Rune hides beneath an abandoned card table while her Ghost Walker spell keeps her concealed from the party crowd and the police officers searching nearby. Still shaken by Gideon’s kiss, Rune replays the moment and remembers how it shifted from a practical cover into something deeply intimate.

As Rune thinks back on Gideon’s reaction, she convinces herself that his sudden stiffness and withdrawal were disgust, not desire. Because Rune knows he hates witches, she concludes that whatever attraction Gideon felt was overwhelmed the instant he remembered what she is. That belief turns her heartbreak into certainty that he can never return her love.

Rune then watches Gideon leave the room, which briefly eases her tension. But when Abbie follows him, Rune reads it as proof that Gideon and Abbie still have unresolved feelings for each other. Hurt and determined to escape both Gideon and her own emotions, Rune crawls out from under the table and heads for the boiler rooms, resolved to finish her mission without Gideon interfering again.