Two months after Cressida Roseblood fatally shot Alexander Sharpe, and Rune Winters escaped the New Republic with Cressida, Gideon Sharpe waits undercover in Prince Soren’s ballroom in the kingdom of Umbria, watching as the prince engages with his recently betrothed, Rune Winters. Gideon was sent on a mission to assassinate Rune Winters after his colleague, Harrow, received intel a week ago that Soren was to wed her in exchange for giving Cressida—the leader of the witches and Gideon’s sadistic ex-girlfriend who preceded Rune—an army to use against the New Republic that Gideon serves.

In Soren’s kingdom, Rune can openly be herself without fear of being executed. Gideon overhears her speaking to a woman in attendance about how “witches once lived as [they] do” with “lives […] full of music, beauty, art” before blaming Gideon for ending their way of life when he led revolutionaries into the palace to assassinate the ruling Roseblood sisters (10). As the recital starts, the opening chords of music visibly shock Rune. Instead of going inside with Prince Soren, she excuses herself to go the bathroom. Gideon seizes the opportunity to try to assassinate her there.