Heartless Hunter

Gideon wakes at the sound of Rune attempting to dress and sneak out. When he asks what’s wrong, Rune admits she’s scared of her feelings for him. Gideon admits the same and suggests they trust each other. While giving her up would be the noble thing to do, Gideon selfishly wants to give in completely to a real relationship with her. He showers Rune in affection and convinces her to rejoin him in bed.

When Gideon wakes the next morning, Rune is sleeping by his side. He allows her to sleep in while he travels downstairs and pulls an encyclopedia of flowers from his mother’s old shelves. He gathers the fabrics, intent on sewing Rune a flower, when Harrow and Laila arrive at his apartment. After speaking with the print shop owner, they discovered that a university student rented out the storeroom for a school project. A sketch artist drafted a likeness from the print shop owner’s account; the portrait looks suspiciously like Verity. This leads the women to believe Rune might be in cahoots with Verity, but Gideon admits Rune had an alibi as she spent the night with him.

Gideon admits that he slept with her and found no casting scars, then forces himself to recount the events as indifferently as possible.