Rune rides to Seraphine's forest cottage and finds it empty, the door marked with a bloody X.

Gideon captures the powerful witch Seraphine Oakes and hands her over to Blood Guard custody.

Harrow informs Gideon that Rune Winters' cargo ship has been linked to smuggling escaped witches off the mainland.

Gideon attends Rune's after-party and presents her with a hand-sewn fabric rose, beginning his mission to court her.

During the dress fitting, Gideon inadvertently reveals that Seraphine will be transferred from Seldom Harbor that evening.

Rune rushes to Seldom Harbor to rescue Seraphine and walks directly into a trap Gideon set for the Crimson Moth.

Rune sneaks into Octavia Creed's office at the masked ball and traces the layout of the palace prison.

Rune invites Gideon to escort her to the Luminaries Dinner as her date, and he accepts.

Gideon confesses that Cressida Roseblood murdered his younger sister and drove both his parents to their deaths.

Spellfire surges toward the Luminaries Dinner platform, throwing the crowd into chaos and causing Seraphine to vanish.

Gideon rescues Rune from the encircling spellfire and identifies the casting signature left on the table as Cressida's.

Rune reads that Gideon led a Blood Guard raid at a print shop where a magical bomb exploded, killing dozens.

Rune and Gideon spend the night together at his apartment and confess their genuine feelings for each other.

Gideon confronts Rune with her stolen blood vial and his missing access coin and arrests her as the Crimson Moth.

Rune casts the Earth Sunderer spell using Alex's blood, splitting the square with an earthquake so the witches can flee.

Rune discovers that Seraphine, her grandmother's oldest friend, has been captured by the Republic's most feared witch hunter, Gideon Sharpe, and commits to rescuing her. To gather the intel she needs, Rune allows Gideon to court her while he simultaneously investigates whether she is the vigilante known as the Crimson Moth. Their mutual deception grows dangerously complicated as genuine feelings develop, and Rune learns the tragic truth of what witches did to Gideon's family. When their fragile connection is tested at the Luminaries Dinner and in the aftermath of a deadly explosion, they finally surrender to their feelings for each other. Everything collapses when Gideon discovers Rune's true identity and makes the agonizing choice to arrest her, setting in motion a climactic confrontation in the town square. The novel ends with the witch hunter and the Crimson Moth on opposite sides of a widening chasm, sworn enemies once more.

Rune watches a witch's public purging execution and vows never to scar her own body to cast spells.

At the opera, Rune learns through gossip that Gideon Sharpe captured a witch earlier that evening.

Rune and Verity prepare a Truth Teller spell intended to drug a Blood Guard into revealing Seraphine's whereabouts.

Rune accidentally drinks her own Truth Teller wine after Gideon refuses the cup, leaving her vulnerable to its effects.

After leaving Rune's party, Gideon stays up all night designing and sketching a gown for her Luminaries Dinner appearance.

Rune and Verity meet at the university to practice a Picklock spell, but Rune passes out from exhaustion.

Gideon and Alex have a heated boxing match that ends with Alex punching Gideon and storming out over Rune.

Rune escapes the Seldom Harbor mine by using Gideon's blood without his permission to cast a forbidden deadbolt spell.

Laila fires through a broken window as Rune escapes on horseback, clipping her arm with a bullet.

Gideon finds the Tasker Brothers murdered in an alley with 'You're next, Gideon' written on the wall in blood.

Verity learns at the Luminaries Dinner that Seraphine is held past Fortitude Gate and that guards carry section-specific access coins.

Alex wins Gideon's prison access coin from him in a card game at Thornwood Hall.

Gideon pulls Alex aside at Thornwood Hall to warn him that Cressida Roseblood is still alive.

Alex confesses to Rune that he warned Cressida to flee the night of the rebellion rather than killing her.

Alex publicly declares he knowingly aided the Crimson Moth for years, and Gideon arrests his own brother for treason.

Beneath the cat-and-mouse courtship, Rune and her allies scramble to gather the resources, maps, uniforms, and access coins needed to free the condemned witch Seraphine before her execution. From a failed truth spell and a close escape at Seldom Harbor to stolen prison maps and Blood Guard uniforms, every step of the rescue plan reveals new dangers and costs. The escalating string of murders across the city and magical attacks on the Blood Guard raise tensions to a breaking point, while Gideon's complicated bond with his brother Alex quietly shapes the decisions of everyone involved. A pivotal card game and a devastating confession about Cressida's survival shift the stakes dramatically as Liberty Day approaches. The operation reaches its breaking point when Alex publicly sacrifices his own freedom to protect Rune, forcing Gideon to arrest his own brother for treason.

The missions and sacrifices behind the main conflict.

Harrow suggests Gideon court Rune Winters to gain close enough access to search her body for casting scars.

In a flashback, Rune recalls the night black blood revealed she had become a witch at Alex's birthday party.

During the dress fitting, Gideon compares Cressida to a pitcher plant, hinting at a traumatic and dangerous shared past.

Gideon secretly reveals to Harrow that the Seldom Harbor transfer was a fabricated trap designed to expose the Crimson Moth.

At the Creeds' masked ball, Rune loudly claims she told her entire luncheon about the transfer, successfully deflecting Gideon's suspicion.

Rune and Gideon go skinny dipping together, but Gideon still finds no casting scars anywhere on Rune's body.

Gideon kisses Rune after she admits she found him impressive at their first meeting at Nameless Cove years ago.

Rune discovers one of Nan's rare spell books open to a powerful Earth Sunderer spell capable of causing catastrophic earthquakes.

Harrow shows Gideon a sketch artist's portrait of the print shop storeroom renter that closely resembles Verity de Wilde.

Harrow visits Gideon the morning after his night with Rune, and he coldly pretends his feelings for her are fabricated.

Rune overhears Gideon dismissing his feelings for her as false and flees his apartment in heartbreak.

Alex places his silver ring on Rune's finger, proposes marriage, and asks her to start a new life in Caelis.

Rune travels to the university and discovers that Verity's dormitory room does not exist and was an illusion all along.

Cressida drops her disguise as Verity de Wilde in the town square and reveals herself leading an army of witches.

Alex steps into the path of Cressida's bullet aimed at Gideon and is fatally shot, dying to save his brother.

The story of Heartless Hunter is built on concealed identities, buried traumas, and the pivotal moments when the truth finally breaks through the surface. From Harrow's calculated suggestion to court Rune and Rune's own secret of being a witch, the foundations of every relationship rest on carefully constructed deceptions. Gideon's veiled hints about Cressida and Rune's growing understanding of his pain mark a slow emotional unraveling between people who started as enemies. The night they spend together and its bitter morning aftermath expose just how deeply both have fallen before the pretense collapses entirely. A series of escalating discoveries—a forbidden spell book, an incriminating sketch, and a dormitory that does not exist—reveal that the most dangerous player in the game has been standing beside Rune all along. By the time Cressida drops her disguise and Alex gives his life for Gideon, nothing remains of the world either protagonist thought they knew.