Chapter 32: Rune — Summary and Analysis
⚠️ 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
Rune waits for Gideon on the rooftop of his tenement in Old Town, watching the city below and reflecting on Nan's old prohibition against visiting this side of town. She wonders whether she would be a different person if she'd grown up here instead of Wintersea—whether circumstance shapes identity or something permanent remains. Her stomach growls; she hasn't eaten since yesterday.
Gideon climbs up in his Blood Guard uniform, unharmed. He gives her a folded uniform and asks for her help. He explains that the sibyl's young daughter Meadow is being held captive as leverage to make the sibyl talk, and the sibyl refuses to leave prison unless the child is freed. He proposes a heist to rescue Meadow, and Rune agrees—though she's also quietly thinking about her own escape plans.
They eat chicken pie from a street vendor, then ride Gideon's horse Comrade to the east side, where the aristocracy once lived. Rune illusions herself because she knows the area well. While Gideon ties up the horse, she spots Alex's sailboat, Dawn's Aria, in the harbor and begins to consider it as an escape vessel, despite the rough waters of the Barrow Strait.
Gideon returns with two ice cream cones. As they walk along the waterfront, he shares memories of his family: the first time they ate ice cream at Tessa's tenth birthday, when his mother's designs were becoming popular. Tessa loved chocolate, Alex loved vanilla, their mother preferred pistachio, and their father didn't like sugar. Rune's comment about never having eaten ice cream as a child slips out, but Gideon doesn't seem to mind.
A charged moment follows when Gideon wipes chocolate from Rune's lip with his bare thumb. She takes his thumb in her mouth, and the intimacy recalls the kiss on the Arcadia—and the moment he remembered what she was. Rune pulls away, flustered, and steers them back to the mission.
They identify the yellow house where Meadow is held: gated on all sides, ivy climbing the iron bars, four uniformed guards in the back gardens. The waterfront gate is locked, leaving the front door as the only entrance and exit. Rune asks for Gideon's jacket, hinting at a plan.
Key Events
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Rune waits for Gideon on a rooftop in Old Town, reflecting on identity and class.
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Gideon arrives in his Blood Guard uniform, unharmed, and gives Rune a uniform.
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He reveals that the sibyl's daughter Meadow is held as leverage; the sibyl won't leave prison unless the child is freed.
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Gideon proposes a heist to rescue Meadow; Rune agrees.
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They eat chicken pie from a street vendor and ride Comrade to the east side.
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Rune illusions herself and spots Alex's sailboat, Dawn's Aria, in the harbor, considering it as an escape route.
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Gideon buys ice cream and shares family memories; a charged moment follows when he wipes chocolate from her lip.
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They locate the yellow house where Meadow is held, guarded by four soldiers.
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Rune asks for Gideon's jacket, hinting at a plan.
Character Development
Rune spends this chapter wrestling with questions of identity. Her rooftop meditation—whether she would be the same person if she'd grown up in Old Town instead of Wintersea—reveals a character beginning to question the fixed categories she's been assigned: witch, aristocrat, fugitive. The fact that she doesn't have an answer bothers her.
Her hunger is also telling. She hasn't eaten since yesterday, and she eats chicken pie with her fingers, licking off the grease—an act that would have scandalized Nan. It's a small rebellion against the aristocratic upbringing that shaped her.
At the same time, Rune is never fully present in the heist. She's thinking about escape: the sailboat in the harbor, the rough waters of the Barrow Strait. Her agreement to help Gideon is genuine, but it's layered with her own agenda. The moment with the ice cream shows how easily she can be drawn to him, but also how quickly she pulls back, remembering what he is: a soldier, a witch hunter, her enemy.
Gideon, in uniform, is harder for Rune to see as anything but her enemy. Yet his nostalgia for his family—the first ice cream, Tessa's favorite flavor, Alex's love of vanilla—humanizes him. He's not just a Blood Guard soldier; he's a brother who couldn't part with his dead brother's sailboat. The chapter complicates the simple enemy/friend binary.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Identity and nature vs. nurture. Rune's opening meditation directly poses the question: would she be a different person if she'd grown up elsewhere? The chapter doesn't answer it, but the question hangs over everything she does.
Coercion through leverage. The Blood Guard's use of a child to control the sibyl is the chapter's central moral horror, complicating any easy reading of the revolution as righteous.
Class divide. Old Town's factories and coal smoke versus the east side's waterfront promenade. Nan's prohibition on visiting that side of town echoes in Rune's memory, and Gideon's childhood poverty shows the other side of the divide.
Forbidden attraction. The ice cream moment is charged with intimacy and danger. Rune's awareness of what Gideon is makes the attraction feel like a betrayal of herself.
Nostalgia and loss. Gideon's memories of his family, and the presence of Alex's boat in the harbor, tie the chapter to grief. The boat is both a symbol of what was lost and a potential means of escape.
Trust vs. deception. Rune is working with Gideon while planning to escape him. The chapter is built on the tension between cooperation and betrayal.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter sets up the heist that will drive the next section of the novel, but it also deepens the central relationship. Rune and Gideon are forced to work together, and the chapter makes clear that their attraction is real even as their loyalties pull them apart. The introduction of Meadow as a captive child raises the stakes: this isn't just about Rune's escape or Gideon's mission, but about an innocent life caught in the middle of a war. Rune's discovery of Alex's boat also plants a seed for her escape plan.
Study Questions and Answers
1. What does Rune's rooftop meditation reveal about her state of mind at the start of the chapter?
Rune is questioning the foundations of her identity. She wonders whether she would be a different person if she'd grown up in Old Town rather than Wintersea, and she can't answer the question. This uncertainty suggests she's no longer sure who she is beneath the labels of witch and aristocrat—a sign of how much her world has been upended.
2. Why does Rune agree to help Gideon with the heist, and what does she keep hidden from him?
She agrees partly because she's moved by the situation—a child being used as leverage is morally indefensible—and partly because being needed thrills her. But she keeps her escape plans hidden: the sight of Alex's sailboat gives her a new idea for smuggling witches out, and she's already thinking about how to use it.
3. How does the ice cream scene complicate the relationship between Rune and Gideon?
The scene is intimate and charged: Gideon wipes chocolate from her lip, she takes his thumb in her mouth, and the moment recalls the kiss on the Arcadia. But it also reminds Rune of what Gideon is—a witch hunter—and she pulls away. The scene shows that their attraction is real, but so is the divide between them.
Navigation
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Next Chapter: Thirty-Three