Chapter 73: 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

After freeing Laila, Rune, Gideon, and Laila ride for the Wentholt cottage, arriving just before sundown. With only two horses for three riders, Rune shares a mount with Gideon. As they approach, Rune spots a dozen or so Blood Guard officers patrolling the grounds. She dismounts and walks straight toward the cottage, ignoring Gideon's whispered warning. Six soldiers emerge from the trees with guns raised, and Gideon and Laila raise their hands. A young, copper-haired soldier named Felix recognizes them—calling out “It's Sharpe and Creed”—and orders the others to lower their weapons.

Felix explains that the Commander sent them to hunt the group down, but not to arrest them: they came for orders. Gideon, Laila, Ash, Abbie, and a platoon of Blood Guard soldiers gather in Bart Wentholt's parlor to strategize. A message arrives from Harrow: Analise and Elowyn's bodies are hidden at the Crossroads, and Cressida plans to travel there before the new moon to renew a fading preservation spell. If the spell fades entirely, the bodies will decay. The Crossroads is the meeting point of three rivers, where crashing currents form a deadly whirlpool.

Seraphine explains that the renewal spell must be performed on a new moon. The group measures the distance: a three-day ride to the Crossroads, with the new moon four days away. Rune proposes they get there first and destroy the bodies, eliminating any chance of resurrection. The plan splits the group: Rune, Gideon, and Seraphine ride ahead to the Crossroads; Bart and Antonio stay behind to await Harrow and Juniper and any recruited witches; Laila, Ash, Abbie, and the soldiers head to the Rookery to take it from Noah by force.

Rune searches the spell books she brought from Wintersea for a counterspell to break the enchantment protecting her half sisters' bodies, but finds nothing. She considers inventing a spell—she created Ghost Walker before—but that took months, and she doesn't have months. She briefly considers taking the corpses to destroy later, a thought that makes her ill but one she's willing to accept.

Antonio joins her in the study, and a small medallion swings from his collar: a spectacled woman with an owl on her shoulder—Wisdom, the Ancient he was consecrated to. Rune recalls a summoning spell she found in her casting room and asks if summoning an Ancient is really possible. Antonio tells her the story of Queen Althea, who summoned Wisdom centuries after the Resurrection Wars, when the Seven Sisters had sworn never to intervene in mortal affairs. Althea refused to enforce the witch-supremacy ideology pushed by her cousin Winoa Roseblood, who believed non-witches were subservient to witches. Wisdom advised Althea to call a council to expose Winoa's supporters, but the plan failed: Winoa and her allies betrayed Althea in that very chamber, stabbing her and her supporters to death and forging the Roseblood Dynasty—a reign of tyranny and bloodshed lasting decades.

Wisdom, realizing her advice caused the tragedy, bound herself in human form to Cascadia until she could correct her error. Rune dismisses this as myth, reasoning that if it were true, Wisdom would still be walking among them.

Antonio then pores over a spell Rune had set aside: Resurrection of the Dead, classified as Arcana. The spell requires a close kin—a parent, child, or sibling—to be sacrificed. The caster must cut the sacrifice and use their fresh blood to draw spellmarks on the dead, then pierce the sacrifice's heart with a casting knife. The magic draws the victim's life force into the deceased. The sacrifice must be living when the spell begins and killed only after the spellmarks are complete. An addendum warns the spell is forbidden under Cascadian law, that the sacrifice will die, and that the witch who undertakes it will corrupt herself beyond redemption.

Rune shivers, realizing that if people knew she was Analise and Elowyn's sister, it would be in everyone's best interest to kill her—permanently preventing Cressida from using her as a sacrifice.

Antonio asks what changed her mind about leaving. Rune thinks of Gideon's belief in a better world and his willingness to die for it, and of their future children running through a field. She tells Antonio, “You get the world you're willing to fight for.” Then she asks if acolytes can officiate weddings, and whether he would marry her and Gideon when this is over. He agrees, noting she said when, not if.

Music drifts up from below. They find a full revel: furniture pushed against walls, two fiddlers in Blood Guard uniforms, and everyone dancing. New arrivals include aristocrats from Rune's old social circles, Charlotte Gong, and Elias Creed—Noah and Laila's brother, who worked for the Ministry of Public Safety. Bart explains that Cressida's soldiers have seized or ransacked every home within fifty miles of the capital; these refugees were lucky to escape. He calls it “one last party”: “If we're going to die, darling, let's die happy.”

Gideon finds Rune and reminds her she owes him a dance, referencing a dare from their time at Wintersea. They banter about “riffraff in disreputable locales,” and he pulls her into the dance. As they spin and stomp, Rune realizes that even if they can't bring down Cressida, the world they want to forge already exists—right here in this room: a world where enemies can be allies, lovers, and friends, and where no one needs to hide who they really are. She wishes Alex were there. When the song ends, Gideon kisses her hard. Rune marvels that a witch being adored by a Blood Guard captain in plain view would have been absurd a week ago. She kisses him back, determined to remember this moment, because for the first time in her life, she is completely herself—and that is worth everything, even dying for.

