Noah smiled thinly. “Don’t you have a reputation to uphold—the New Republic’s most unavailable bachelor?”

“Gideon,” interrupted Alex, as if sensing the storm brewing and needing to quell it. This was why it was always better for Gideon to stay home. “Tell us what happened last night, at the Luminaries Dinner. Is it true what the papers are saying?”

“Yes, tell us everything.” A young man whose name Gideon didn’t know leaned across the table, his eyes gleaming in the firelight. “Was there really a witch attack inside the palace?”

He nodded. “It’s true.”

“Do you have any leads?” asked his brother, watching Bart discard.

“Possibly. We’re still investigating.”

Alex laid his cards last—four of a kind. Upon seeing them, everyone else threw down their own in defeat.

“Rune seemed shaken by it,” said Alex, pulling the winnings toward him while Noah gathered everyone’s cards and shuffled. The young men around him placed new bets and threw more coins into the center.

When did you see Rune? Gideon wondered, watching his brother. It had barely been twenty-four hours since the event.

“The New Herald reported that Citizen Winters is only alive because of you,” said the young man whose name Gideon didn’t remember. “Said you ran straight into the spellfire and carried her out.”

Gideon preferred not to relive the moment when Rune had disappeared inside the fire. The fear of not getting to her in time still hummed a little too loud in his blood.

“I hunt witches for a living,” he said, trying to shrug it off. “I’m no stranger to their magic.”

“Was it the Crimson Moth?”

They weren’t going to stop poking at this until he surrendered. So Gideon yielded, giving them a full account of the night before. As Alex’s friends soaked up the story like sponges, more cards were laid and the coins in Gideon’s pouch slowly disappeared.

He had never been good at gambling.

“Well, I for one am glad we have people like Gideon doing the dirty work for us.” This came from Bart as he won the current round with a full house. “Can you imagine it? Putting yourself in that kind of danger every day?” He shuddered. “No wonder the girls all fancy him.”

Gideon almost laughed, wondering what Harrow or Laila would say to that.

“Speaking of girls who fancy Gideon,” said Noah, sipping his drink. “How is Miss Winters? Does she live up to her reputation?”

If Gideon had hackles, Noah’s tone would have raised them.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” he said, staring hard at his cards but not seeing any of them.

The last thing he wanted was to get into it with the Good Commander’s son. So he let Noah’s comments go.

“You know exactly what I mean,” said Noah, as if sensing Gideon’s restraint and wanting to test its limits. “Rune Winters is a merciless flirt. She has a new suitor every week.”

Unable to help himself, Gideon rose to the bait. Just an inch. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you sound jealous.”

“Jealous?” Noah scoffed. “What’s there to be jealous of? If the rumors are true, she’s as loose as a whore.”

Before Gideon was halfway out of his seat, a fist slammed against the table, making them all jump.

Gideon looked up, his body buzzing with anger. Across the table, Alex stared down Noah the way a lion might stare down a hyena. “Insult her again, and I’ll show you the door.”

Noah scowled. “It was a joke, Alex.”

“Joke or not, I won’t tolerate disrespect toward Rune.”

Noah set down his cards, his knuckles bunching. The entire table went quiet as the two boys continued their glaring game.

“Well, this has been fun.” Gideon pushed his chair back from the table. He needed to get out of here before he accidentally put his fist through Noah’s face. “But I’m out of funds.”

Not wanting to spark panic among the gentlemen here, he decided to leave a message with Alex’s manservant, warning him about Cressida’s return.

“One more round,” said Alex.

Gideon tipped his money pouch upside down to show he wasn’t lying.

“Surely you have something else you can bet with.”

“I once bet my silk handkerchief,” offered Bart. Which might have been helpful, if Gideon owned a silk handkerchief.

He was about to say as much when Alex pressed him. “Empty your pockets.”

Gideon raised his eyebrows but did as his brother requested. Reaching into both trouser pockets, he pulled out their contents: a folding knife; a crumpled message from Harrow about their meeting tomorrow night; and his prison access coin for bringing witches past the seventh gate.

“That,” said Alex, pointing to the coin, “will do.”

Gideon shook his head. “It’s not currency.” Not the kind that was valuable to these gentlemen. “It’s worthless to you.”

“It’s silver, isn’t it? Silver can be melted down.”

“I need it to enter the prison,” said Gideon, already returning everything to his pockets.

“You can get a new one, can’t you? Besides, don’t the prison staff know who you are by now?”

“Sure. Except—”

“Just one more round,” said Alex. As if he truly wanted his brother to stay. “For me.”

Gideon remembered their fight in the boxing ring. He remembered daring Rune to strip down naked and swim in the sea with him, even though he knew how Alex adored her. He remembered kissing her in the garden, his mouth and hands insistent. Then kissing her again in that alley.

The shame of it scorched him.

Gideon sat.

“One more game,” he said, tossing the prison coin into the pile of money in the center of the table. “And then I’m out.”

Fifteen minutes later, he lost that round, too. And with it, his prison clearance.

“I’ll walk you out,” said Alex, tossing the coin once and depositing it into his pocket.

IT WAS RAINING LIGHTLY by the time they left the parlor. Drops speckled the windows and plinked against the roof as the brothers strode side by side toward the front hall.

“There’s something you should know,” said Gideon, trying to ignore the lingering scent of roses in this hallway. “But until I have more information, I need you to keep it between us.”

Alex shot him a look. “All right.”

“Cressida Roseblood was at the Luminaries Dinner. It was her spell that came for Rune.”

Alex’s stride halted. Slowing, Gideon turned to find the color seeping from Alex’s face, turning his skin white as parchment.

“You’re certain?”

“We found her casting signature under a table.”

“Does Rune know?”

Gideon shook his head. “I haven’t told her yet.”

“Shouldn’t you? If Cressida—”

“I believe Rune is aware of the danger she’s in, but yes: she should know. I haven’t had the chance to—”

“I’ll tell her.” Alex ran long fingers through his hair, walking on, like he was still trying to make sense of what Gideon was saying. “I’ll ride to Wintersea first thing in the morning.”

“Fine,” said Gideon.

As they arrived at the entrance to Thornwood, Alex pulled open the front doors while Gideon shrugged on his coat. Rain dripped from the lintel and splashed across the slabs of stone. The sun had set a long time ago, and darkness cloaked the woods beyond the doors.

A question was burning inside Gideon. Before he stepped out into the rain, he turned to ask it. “Alex? Is there any chance Cressida wasn’t dead after you shot her?”

Alex stared at him. “I shot her three times.”

Gideon nodded. Alex hated revisiting that night. His brother didn’t have a violent urge in his body. It would have gone against everything he stood for to take a girl’s life. He’d done it for Gideon’s sake.

The bodies of all three sister queens had gone missing the next morning. Defiled, Gideon had always suspected. But if Cressida was truly alive, what had happened in her bedchamber that night? Had Alex unknowingly not finished the job, or was some dark magic at play? There were stories of witches in the past powerful enough to raise the dead, but Gideon had always assumed those were tales witches used to frighten people into obedience.