” She nodded to Rune. “You better hope she runs fast.”
Gideon wanted to hug her. Instead, he grabbed Rune’s arm and hauled her to her feet.
“Thank you.”
“Now you owe me double!” she shouted as they ran.
Rune led them past manicured hedges and groves, to the wilder part of the gardens. They were nearly at the garden gate when the bullets started to fly.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Gideon lifted Rune over the gate, then jumped it, careful to keep his body between her and the soldiers. Shielding her from the gunfire.
They ran through the meadow. With her hands tied, Rune was slower than usual. The first time she stumbled, Gideon helped her up and a bullet lodged in his shoulder. He bit down on a growl as the pain seared through him.
They kept running.
The second time Rune stumbled, another bullet found its mark—in Gideon’s hip this time. So he scooped her into his arms and pressed on, keeping his eyes on the woods up ahead. Rune didn’t fight him—which should have been the first sign something was wrong. She simply gave in, pressing her cheek against his chest as she slumped in his arms.
Soon, his shoulder and hip throbbed with heat and pain. He felt himself slowing.
He was losing blood. Too much blood.
Get to the woods.
It was their best chance to lose their pursuers.
When the open meadow gave way to the shelter of trees, Gideon trudged through the undergrowth, driving them deeper in, where the forest was thickest. The back of his jacket was warm and wet now, soaked with blood. His body felt heavy, his mind cloudy, and more than once, his legs didn’t do what he wanted, and he stumbled.
With so much blood lost, he was bound to lose consciousness soon. He couldn’t continue much further.
But if he told Rune that, she might stay with him and be recaptured.
“We’ll have a better chance if we split up,” he said. “You go on ahead. I’ll double back.”
He heard the soldiers in the woods now: their voices, their gunshots, the whinnies of their horses.
Rune turned sharply to face him. “But how will we find each other? There’s nowhere safe.”
She blurred before him. Gideon pressed his hand to the trunk of a tree, steadying himself against the slow spin of the woods.
“Rune… if I don’t make it—”
“Why wouldn’t you make it?”
Her voice seemed far away. Like he was underwater.
“Gideon?”
His legs were trying to decide whether or not to keep holding him up.
They decided against it.
The earth rushed up to meet him.
“Gideon!”