Seventy. Rune
SEVENTY
RUNE
IT WAS AS THE train was pulling away from the platform that Rune saw him out there in the railyard: Gideon, dressed in a fancy riding suit, the brim of a wool cap shadowing his face…
And a gun pressed between his shoulder blades.
Something ferocious roared to life inside her.
But the train was leaving the station, and with it, her last chance to get out. Rune knew what it would cost her to get off. And suddenly, it didn’t matter.
None of it mattered except this.
She had to shove past the passengers blocking her way down the aisle, and then screamed like a lunatic until the staff opened the door for her.
And then she jumped.
From a moving train.
Onto the platform.
She felt her world collapsing in on itself as the train left the station and she ran across the rail yard, not knowing if she’d get to him in time. She’d run harder than she’d ever run in her life. Ran until her lungs burned and her legs screamed, and then ran even harder.
And now here he was: sprawled across the train tracks, his hands in the dirt, that ridiculous wool cap knocked from his head.
Alive.
It made Rune want to fall to her knees and weep with relief.
If she hadn’t glanced out the train window one more time before the platform disappeared, he’d be dead. And she would be riding away from the station, oblivious.
A fist squeezed her heart.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, gripping the pistol in her hand, anger spiking through her. She’d stolen it off a soldier in the station.
“Me?” he said, pushing himself to his feet. “What are you doing here?”
Rune pointed to the dead witch at her feet. “Saving your life !”
She glanced at the distant train. The one she was supposed to be on.
“You’ve ruined everything!” She threw down the pistol. With its empty chamber, the gun was useless to her. “That was my last chance to escape!”
His face darkened. “Then you should have taken it!”
“And let her kill you?”
“That’s why I came: to make sure you were safely on board when it left.”
A dog barked in the distance, interrupting them. Gideon looked over Rune’s shoulder. Whatever he saw there made his face blanch. He grabbed the pistol she’d thrown to the ground and shoved it into his belt. “We have to go. Now. ”
Rune glanced back to see a group of soldiers and several hunting hounds cross the rail yard, moving swiftly toward them. Guns drawn.
Damn it.
Gideon grabbed her hand, pulling her after him, further out into the yard. But there was nowhere to go. Just tracks for miles, and every so often, parked train cars.
Barking and gunshots drowned out a distant train’s rumble. Luckily for Rune and Gideon, the soldiers were a good ways behind and were firing as they ran, making their aim unsteady.
Another rumble—like thunder—followed by a loud whistle made Rune glance down the tracks.
It wasn’t her train making that sound. It was another train coming through, traveling down the furthest set of tracks in the yard.
And Gideon was heading straight for it.
“You’re kidding,” Rune wheezed, pumping her legs as hard as she could.
“It has to decrease its speed.” He spoke through labored breaths. “Once it enters the yard, it won’t stop… but it’ll slow.”
Rune glanced back. The dogs were gaining on them.
It wasn’t a choice. They would have to jump on.
Long before she was ready, the train pulled up beside them, engine chugging. Its wheels screeched on the tracks as it braked, slowing only barely. The sound was so loud, it drowned out the dogs and the gunshots.
Rune and Gideon pumped their legs faster.
Most of the cars had windows, meaning this wasn’t a supply train. But there were no people aboard either. Not that she could see, anyway.
Gideon’s hand tightened on hers, as if to say, Ready?
Rune wasn’t ready. The train was going way too fast. What if she jumped and missed? What if she fell under the wheels?
But the dogs were right there, snarling behind them. And Rune’s legs were tiring. Slowing.
And already, the train was passing them by. Only three more cars, and it would be gone.
“I thought you said it has to slow down!”
Gideon didn’t answer. Just let go of her hand, preparing to jump. He sped up beside her. She watched him time it just right: waiting until the second-to-last car was beside him and launching himself at the platform’s rail.
He grabbed hold, the toes of his boots landing on the platform’s edge. He pulled himself over the rail.
“Show-off,” she growled.
Gideon turned back to wait for her.
But it was too late—the car passed her by. She lost sight of Gideon as the next car—the end of the train—pulled up beside her.
This was it.
Her last chance.
She had to jump, or she’d be left behind.
The dogs snapped at her heels. Bullets whizzed past her head. She should give in. Give up. It was useless to try.
No.
Something sparked inside her. An old feeling. A familiar feeling. Like she was back in the midst of a heist, outwitting a certain Blood Guard captain, risking everything for the possibility of saving one more witch from the purge.
She’d forgotten the thrill of it. How it made her feel untouchable.
Invincible.
I am the Crimson Moth.
It was the answer to her oldest question.
You are the kindest, cleverest, bravest girl I’ve ever met.
This was Rune Winters. This girl. In this moment.
Rune fixed her gaze on the last car’s platform, knowing it was now or never.
And then she jumped, soaring toward it.
Seconds before the train pulled out of reach, her fingers caught the railing and locked around it. Her knees banged against the cold steel, sending pain flickering through her.
Rune held on.
Ignoring the bullets bouncing off the train car and the snarling dogs below, she pulled herself up and over the rail.
This is what I’ve been running from. Not Cressida. Not the Blood Guard.
Rune was running from herself. From what she wanted most deeply, and feared she couldn’t have.
The door of the car swung open. Gideon stepped out, pistol raised, shooting at the soldiers. Firing until he was out of bullets, then reloading and firing again. Never lowering the gun until the train left the rail yard, picking up speed and carrying them out of range.