Outside the powder room, Rune braces herself against the door and tries to turn her shock into hatred. Gideon came to Larkmont to kill her, and Rune tells herself that whatever she once felt for him is dead. But when she hears him screaming under Cressida’s torture, she cannot ignore it. His pain horrifies her, and she keeps returning to one question: if Gideon had the advantage, why did he hesitate instead of shooting her at once?

Soren arrives with soldiers, says Rune was attacked, and pulls her away despite her resistance. He insists there may be other assassins in the palace, takes her to his rooms, and promises guards and locked doors. Rune knows that ordinary imprisonment would be kinder than whatever Cressida is doing, and she feels sick leaving Gideon behind. At the same time, she knows she cannot openly defy Cressida, who is stronger than she is and still essential to saving the witches left behind.

In Soren’s dim bedroom, Rune realizes that she has no magical leverage over Cressida, but Soren does. As prince, he controls the palace, and Cressida needs his army. Rune decides she cannot ask Soren to save the man who tried to murder her, so instead she will push him to confront Cressida for political reasons. When Soren turns to leave and lock her in, Rune stops him and prepares to use the one weapon she knows will work: his desire for her.

Rune pulls Soren to the bed, climbs into his lap, and plays the role of the newly grateful fiancée who now trusts him to protect her. She tells him she had doubted the betrothal but now believes fate brought them together, then intensifies the seduction by describing a planned trip to Caelis and a hotel room for the two of them. While inwardly detached and repulsed by the future she imagines with him, Rune uses the moment to make her real demand: Soren must find Cressida immediately and seal their alliance that very night. Soren, believing her motives are romantic, eagerly agrees, posts guards outside, and locks Rune in his room.