Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli Summary: Magic & Forbidden Love!
Introduction
A high-society heiress laughs in glittering ballrooms while secretly smuggling witches to safety.
A ruthless captain hunts her kind by day and measures her for a dress by night.
In Heartless Hunter: The Crimson Moth: Book 1, Kristen Ciccarelli builds a rain-soaked world where magic is a death sentence and trust is the most dangerous weapon of all.
Rune Winters plays a shallow socialite, but her crimson alter ego saves lives under the nose of the Republic.
Gideon Sharpe has dedicated his life to eradicating witches.
When their paths collide, both think they are in control. Neither is prepared for how quickly the game turns real.
The novel follows their intertwined missions, their shifting loyalties, and the revolution that forces every secret into the open.
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TL;DR: A Deadly Game of Masks and Blood
Rune Winters secretly rescues witches as the Crimson Moth.
Gideon Sharpe is the Republic’s most feared witch hunter. To find a captured ally, Rune lets Gideon court her. To expose the Moth, Gideon lets Rune believe she is winning.
The story follows their mutual deception, the growing attraction that complicates everything, and the larger conflict between witches and the revolutionary regime.
Themes include guilt, class division, political oppression, and the cost of living behind a mask.
The novel ends with a catastrophic magical disaster, a major character death, and both leads more broken than before.
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Heartless Hunter Summary: The Full Story
Spoilers ahead. This section details major plot events, reveals, and the ending.
The Republic of the Red Peace was built on the corpses of the Sister Queens. After the revolution, the Blood Guard began hunting every remaining witch. Public purging platforms drain prisoners of blood while crowds watch.
Rune Winters appears to be a loyal socialite. She wears expensive gowns, attends parties, and pretends to hate witches. But under the name Crimson Moth, she smuggles condemned witches off the island. She works with childhood friend Alex Sharpe and university friend Verity de Wilde.
Rune’s grandmother, a witch named Kestrel Winters, forced Rune to betray her so the girl could survive. That guilt drives every rescue Rune performs. Months after her grandmother’s execution, Rune’s first bleeding ran black, revealing her own inherited magic.
Her immediate goal is locating Seraphine Oakes, an exiled advisor who may hold answers. Gideon Sharpe captures Seraphine before Rune can reach her. Gideon is Alex’s older brother and the Blood Guard’s most brutal captain.
Gideon has his own wounds. As a boy, Queen Cressida Roseblood imprisoned and branded him. She tortured his mother and murdered his little sister.
Gideon now hunts witches to make sure no one else suffers as he did. His informant, Harrow, finds evidence that witches escaped on a ship belonging to Rune Winters.
Harrow suggests Gideon court Rune to investigate.
At the same time, Rune decides to seduce Gideon to learn Seraphine’s location. Their courtship begins as pure manipulation. Gideon makes her a mint-green dress and takes her measurements, searching her skin for casting scars. Rune uses stored blood to cast magic, so no scars appear.
Gideon plants a false tip about an abandoned mine near Seldom Harbor. Rune walks into the trap. Cloaked by an invisibility spell, she stabs Gideon in the thigh and uses his fresh blood to cast a Deadbolt spell, locking him inside with another officer. She escapes but is wounded in the arm.
At a masked ball at Oakhaven Park, Alex gives Rune an alibi and treats her wound. Rune also steals a map of the palace prison from a warden’s study. Alex begs her to leave the island with him and live peacefully in Caelis. Rune refuses to abandon the witches.
Meanwhile, Blood Guard officers are being murdered and drained of blood. Gideon discovers the magical signature of Cressida Roseblood, the queen everyone believed dead. At a public dinner, Commander Nicolas Creed tries to force Rune to execute Seraphine. A blast of black spellfire interrupts the event. Gideon carries Rune through the flames to safety.
The shared danger pushes them into real intimacy. Rune spends the night in Gideon’s apartment. But the next morning, Gideon tells Harrow and Laila Creed that Rune is “a pretty face, nothing more,” to protect her from suspicion. Rune overhears him. Heartbroken, she ends the relationship and agrees to leave with Alex.
Alex then confesses he did not kill Cressida during the revolution. He spared her life. The truth about Verity follows shortly after.
The real Verity de Wilde is dead. Cressida Roseblood has been wearing Verity’s face for two years, pretending to be Rune’s friend while building a witch army in secret.
Cressida steals Gideon’s prison coin and Rune’s blood vial. Gideon realizes Rune is the Crimson Moth and arrests her. When Alex tries to stop it, he publicly admits his own role. Gideon is forced to shackle his brother.
On Liberty Day, Rune and Seraphine are brought to the purging platform. Cressida’s forces attack. Cressida executes Nicolas Creed and aims at Laila and Gideon. Alex steps in front of the bullet and dies saving his brother. In his final moments, Alex gives Rune permission to use his fresh blood.
Rune casts the Earth Sunderer spell.
The ground splits open, filling with seawater and separating the witches from the Blood Guard. Rune, Seraphine, and Cressida escape on the ship.
Rune must now travel with the queen who murdered her friend and used her for years.
Back on the island, Gideon sees a crimson moth in the air and vows to hunt her forever.
Characters In Heartless Hunter
| Character | Role |
|---|---|
| Rune Winters | Heiress secretly working as the Crimson Moth to rescue witches. |
| Gideon Sharpe | Blood Guard captain dedicated to hunting witches. |
| Alex Sharpe | Gideon’s brother and Rune’s childhood friend who helps the Crimson Moth. |
| Verity de Wilde | Rune’s close friend whose identity is stolen by Cressida Roseblood. |
| Seraphine Oakes | Exiled witch advisor whose capture sparks Rune’s mission. |
| Laila Creed | Blood Guard officer suspicious of Rune. |
| Nicolas Creed | Leader of the Republic and mentor figure to Gideon. |
| Harrow | Gideon’s informant who urges him to investigate Rune. |
| Kestrel Winters | Rune’s grandmother who was purged as a witch. |
Who Should Read Heartless Hunter?
Readers who enjoy young adult romantasy with enemies-to-lovers tension will connect with this book. The novel suits those who like dark atmospheres, secret identities, and political uprisings built around magic.
It also fits readers who prefer dual perspectives. The chapters alternate between Rune and Gideon, showing both sides of the same conflict. Those who want high-stakes romance without sacrificing plot momentum will find the balance appropriate for the genre.
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Story Snapshot
- Genre & Subgenre: Young Adult Romantic Fantasy, Dark Fantasy
- Core Narrative Tropes: Enemies-to-lovers, secret identity, forced proximity, love triangle
- Tone & Atmosphere: Rain-drenched, tense, romantic, and melancholic
- Primary Conflict: Witches versus the witch-hunting Blood Guard, mirrored by Rune and Gideon’s private deception
- Pacing Style: Fast-paced with alternating points of view and dramatic irony
- ISBN-13: 978-1250866905
- Pages: 416
- Book Structure: Overture, sixty-two numbered chapters, and a final Entr’acte
Kristen Ciccarelli is the author of the Iskari series and the Crimson Moth duology. She grew up in Ontario, Canada, and worked as a baker and bookseller before becoming a novelist. Her books often center on morally complex heroines, dangerous magic, and intense romantic tension.
