Page 10 of The Iron Hex

Eira looked around, suddenly realizing that she was somewhere she certainly did not recognize. She held her hand out to Hugo, Pennyroyal jumping onto her shoulder and quietly tittering in her ear. One large hand enveloped hers as his other hand grabbed her waist firmly, a spark waking her up as he touched her.

They were in a small town, and to Eira, it looked eerily like Cilirien. Most towns in the countryside had a similar feeling. Small homes turned into shopfronts the closer they were to the town square. Eira spotted the tavern near the center of town, which truly showed her that she wasn’t in Cilirien anymore. The Pickled Pig aptly, and unoriginally, had a hanging sign shaped like a pig above the front door, swinging creakily in the chilly breeze.

“Where are we?” Eira asked. It was early morning, and it was clear to Eira that they’d been riding all night. They could be anywhere in a six-hour radius of Cilirien.

She noticed the exhaustion in Hugo’s eyes as she looked at him, his hand still on her waist as he set her down on the ground, and, as if her body realized how cold it was in that moment, she instantly started shivering. “Goodness, you look tired,” she said without thinking, “Sorry, that was rude. You look perfectly... ruggedly sleepy.”

“That’s why we stopped outside of...” He paused, looking at the name of the tavern. “The Pickled Pig. I need to get an hour’s sleep.” He muttered something Eira couldn’t hear as he tied the horse he called Arthur to the tavern’s hitching post and turned around without another word to her.

“Hugo?” Eira said, following him as he walked toward the Pickled Pig.

He ignored her, stomping toward the inn.

White-hot rage flushed through her body. This man, whoever he was, had not only put her and Pennyroyal in danger, but he’d taken her away from her home, a home she likely couldn’t return to anymore, and now he wasignoringher?

“You had better stop walking before I create a potion to destroy your life,” Eira said, grabbing his arm as she seethed.

Hugo finally turned, shucking her hand off of his arm. “If you even look at me the wrong way and try casting your magic, I’ll report you to the Iron Retinue before you even have a chance to say you were kidding,” he growled.

“So, what, you brought me here to keep me hostage? Lostin a town I don’t know and stuck with you because if I leave or fight my way away from you, you’ll set the Iron Retinue on me?” Her heart started racing, panic flooding her thoughts.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m planning,” he sighed, rolling his eyes. “Eira, I’m trying to protect you.”

“You just threatened to run to the Iron Retinue if I tried casting anything in your direction,” Eira said, crossing her arms.

“Do you really think I’d go running to the Iron Retinue when they were clearly looking for me? Do you think I’d do that to you, of all people?” Hugo sighed, pausing as he turned and walked to the door of the inn before opening it and motioning for Eira to go in first.

Toherof all people? Eira wasn’t sure what Hugo meant by that, but she had to admit it had been clear that the Iron Retinue had been after him specifically... and now her too, Eira supposed.

“You could be a little nicer. Perhaps a smile?” Eira chirped instead of acknowledging what Hugo had said before stepping through the doorway. She immediately headed toward the barmaid who was cleaning a glass behind the nearly empty bar.

Hugo grumbled as he fell into step next to her.

“Hi there, I’m Marnie,” the bartender said, lifting her hand out of the glass and motioning the two of them over. “Welcome to our tavern, make yourselves at home.”

“Hello, Marnie!” Eira leaned against the counter, “Do you have any available rooms?”

The barmaid smiled and tossed the cleaning cloth over her shoulder. “You bet we do!”

“Great, we’ll take tw—” Eira was interrupted by Hugo.

“One room,” he said firmly.

Eira looked at Hugo, eyes on fire. She wasnotsharing a room with a man she barely knew.

“One room?” Marnie said, her eyebrow raised as she looked between the two of them.

“Two, please,” Eira said, staring daggers into the side of Hugo’s head.

“We’ll go with one,” Hugo stated, ignoring Eira and pressing what she could only imagine was double the rate a room in any of these towns could ever be into Marnie’s hand. “My wife and I had a spat on the way over here and she wants to deprive me of sleeping next to her warm body tonight.” He smiled, and though Eira could tell the smile wasn’t reaching Hugo’s eyes, it reminded her just how handsome he actually was. It really was too bad that he had decided to uproot her entire comfortable life instead of just being normal. To think, just the night before she’d thought about taking him home if he was charming enough. She grimaced. Charming men were dangerous.

After Marnie handed him the key to the room and two plates of luscious breakfast, Eira followed Hugo to sit down in the nearly empty tavern. He put one plate in front of her.

“Eat.”

“I’m not sharing a room with you.” Eira grabbed the fork on the table in a fist.

“You are,” Hugo said in between bites of eggs laid on well-buttered toast.