Chapter 33 (Rune): Summary, Analysis, and Key Takeaways

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens at the freezing sea, where Rune and Gideon have come after his earlier confession. As Rune is about to warn him about the cold water, Gideon pulls off his shirt, and the sight of his bare torso momentarily stuns her. But her attention is quickly captured by something on the right side of his chest: a symbol of a thorny rose encircled by a crescent moon. Rune recognizes it immediately as the crest of Sister Queen Cressida, one of the witch queens who rule the Republic.

At first, Rune assumes it's a tattoo, but studying the red lines more closely, she realizes it's a brand. Cressida has branded Gideon the way a farmer brands livestock, permanently marking him as her property. The horror of this realization makes Rune go cold.

Gideon, unaware of her realization, teases her about her blush and drops his pants, wading naked into the sea. Rune covers her eyes, and he playfully taunts her, asking if she's never taken advantage of her many suitors. Despite her embarrassment, she laughs—a genuine, surprising laugh.

Gideon invites her to join him in the water. Rune hesitates, but she realizes that Gideon has raised the stakes of their game by sharing something deeply true about himself. To match his vulnerability, she needs to offer something equally true. But she's been living a lie for so long, she wonders who the real Rune Winters even is.

She thinks about the girl she used to be—someone who wore ribbons and silks, took tea with Nan on the terrace, and went to the opera. She imagines what that girl would do if she were all grown up, and decides she would accept the challenge to swim naked in a frigid sea. So she undresses and wades into the water.

Once she reaches Gideon in the water, she tells him about her grandmother. Nan was her best friend, the person she most aspired to be like. She recounts the day of Nan's execution: how she dressed in her finest clothes, pushed to the front of the angry crowd, and watched as her grandmother was hanged by the ankles, her throat slit, her body thrown into a mass grave. Before dying, Nan whispered three words to Rune: I love you.

Rune tells Gideon only the first part—the part about watching Nan die. She worries she's told him too much, that he now has even more reason to suspect her. But Gideon moves toward her in the water, cradles her jaw, and tells her that loving a witch is not a crime. His gentleness breaks through her defenses.

Despite knowing he's a witch hunter who suspects her, despite knowing he might have been in the crowd cheering Nan's death, Rune gives in to her feelings. She pulls his mouth down to hers and kisses him.

Key Events

Gideon removes his shirt, revealing a brand on his chest bearing Sister Queen Cressida's crest—a thorny rose encircled by a crescent moon.
Rune realizes the brand marks Gideon as Cressida's property, like a farmer branding an animal.
Gideon teases Rune about her blush and wades naked into the freezing sea.
Rune decides to match his vulnerability, undresses, and joins him in the water.
Rune tells Gideon about her grandmother, describing her as her best friend and the person she aspired to be.
Rune recounts watching Nan's public execution: the hanging by the ankles, the slit throat, the body thrown into a mass grave.
Nan whispers