Page 27 of The Iron Hex

“Did you wait here because you knew I was coming to get your family?”

“Yes.”

“Did you set the fires to activate the Iron Retinue to get me here alone?” Rhona was being paranoid, but she needed to know. Letting Lady Heathecote’s prophesying go was going to be a challenge in itself, but if she was also an arsonist, there was no way she could keep it quiet.

“Of course I didn’t, but that’s part of the reason I’ve decided to tell you about my gift,” Lady Maeve scoffed.

Rhona snorted in disbelief. Gift? Magic wasn’t a gift; it was a plague. A plague that the Iron Empire had all but eradicated. Rhona shook her head and stepped back, peeking out the door, making sure the fire hadn’t spread to this wing yet.

“This is a terrible place to have this conversation,” Rhona said, suppressing her thoughts on witchcraft for the present.

Lady Heathecote smiled and Rhona’s heart fluttered, just a little bit. She hated that it did.

“We have time still,” Lady Heathecote said calmly, her eyes focused on the door to her room before she looked back at Rhona. “Something is happening. Here in Astrad, and outside of the capital as well. My visions, that’s how I see what I see, they’ve been strange. Harder for me to puzzle together.”

“And?” Was Rhona meant to be sympathetic that the witch couldn’t control her future-telling visions? Seemed like a positive from where she was standing.

“I know you have a large part to play in what’s to come,” Lady Heathecote said, standing slowly without concern for the fire raging through her family’s home.

A large part to play? Rhona’s heart started racing, the dreams she’d had of importance and responsibility suddenly seeming more and more possible. Lord General Kerrigan had not been lying; there must be something more that the Iron Empire had planned for her.

Her excitement stifled as she remembered she was learning this from a seer. A seer who hadn’t done anything wrong to Rhona, true, but whose existence was outlawed in the Iron Empire all the same. It was Rhona’s job to protect Lady Maeve and the other nobility... but what happened when the person you were meant to protect was also the person you needed to ensure was executed?

Rhona watched Lady Heathecote grab a robe and wrap itaround her shapely waist—yellow and embroidered with flowers, made of the lightest of airy fabrics. Rhona could see the outline of Lady Heathecote’s perfectly proportioned curves, and she felt the sudden, confusing urge to touch her.No, she admonished herself.Knights do not touch ladies. Knights protect ladies.

As if she could see Rhona’s internal struggles, Lady Heathecote smirked and took a step forward.

“Usually, I can rely on my visions to carry me to wherever I need to be.” Lady Heathecote tossed on a duster for warmth in the cold air outside. “But these visions are jumbled. The only consistent factor in them right now is you, so I need to keep you close.”

“You wish to use me as a tool to help clarify your visions?”

“Yes,” Lady Maeve responded with a sharp nod.

That was different than using her visions to help the greater good of the Iron Empire. Rhona wasn’t sure if she was comfortable with any of this, never mind the visions being used for a noblewoman’s personal gain.

“Absolutely not.” Rhona shook her head with enough force she felt the muscles in her neck twinge.

“You will let me,” Lady Heathecote answered, slowly slipping a shoe on. She wasn’t arguing, but Rhona was.

“I will not.” Rhona insisted.

“You will,” Lady Heathecote declared, slipping her other shoe on calmly. “My visions do not lie.”

“Your visions are wrong. I will shield you from persecution for now, but you must stop acting on these visions. This is forbidden magic—you must let nature take its course.”

Rhona didn’t understand why she wasn’t just turning the lady in or executing her herself. Something was nagging at Rhona... but what was it?

“My visions have never been wrong, and if you work with me we will be able to prevent harm.”

“Your magicisharmful,” Rhona spit.

“I knew that the fires tonight would happen, I knew you would come here. Imagine if I could warn you about something that could save a life, that could prevent a disaster?”

“Wishful thinking,” Rhona responded, but her mind was racing. Preventing disaster? Rhona only wished to help the Iron Empire’s people. That was it, she realized with cold, sudden clarity. Rhona had already seen how Lady Heathecote’s visions could save a life, and it contradicted everything she thought she knew about seers.

“Sir Rhona,” Lady Heathecote said, stepping closer and looking up at her. “I understand you do not trust witches, I understand that the Iron Retinue sees me as a monster, but something is going on in Astra, and it is dangerous. My visions haven’t made sense for months, but the moment I spoke to you they became clearer. If I’m to help protect the people of Astra in the only way I can, I must be near you right now.”

Rhona hated this. A good knight would report the witch, regardless of potential lives saved... right? She could smell the smoke thickening. The fire had spread. They needed to go.