After seeing Gideon take Abbie onto the dance floor, Rune leaves the crew party with William because she wants distance from Gideon and because William can show her more of the Arcadia. As William leads her into the boiler room, Rune asks whether Gideon and Abbie were once more than friends, and William confirms they were. While taking in the scale of the engine room, Rune also realizes the heat and sweat are dangerous because the blood spellmark on her thigh could smudge and expose her disguise.

Rune turns the tour into reconnaissance. She asks William about the ship’s cargo holds, when they are loaded, and how they are sealed because she wants to know whether the Arcadia could be used to smuggle witches out of the Republic. William explains that most holds are sealed with bolted, caulked hatches after witch-hunting hounds inspect luggage, but the coal-and-supplies hold on this level is not bolted. When William links arms with Rune and offers to investigate it with her, Rune suspects Gideon was right that William wants more than harmless conversation, but she decides to play along if it helps her learn what she needs.

Before William can lead her farther, Gideon appears out of the steam in a fury. He slams William against the wall and demands to know what he is doing with Rune, then orders Rune to leave with him. Rune refuses, enraged by Gideon’s possessiveness after watching him with Abbie, and only sends William away when the confrontation threatens to escalate. Once William is gone, Gideon realizes Rune came below deck as part of her plan to use the Arcadia to smuggle witches, and he accuses her of manipulating William the same way she manipulates everyone else. His description of the Crimson Moth as a predator deeply wounds Rune.

The quarrel then shifts from strategy to their buried feelings. Gideon says he might have forgiven Rune for using him to save witches, but he cannot forgive her for making him fall for her while she supposedly loved his brother. He points to Alex’s ring still on her hand as proof. Rune finally breaks and admits that if Gideon had asked, she would have married him even knowing he might later hand her over or kill her for being a witch. She says she accepted Alex because Alex loved her and did not want her dead, making him the safest future she could hope for.

Rune then clarifies that she loved Alex as a dear friend, not in the way Gideon imagines, and reflects that Alex wanted a gentler, safer version of her than she truly is. She removes Alex’s ring, presses it into Gideon’s hand, and says Alex saw her as a girl to cherish, while Gideon sees only a witch to hate and hunt. When Gideon offers no denial, Rune takes his silence as confirmation and runs for the stairs.