Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth #1)

ONE

RUNE

MIRAGE: (n.) the lowest and most basic category of spell.

Mirage Spells are simple illusions held for short periods that require little blood. The fresher the blood, the stronger the magic, and the easier casting will be.

—From Rules of Magic by Queen Callidora the Valiant

Lightning forked across the sky as Rune Winters picked her way through the sodden forest, the pine canopy overhead offering little shelter from the rain. Her lantern cast a trembling glow over the path, illuminating twisted roots and slick pools of water.

It was a foul night for spellwork. Rain seeped through her cloak, the dampness loosening the spellmarks she'd drawn on her wrist in blood. She would need to redraw the symbols before the rain washed them away entirely, taking her magic with them.

The illusion disguising Rune had to hold until she knew for certain Seraphine wouldn't kill her.

As a former advisor to the Sister Queens, Seraphine Oakes was a powerful witch. After two years of searching, Rune had finally tracked her down. Now that she had arrived, what would she find at the top of this wooded headland—friend or foe?

Rune chewed her lip, remembering her grandmother's last words from two years ago.

*Promise me you'll find Seraphine Oakes, my darling. She'll tell you everything I couldn't.*

After the Blood Guard arrested Nan and dragged her from the house, they had smeared a bloody X across the front door, declaring to everyone that an enemy of the Republic had been found within and was on her way to be purged.

The memory of that day stabbed like a knife.

Anxiety vibrated in Rune's blood as she pressed onward, like an overture growing louder and faster. If Seraphine saw through the illusion cloaking Rune before hearing her out, she might expel her from the house—or worse, strike her dead.

Because wherever Rune Winters went, her carefully crafted reputation followed.

She was an informer. A witch hater. A darling of the New Republic.

Rune was the girl who betrayed her grandmother.

It was why she'd disguised herself as an old peddler tonight, leading a mule laden with goods. The scent of wet beast hung in the air, and her load of pots and pans clattered with the creature's every step—each detail summoned into being by the magic in Rune's blood and held together by the symbols drawn on her wrist, binding the spell to her.

It was a Mirage—the most basic of spell classifications—and yet it had taken all of Rune's mental energy to cast. The resulting headache still roared in her temples.

Branches shuddered under the rain. Lightning flashed overhead, illuminating the tiny cottage perched at the cliff's edge where the forest ended. The windows glowed warmly with lamplight, and Rune could smell woodsmoke pluming from the chimney.

With her spellmarks fading fast, the illusion flickered around her. She needed it to hold a little longer.

Setting down her lantern, Rune withdrew the glass vial hidden in her pocket and uncorked it. Dabbing the blood inside onto her fingertip, she held her wrist to the lamplight and retraced the symbols, reinforcing them. One altered her appearance—graying her hair, wrinkling her skin, hunching her shoulders—while the other summoned the manifestation of the mule beside her.

The moment she finished, the spell roared in her ears and the taste of salt blossomed on her tongue. The illusion snapped back into place, its bindings to Rune strengthened, but the pain in her temples throbbed harder. Swallowing the briny tang of magic, she pulled her hood over her hair, gritting her teeth against the worsening headache. Then she picked up her lantern and stepped out of the woods, continuing down the path toward the house.

Mud sucked at her boots. Rain pelted her face.

Her heart felt like it would thump right out of her chest.

Whatever waited behind that door was now in the hands of the Ancients. If Seraphine saw through her magic and cursed her dead, it would be no less than Rune deserved. And if she showed mercy…

Rune bit her lip, trying not to hope.

Moving through the yard, she heard the anxious whinny of a horse from the silhouetted stable. Probably frightened by the storm. When she reached the house, she found the front door already open, a triangle of golden light spilling into the yard.

Her stiff fingers curled against the brass ring of the lantern handle. Was Seraphine expecting her?

Some witches foresaw snatches of the future—though these days it was a rare, often fickle ability. Nothing like the clear-sighted prophecies of the powerful sibyls of old. Perhaps Seraphine was one of these.

The thought made Rune straighten her shoulders and force herself onward. If Seraphine had foreseen this meeting, she knew who Rune was and that she was coming.

All the more reason to get this over with.

Leaving the illusory mule behind in the yard, she stepped across the threshold. No one stood waiting. A fire died in the hearth, the embers flickering red, and a plate of food sat on the table, the gravy congealed as if it had been sitting for a while. Rain spitting in through the open door dampened the stone floor beneath her feet.

Rune frowned. "Hello?"

Silence answered her.

"Seraphine?"

The house seemed to groan at the sound of its owner's name: beams creaking overhead and walls shifting in the wind. Rune glanced around, looking for any sign of the woman who lived here. The tiny house contained only a single room, with a kitchen in one corner and a small study in the opposite.

"You must be here somewhere…"

A roughly hewn ladder in the center of the room led to a loft. Stepping onto its rungs, Rune climbed to the top, where she found an unmade bed and three lit candles dripping honey-colored wax onto the floorboards. She climbed down and checked the door at the back of the house, which led into an empty garden.

There was no sign of Seraphine.

Unease prickled across Rune's skin.

*Where is she?*

The horse whinnied again in the distance.

The stable. Of course. If the creature had spooked, Seraphine would have gone to calm it.

Lantern in hand and headache still pulsing in her skull, Rune stepped back across the threshold and into the rain, leaving the door ajar. She collected her mule illusion as she went. Rain splattered her wrist, and the spell lurched around her, struggling to hold. Hurrying, she was halfway to the stable when something squelched beneath her boot. It was difficult to see in the dark and the storm, so she crouched low and set her lamp in the muck.

It was a garment.

Rune reached for the sodden fabric. Rising to her feet, she studied her findings in the lamplight: a plain, woolen work dress. The kind a servant might wear while scrubbing floors.

Except someone had slashed the back open.

*Why would…*

She glanced at the path and saw a second piece of clothing. Stooping, she discovered a cotton shift, brown with mud. Also sliced down the back.

*No,* thought Rune, her rain-bitten fingers tracing the frayed edges. *Not cut.*

*Torn.*

Her stomach tightened.

With her wrist so exposed to the elements, the rain smudged out her spellmarks completely, and the illusion slipped away. Her headache vanished with it. Before she could fix the marks, a sudden wind rose, growling like an angry wolf.

SLAM!

The door to Seraphine's house banged shut.

Rune dropped the woolen dress and spun to face the door, her breath catching in her throat. Closed, the door gave her a full view of the bloody X smeared from corner to corner across its wooden surface.

The mark of the Blood Guard.

Seraphine wasn't in the stable calming her horse. Soldiers had found her, stripped her, and taken her with them.

Nan's oldest friend was in the hands of the Blood Guard—the most dangerous place for a witch to be.