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She looked down to see him push a silver ring onto her second smallest finger. It was thin and cool against her skin.

“I have stood by for years and watched you strategically pick out suitors. I look at the men you choose, notice the ways they don’t deserve you, and wonder why you don’t see what’s right in front of you. But you can’t, can you?”

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

What is he saying?

“It’s why you’re so afraid to look at me sometimes. Because I know what you are, and I know what you’ve done, and Iloveyou.”

Rune’s heart fluttered in her chest.

What?

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

Her eyes burned.

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

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

“Be my wife, Rune. Come with me to Caelis. Let me give you the life you should have had.”

One by one, the tears fell. Rune pressed her hands to her eyes to hide them.His wife.

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

But do I love him?

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

Could he be more than that?

Rune didn’t know. Maybe.

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

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

“You do that now,” he pointed out.

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

“Rune.”

His hands settled on her hips.

“Look at me.”

She dragged her eyes back to his.

“Do you think this is what Kestrel wanted for you? A lifespent atoning for an impossible choice—a choice shewantedyou to make? Do you think she wanted you to risk yourself again and again until the day they finally kill you? It’s time for you to forgive yourself.”

It wasn’t as simple as that.

“I—”

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