Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli is the highly anticipated sequel to Heartless Hunter, which first came out in February 2024. Sadly, it’s also the finale to the Crimson Moth duology, but it does a great job of wrapping up all conflicts and giving readers closure for what happened at the end of the first book.
Still not over Alex! 😭
You can find a physical copy of Rebel Witch here (it’s not yet available on Kindle Unlimited like Heartless Hunter is).
In this post, I go over:
- characters in Rebel Witch
- locations in the book
- Rebel Witch book summary
- ending explained
- my favorite Rebel Witch quotes
- book review & rating
Beware: MAJOR SPOILERS for Rebel Witch (The Crimson Moth book 2) ahead!
Rebel Witch characters
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Gideon Sharpe | MMC, a witch hunter and Blood Guard captain from the New Republic, haunted by his past and conflicted by his feelings for Rune |
| Rune Winters | FMC aka the Crimson Moth, a powerful witch and former socialite from Wintersea, now in exile and navigating dangerous alliances with Cressida and Soren |
| Prince Soren Nord | Umbrian prince allied with Cressida, betrothed to Rune and wants to possess her. Rune kills him |
| Cressida Roseblood | The vengeful witch queen seeking to reclaim her throne and resurrect her sisters, wielding powerful and cruel magic |
| Alex Sharpe | Gideon’s deceased brother and Rune’s best friend (was in love with Rune) |
| Ava Saers | Witch and former scar artist loyal to Cressida |
| Seraphine | Rune’s ally and a friend to Kestrel, a witch who escaped the New Republic and is reluctantly allied to Cressida |
| Aurelia Kantor | A powerful sibyl, a witch who can see into the past, present, and future, captured by the Blood Guard and forced to disclose locations of other witches |
| Meadow | Aurelia’s little daughter who is used as leverage by the Red Peace |
| Abigail Redfern (Abbie) | Former Blood Guard and lover of Gideon’s, now works on the Arcadia. Gideon initially suspects her of being the spy |
| William | A member of the Arcadia’s crew who shows interest in Rune. The actual Blood Guard spy |
| Ash Singh | A former soldier from the New Dawn and friend of Abbie’s, works on the Arcadia |
| Juniper | A witch serving Cressida, was in love with Harrow once upon a time (still loves her) |
| Harrow | Noah’s spymaster in the New Republic, was in love with Juniper and punished for it (missing an ear) |
| Noah Creed | The new Blood Guard Commander (son of the deceased Good Commander killed by Cressida) |
| Wisdom | An Ancient, a powerful magical being |
| Antonio | Accompanies Seraphine and Wisdom |
Locations in Rebel Witch
| Location | Description |
|---|---|
| Larkmont Palace | Prince Soren’s grand palace in Umbria, where the engagement recital takes place. |
| Wintersea | Rune’s former home island in the New Republic |
| Umbria | The continent where Rune and Cressida seek refuge and alliances |
| Caelis | The capital of Umbria, known for its architecture, art, and culture |
| Barrow Strait | Body of water separating Wintersea from the continent |
| The Arcadia | Passenger ship that refuses to allow Blood Guard and witch-hunting hounds aboard |
| The Lark & Crown | The hotel in Caelis where Gideon stays |
| Crew Alleyway | A hallway on the Arcadia’s second-lowest level for employee use |
| Old Town | A district in the New Republic |
| Wintersea House | Nan’s home in Wintersea, mentioned as having an old map. After the events of Heartless Hunter, it became the estate of the new republic commander, Noah Creed |
| Republic of the Red Peace | The new name for the island formerly known as Cascadia, under the rule of the Blood Guard |
| Cascadia | The old name for the island before the revolution |
Rebel Witch summary
Cressida’s rise
Rebel Witch kicks off with emotions high and stakes even higher. A couple of months after Heartless Hunter, Gideon is in Umbria on a mission to assassinate Rune. He has tracked her to the Larkmont Palace in Caelis where he discovers she is engaged to Prince Soren—an alliance that would give Queen Cressida the army and ships she needs to reclaim her throne back in the New Republic.
Disguised, Gideon watches Rune, struggling with their past and how he feels about Rune, knowing that this is his last chance to prove himself to the Red Peace. He is soooo obviously not over her, awaiting for the perfect moment to assassinate her and put a stop to Cressida’s plans.
Crying in the powder room
A beautiful song seems to trigger Rune, and she flees the ballroom, taking refuge in a powder room. We see she’s not okay—she’s crying and drinking heavily, struggling with the reality of her exile, losing her home, and the implications of Cressida’s rise.
Her vulnerability is interrupted by Gideon. He is not happy. Her sadness affects him, and he hesitates to kill her before she throws a whiskey bottle at him, alerting the palace guards to come racing in.
Enter: Cressida, with her scar artist, Ava.
True love’s curse
Captured by Cressida, Gideon suffers full-blown PTSD in the powder room. He begs Rune to end his life rather than belong to Cressida again. But the witch queen excuses Rune to her room before activating the brand on Gideon’s chest. And then she starts torturing him and attempting to assault him.
Despite her complicated feelings for Gideon (and her own precarious position under Cressida), Rune decides to save him. Cressida is lured away, and Rune sneaks off the balcony to help him escape. She ends up killing Ava with Gideon’s gun before racing back to her room to pretend she’s been there the whole time.
