Gideon remembers first meeting Queen Cressida Roseblood at the palace when he and his mother delivered a dress. After his mother secures a contract to make dresses for the witch queens Analise and Elowyn—an opportunity that would change the Sharpe family’s fortunes—Cressida singles Gideon out, flirts with him, and hints they will see more of each other.

In Gideon’s memory, Cressida’s attention escalates once the Sharpes move into the palace: garden walks, seaside rides, breakfasts on her terrace, and secret kisses in empty rooms. What felt like a dream proves “too good to be true,” and the recollection shows Gideon’s lingering shame and fear around how Cressida treated him.

Rune interrupts, pulling Gideon back to the present in the tailor shop. Gideon startles away from Rune on instinct, then forces himself to steady, refusing Rune’s offer to talk. Realizing Rune is shivering in the cold while standing in her underwear, Gideon fetches his mother’s old wool blanket and finishes taking Rune’s final measurement.

While measuring, Gideon scrutinizes Rune’s skin for casting marks and finds none, making him wonder if he has been wrong about Rune being the Crimson Moth. Rune becomes absorbed in Gideon’s mother’s sketchbooks, visibly delighted by the designs; Gideon brings a lamp closer and struggles with his attraction, reminding himself that if Rune is the Moth he is meant to arrest her, and if she is not, he should step aside for his brother.

Rune flirts openly: she sits beside Gideon on the worktable, traces Gideon’s dress sketch for her, and invites him to ride with her at a quiet beach near Wintersea House. Gideon declines due to work but says he might meet her later, explaining he and Laila are transferring a witch from the old mine near Seldom Harbor to the palace prison. Rune suggests he meet her afterward at a masked ball at the Creeds’, and she thanks him before dressing as Gideon pointedly busies himself tidying up.