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To her surprise, his face flushed.

A prickling silence filled the space between them. They both glanced away.

“I’ll cover for you,” Alex said.

Before she could thank him, he qualified: “On one condition.”

Rune narrowed her eyes. “What condition?”

“Once Seraphine is safe, you promise to lie low for a while.”

Rune wrinkled her nose. “You know I can’t do that.”

“Then I’m afraid I can’t help you. Which is unfortunate, seeing as I know exactly where Warden Creed’s office is.”

“You do?” Rune’s eyes widened. “Wait. You’re blackmailing me!”

“Andyouare fainting from overexertion. You need a break, Rune.”

She hated the pitying look in his eyes and looked away, to the broken vial on the floor. So much wasted blood. Blood she might have used to break Seraphine out of her cell.

But Alex was right. She was wearing herself too thin.

It would be nice to rest.

There had been fewer and fewer purgings lately, mostly because of Rune—with Verity and Alex’s help—stealing witches from Blood Guard holdings and smuggling them off the island. But that wasn’t the only reason. Any witches who once hoped things would get better had realized by now things were getting worse. They’d fled—if they could—or were well hidden.

So maybe Rune could justify taking a day or two …

“A month.”

“What?No.”

“I’m going to Caelis for a month.”

“WHAT?” Caelis was the capital city of Umbria, a peaceful country on the Continent, directly across the Barrow Strait.

I need you here!she almost said. “Why go so far?”And for so long?

“I’ve been corresponding with the Conservatory’s dean about finishing my studies.”

A storm of emotions whirled through Rune. Anger, that he’d leave the fate of innocent witches in Blood Guard hands. Annoyance, that he had a life and desires apart from their mission.

But it isn’t his mission,Rune told herself.It’s mine.

Alex helped her to the point of endangering himself because he was a good person who believed that what the New Republic had done—what it was still doing—was wrong. But he wasn’t a witch. He would never know what it felt like to be hated and hunted. To watch people like you purged for the simple crime of being who they were.

This fight would never truly be his. And it was unfair to expect him to continually put himself at risk for her.

She was being selfish.

A too-familiar ache swelled beneath Rune’s rib cage as she glanced down at the spell book gripped to her chest, thinking of Nan. Remembering a time when she’d felt whole and seen and understood. A time when she hadn’t felt so utterly alone.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Nan is gone. You can’t undo the past. You can only go forward and make things better in the future. That’s what Nan would want you to do.

“If I go back to school, I’ll need somewhere to live,” said Alex, no longer looking at her, but staring toward the window. “There’s a house for sale near the harbor, close enough to the school. If it seems like a good fit, I’m going to buy it.”

Rune nodded, even though she didn’t like the sound of this one bit.