Page 100 of The Iron Hex

“That was for my mother,” he said, turning around and actually leaving this time.

Hugo rubbed his jaw as he headed over to Eira, picking her up and embracing her tightly before whispering to her. “We need to get Evangeline back to the room.”

Eira nodded as she wiped her tears.

Half an hour later Hugo laid Evangeline onto the bed in her room as Eira propped up her body in a semisitting position. He watched as Eira ran around the room mixing herbs and making poultices and potions.

“Drink this,” she said to Evangeline, who had been groaning in pain the whole time. But groaning meant she was alive, and he was grateful for it.

Hugo watched Eira feed Evangeline the drink, feeling a tension between them that hadn’t been there before. He knew they should have told her about Lord General Kerrigan, and he had planned to... he’d just never expected the lord general to come all the way to Luwha to chase him down. Eira had asked to only know what she wanted to know... and it had felt like it would be pointless emotional turmoil to open that vein whenEira was about to get her memory back anyways. Hugo should have known that he would face the lord general again, though; Kerrigan Westcotte’s vengeance knew no bounds. To this day, Hugo didn’t know why the man had harbored so much rage toward King Arthel, but he knew that it was what had led him to overthrowing the monarchy.

Eira applied the poultice to Evangeline’s wounds as the princess fell asleep, the potion working almost instantly.

“We’re going to have to figure out how to break it to her that half of her arm is just... gone, when she wakes up,” Eira said as she tied the remaining part of Evangeline’s arm to her torso, wrapping it tightly as the princess slept. Eira finished and stood, her hair a mess and her cloak on the ground as she looked at him.

“How could you not tell me?” was all she said, ice laced into every syllable.

The hurt in her eyes stung; he’d only ever seen her look at him like that once, on the fateful night of the uprising. He didn’t know if he could ever tell her the other things he hadn’t yet, and it wouldn’t stop her from learning them when she got her memory back. He was a coward.

“Eira, you specifically asked me to not tell you things you didn’t ask about. I was respecting your wishes,” Hugo explained.

Eira watched him. “You should have told me...Either of youcould have told me.”

“How would it have helped?” Hugo justified. “I knew you were getting your memories back, and if you didn’t then I would have reassessed. I did not expect Lord General Kerrigan to show up in Luwha... I thought you’d learn about it when you got your memories back, when you finally had the context and memories to process everything, in your own time. It didn’t feel important to push it... I was clearly wrong.”

“I can see what you’re saying, but that still doesn’t make it okay,” she finally said, looking over at Evangeline. “It didn’t make it okay for either of you.”

“I know,” Hugo admitted. “I could have told you... should have told you.” He couldn’t speak for the princess, and Hugo was sure Eira would duke it out with her once Evangeline was well again.

“Yes. You should have, and I am... so mad at you,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

Hugo embraced her, his hands around her ample waist as she pressed herself against him, burying her face in his chest. “I’m sorry.”

“I thought I was going to lose you both,” she sobbed.

“You didn’t,” Hugo answered, untangling her hair as he held her. “Your magic saved us—yousaved us.”

“I also almost killed Evangeline... I scared myself,” Eira whispered, eyes glazed over and lost in thought.

“Anything with true power is a little scary at times, I think,” Hugo said, holding Eira at arm’s length.

“I’m mad at you,” she said. “But I’m so glad we made it.”

“Me too.” He kissed her, his heart pounding... joyful that they’d all somehow survived, but afraid of what was still to come. This was just the beginning of what they’d need to go through to pry Astra from Kerrigan’s hands.

Eira went digging for rations in their packs a half hour later and gently shook Evangeline awake.

The princess’s eyes groggily opened. “Oh, I feel like I was beaten to a pulp...”

“You were,” Eira said, feeding a piece of the crumbling oat patty into the princess’s mouth.

Evangeline paused mid-chew. “What happened to my arm? Why is it strapped to my chest?”

Eira put the rations down and took Evangeline’s remaining hand and looked in her eyes, biting her lip in trepidation before speaking. “The rocks I used to kill the Iron Retinue... the knights that were going to kill you...” She took a deepbreath. “Those same stones also took your arm off, just below your elbow.”

“What a weird joke,” Evangeline said. “Making a joke right after I almost die isn’t funny.”

“I’m not joking,” Eira said softly.