Key Events

The group arrives at the Wentholt cottage and is confronted by Blood Guard soldiers; Felix recognizes them and reveals the troops came for orders, not arrests.
Harrow's message reveals Analise and Elowyn's bodies are hidden at the Crossroads, and Cressida plans to renew a fading preservation spell before the new moon.
The group splits: Rune, Gideon, and Seraphine ride to the Crossroads; Laila, Ash, Abbie, and soldiers head to the Rookery; Bart and Antonio stay behind.
Rune searches spell books for a counterspell but finds none; she considers inventing one or taking the corpses to destroy later.
Antonio tells the story of Queen Althea and Wisdom, including the betrayal that led to the Roseblood Dynasty and Wisdom's self-binding to Cascadia.
The Resurrection of the Dead spell is discovered, requiring a close-kin sacrifice and warning of self-corruption for the caster.
Rune asks Antonio to officiate her wedding to Gideon.
A spontaneous party erupts with newly arrived refugees, and Gideon and Rune share a dance and a kiss.
Rune realizes the world they want to forge already exists in that room.

Character Development

Rune undergoes a decisive shift in this chapter. She moves from a posture of reluctant participation to active commitment: she proposes the plan to destroy her half sisters' bodies, accepts the grim necessity of handling corpses, and asks Antonio to officiate her wedding to Gideon—a concrete step toward a future she once doubted. Her reflection that she is “completely herself” for the first time marks a culmination of her arc from hiding her witchy nature to embracing it openly.

Gideon appears tired but resolved, his stubble and rolled sleeves signaling the toll of the journey. His playful dare about the dance and his willingness to kiss Rune in front of everyone show his commitment to the world they're fighting for—one where a witch and a Blood Guard captain can be equals.

Antonio serves as both historian and witness. His consecration to Wisdom and his telling of Althea's story ground the chapter's mythological stakes, while his agreement to officiate the wedding affirms his belief in Rune and Gideon's cause.

Felix demonstrates that loyalty can transcend orders: he and his troops came to serve Gideon and Laila, not to arrest them, signaling the growing fracture within the Blood Guard.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

“You get the world you're willing to fight for.” This line, spoken by Rune, crystallizes the chapter's central theme: the world is not given but forged through choice and sacrifice.
The party as a microcosm of the desired world. The revel—with witches, Blood Guard soldiers, aristocrats, and refugees dancing together—embodies the egalitarian future Rune and Gideon are fighting for. It's fragile and temporary, like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis, but it proves the vision is possible.
Sacrifice and corruption. The Resurrection of the Dead spell demands a close-kin sacrifice and warns that the caster will corrupt herself beyond redemption. This echoes Cressida's willingness to sacrifice Analise and Elowyn's kin and foreshadows the moral costs of the war.
Wisdom's binding. The myth of Wisdom binding herself to Cascadia until she corrects her error introduces the idea that the world's redemption may require a sentinel—and raises the question of whether such a figure might still be present.
Being completely oneself. Rune's final reflection—that being fully herself is worth everything, even dying—ties personal authenticity to the larger political struggle.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 73 is a turning point in Rebel Witch. It sets the stage for the climactic confrontation at the Crossroads, introduces the Resurrection of the Dead spell that raises the stakes for Rune's life, and deepens the mythological backstory of Wisdom and Queen Althea. The chapter also delivers a rare moment of joy amid the war: the party scene gives Rune and Gideon a chance to claim the future they're fighting for, even as the threat of Cressida looms. Rune's decision to marry Gideon and her realization that the world they want already exists in that room transform her from a reluctant participant into a committed fighter—one willing to die for a world where she can be completely herself.

Study Questions

Why does Rune decide to ask Antonio to officiate her wedding to Gideon at this particular moment?

Answer: Rune has just heard Antonio's story of Queen Althea and Wisdom, and she has confronted the Resurrection of the Dead spell, which makes her realize her own life is at risk if Cressida learns she is Analise and Elowyn's sister. In the face of that danger, she chooses to commit to the future she wants—marrying Gideon—rather than wait for the war to end. Her use of when, not if, signals her newfound conviction that they will survive and build that future.

What does the party scene reveal about the world Rune and Gideon are fighting for?

Answer: The party brings together witches, Blood Guard soldiers, aristocrats, and refugees—groups that were previously enemies or separated by class and ideology. They dance together as equals, with no one hiding who they are. Rune explicitly recognizes this as the world she wants to forge, even if it's fragile and may not survive. The scene demonstrates that the vision of equality is not abstract but already realizable in human connection.

How does the Resurrection of the Dead spell change the stakes for Rune personally?

Answer: The spell requires a close-kin sacrifice—a parent, child, or sibling. Since Rune is Analise and Elowyn's sister, she is a potential sacrifice for Cressida's plan to resurrect them. The spell's warning that the caster will corrupt herself beyond redemption also raises the moral stakes: even if Rune were to use it, she would be destroyed. This knowledge makes Rune's decision to fight—and her willingness to die—more urgent and more personal.