Page 29 of The Iron Hex

“I’m fine,” he repeated and held his good arm out to Eira to help her up onto the horse’s back.

After opening her bag and letting Pennyroyal hop in, she took Hugo’s hand and climbed onto Arthur, Hugo’s fingers lingering just a little bit longer than they needed to on Eira’s hand as she settled behind him. They rode in an awkward silence for nearly half an hour before they both tried to speak at once.

“So your—” Eira said.

“When did you get the rab—” Hugo questioned.

“Sorry,” Eira laughed.

“You go,” Hugo said, a smile in his words.

“No, no,” Eira said. “You want to know about Pennyroyal?”

“Yeah,” Hugo answered. “I’ve met people who love their dogs, but I’ve never met anyone quite so attached to their rabbit that they would have risked being arrested by the Iron Retinue to get it.”

“Pennyroyal is my closest confidante. I couldn’t leave her in Cilirien,” Eira said, smiling and pushing down her burning curiosity about how Hugo had healed so quickly. Her salve was good, and her spell work exceptional, but it wasn’tthatgood.

Wait—he was asking about Pennyroyal. Did that mean...?

“Did I not have Pennyroyal when I left the capital?” Eira questioned, a puzzle piece unlocking for her. It didn’t provide any real answers, but it helped her paint a picture of the blank timeline in her mind.

“No,” Hugo answered, steering them out of the forest and onto a dirt road. “You didn’t have any pets, as far as I knew.”

“So I picked up Pennyroyal in Cilirien,” Eira said, opening her bag with one hand. “Is that right, Penny?”

The rabbit clicked her teeth. Eira wasn’t sure if that was a confirmation, or frustration at the topic. Either way, she hadn’t been lying—the rabbit knew everything about what Eira haddone in the past few years. Whether or not the rabbit understood was another question entirely.

They rode quietly, Arthur’s hooves on the compacted dirt the loudest sound around them as Hugo took them wherever he had planned.

“I have a question.” Eira finally broke the silence, putting her cheek on Hugo’s back and hearing his heartbeat through his clothing. She didn’t know the man, not really, but the motion feltright.

“Hopefully I have an answer for you,” Hugo responded, not looking away from the road ahead, though he stiffened at her touch.

“What... did I like to wear?” Eira tentatively asked.

Hugo barked out a laugh, loud and from deep in his chest. Eira decided she liked the sound of it. “That’s your first question about when you lived in Astrad?”

“I think fashion is a very important indicator of someone’s personality!” Eira huffed, lifting her face up from his back to glare at him indignantly.

“You thought that then too,” Hugo got out between laughs. “You were easily the best dressed out of all of the nobility, and I personally think you had a better personal style than the princess.”

“How did I style my hair?”

“Differently than you do now,” he said, turning the horse to the right and in the direction of a town in the distance. “You wear your hair down now, which you only did when at home. When you were out in the palace you always had your hair in an intricate updo. Intricate updos, and ruffled gowns in rich jewel tones.”

“Oh,” Eira answered, trying to picture the gowns she’d seen the few wealthy ladies in Cilirien wearing.

“I like what you wear now too,” he said. “You still stand out, even in simpler clothing.”

“Hopefully we can find me something else to wear. I’m fairlycertain these clothes have your blood on them,” Eira teased, resting her chin on Hugo’s good shoulder.

“We’re almost to the town we’ll stay at tonight, Fallstead. We can find you something there,” Hugo answered, lapsing into silence again as they approached the town.

Eira could feel the tension in Hugo’s body build as they got closer. If the Iron Retinue recognized either of them they’d be in trouble. They needed these villages as stops to wherever they were going... which they also needed to figure out. The past few days had left barely any time to breathe, never mind ponder the location of the heir to Astra’s throne.

Two Iron Retinue soldiers stood outside of the meager stone gates to the town, which was quite a bit larger than the previous town had been, just based on what Eira could already see. Arthur approached and Eira held her breath, waiting for the soldiers to stop them to ask questions they didn’t have answers for. Or worse, the soldiers could recognize them.

The soldier on the left looked at Eira, only his eyes visible through the full plate armor he wore. She felt the tension reach its peak the moment when she thought the soldier was going to halt them. Then the tension eased as they trotted through the gate to the city without being stopped. Eira heard Hugo breathe a sigh of relief as he headed into the town square to find a place to stable Arthur.