Rebel Witch

One of the two protagonists in Rebel Witch, Rune Winters is beautiful. She has strawberry blonde hair and gray eyes. Two months before the events of the novel, in the previous novel of the duology, Rune played a popular socialite who had many friends and a life of comfort born of extreme wealth while also saving witches from the Republic’s Blood Guard, disguised as the Crimson Moth vigilante. The knowledge of her identity became widespread after her former lover, Gideon Sharpe, captured her, sentencing her to execution. In the novel, though, Rune’s identity becomes far more complex as she discovers she’s not only the adopted granddaughter of Kestrel Winters but a Roseblood princess, daughter to Queen Winoa, half-sister to Cressida, and heir to the throne.

In the two months since her rescue by Cressida Roseblood, who also murdered her best friend, Alexander Sharpe, Rune assumes another role to survive: a loyal follower. To serve Cressida as Cressida wants, Rune must reassume the role of a seductress to convince Soren to marry her in exchange for giving Cressida his army. Rune’s character arc thematically exemplifies The Critical Role of Identity as she loses sight of who she is. To Gideon, Rune is “a cruel witch.