Gideon fires the gun, and the shot tears through Rune’s chest. As the blast fades, Gideon catches Rune before she falls and holds her on the ground while blood pours from the wound.

Gideon is horrified by what he has done, but Rune tells him he has spared her and everyone else. Rune understands that Cressida needed Rune alive in order to resurrect their sisters, so Gideon’s shot has ruined Cressida’s plan even as it kills Rune.

As death closes in, Rune feels the cold spreading through her body and silently says goodbye to Gideon and to the future they will never share. She thinks of the spell she cast at Larkmont and realizes she did more than break Gideon’s curse: she reversed it permanently, meaning Cressida can no longer use it against him, though Rune is too weak to tell him.

Cressida rushes toward them, and Gideon clings to Rune through his grief. At last he confesses that he loves her, and Rune, remembering Antonio’s words about love reuniting people beyond separation, presses her hand to Gideon’s heart and asks him to find her in the next world.

With that final exchange, Rune dies in Gideon’s arms.