Gideon Sharpe arrives at Rune Winters’s party despite hating aristocratic gatherings, feeling the old class divide as guests stare at his outdated suit. He forces himself to stay because Harrow has reported a casting mark tied to Rune’s cargo ship, and Gideon suspects Rune may be the elusive Crimson Moth.

Rune ties a blue dancing ribbon around Gideon’s wrist and struggles to pin a silk rose into her hair. Gideon helps fix it, noticing she smells only of sea air and reminding himself that a lack of magical scent proves nothing, since Cressida once hid it as well. The rose and the closeness pull Gideon into memories of his family—especially his mother’s broken mind and his sister Tessa’s death, which he blames on a witch.

When the music begins, Rune assumes Gideon will dance, but Gideon freezes because he does not know the steps. Embarrassed and determined not to fail at Harrow’s plan to “woo” Rune, Gideon recovers by flirting and then proposes a private tour of Rune’s home, intending to get Rune alone and search for evidence of witchcraft in both her and the estate.

Rune gladly takes Gideon’s hand and leads him away from the ballroom toward the stairs, but Alex—Gideon’s brother—spots him and immediately accuses him of hunting. Alex tries to claim a dance with Rune and challenges Gideon’s sudden presence, creating a tense standoff between the brothers and revealing Alex’s hostility toward Rune.

Gideon considers that pursuing Rune will deepen the growing rift with Alex, yet he presses on, convinced he must stop the Moth and “protect” Alex from whatever Rune might be. Rune cuts through the conflict by refusing Alex—saying the song is already over—and beckons Gideon upstairs; Gideon follows her, leaving Alex and the party behind.