Runaway bride
Days later, Gideon tracks Rune while she’s out for a highly publicized outing with Prince Soren to shop for a wedding dress. He sneaks into her dressing room and they agree to a temporary truce: she’ll break her engagement to Soren, ending his alliance with Cressida, if Gideon helps her return to the New Republic and secure the release of the captured sibyl the New Republic has been using to track and kill witches.
The Arcadia
This truce leads to one of my favorite parts of Rebel Witch—the forced proximity and only one bed tropes. Rune and Gideon sneak aboard the Arcadia, a ship known for harboring witches.
Rune’s plan is simple but complex—pose as newlyweds. They have no choice but to share a tiny third-class cabin and Rune will have to maintain a spelled disguise for the duration of their journey. There’s a lot of pining and angst and their interactions are supercharged by their shared history, mistrust, and undeniable attraction to one another.
Meanwhile, Caelisian police are also on board the ship, along with an unknown spy (William) sent by the New Republic to assassinate Rune since it seems Gideon is unable to finish the job. The journey to the New Republic is filled with drama because Gideon’s former lover from right before Rune, Abigail, is also on board, and she’s still very much into Gideon.
But they make it through the trip alive, with Gideon using subterfuge to try and throw the New Republic off his plans while also trying to gain Rune’s trust.
Aurelia & Meadow
Gideon hides Rune on the roof of his house before the New Republic comes and arrests him for his failed mission. He’s able to convince them that he has a plan to capture Rune by revealing the larger threat of Cressida and her plan to ally with Soren and begin a war on their shores.
They let him go, but not before he learns that Noah has been forcing the sybil Aurelia to give up other witches by threatening to kill her little daughter, Meadow.
Rune and Gideon break into the house where Meadow is being kept, rescuing her, but Gideon is taken in the process.
Cressida’s evil plan
With Gideon’s help, Rune, Aurelia, and Meadow escape on Alex’s boat. When they get to shore, Rune breaks into Cressida’s room and learns that she placed a true love’s curse on Gideon, realizing he truly loves her. Aurelia reveals that Gideon left a note on Alex’s ship for Rune but knew that Rune would go back to save him, so she takes the ship and leaves with Meadow, stranding Rune.
Rune teams up with Seraphine who helps get them back to the New Republic where Cressida and Soren arrive and start war.
Cressida’s master plan is to resurrect her two sister queens (she preserved them using magic in Heartless Hunter), and to do that requires sacrificing a blood relative. Gideon learns Rune is actually their half-sister and resolves to save Rune no matter the cost.
Rebel Witch ending explained
After finding where Cressida is hiding her two sister queens’ bodies, Rune and Gideon try to destroy them but find they’re protected by Cressida’s powerful magic. And soon Cressida, Seraphine, Juniper, and several other witches show up and start attacking them. Rune knows unless she does something, Gideon will die. So she offers her life to Gideon as a profound sacrifice to break Cressida’s curse on him. Crying, he shoots her.
Before she dies, she uses her own blood to draw a powerful spell that finally severs the true love’s curse Cressida placed on Gideon.
Plot twist: Seraphine is Wisdom
Finally, Seraphine reveals her true identity and intervenes in Cressida’s plans, stating she’s waited a long time to do this. She basically sucks out Cressida’s life force and transfers it into Rune, bringing her back from death. The bodies of Cressida’s sisters are also destroyed, preventing their resurrection once and for all.
Seraphine/Wisdom says goodbye and vanishes up to the stars. Alive again, Rune can’t remember what death was like, but the first thing she tells Gideon is that Alex loves him. And now we’re all crying again!
Rebel Witch ends with Rune embracing her newfound power and an understanding of her identity and deep feelings for Gideon. Did anyone else feel like this series was kept slightly open-ended? Or is that my wishful thinking?
Either way, I loved the ending. And I’d love to get more stories in this world one day!
Rebel Witch quotes
Can you miss a place where everyone wants you dead?
If this was weakness, he wanted to be weak. If this was sin, let him be damned to hell.
I may not know Rune Winters, but I know the Crimson Moth. And she is no caged thing.
Live in the darkness too long, and eventually you won’t recognize the light. You’ll become like the monsters you hate.
Even in death, my love, you are a wonder.
I would have married you in a heartbeat, had you asked me. I would have married you knowing you would hand me over to my killers—or kill me yourself—the moment you found out what I was. That’s how pathetic I am, Gideon! That’s how desperately I wanted to be yours!
Book review: Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli
Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli was near-perfect, but I think I enjoyed the first book a tiny bit more (still love both!). The only thing that turned me off was the drawn out back and forth love-hate dynamic between Gideon and Rune. I know The Crimson Moth series is an enemies-to-lovers story, but the vast majority of Gideon and Rune’s relationship is spent denying their love for each other or being forced apart due to external factors. We hardly get to see them just be happy together, and I was really craving that by the end of the duology.
I will absolutely keep pitching this book to romantasy lovers because I love how unique the blood magic is and how intense the romantic tension is. Ciccarelli writes great one-liners throughout both books that does so much to convey the tone and depth of Gideon and Rune’s feelings for one another.
I’m so sad their story is over!
If you’ve finished Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli, what did you think of the ending? Did you like RW more or less than Heartless Hunter?
Give me all your thoughts. Until the next one, happy reading!
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