Page 34 of The Iron Hex

“A lesson,” Rhona answered gruffly.

“Hmm,” Lady Heathecote said, adjusting the lace glove she wore. “I suppose it’s not surprising that those who incited a violent uprising would choose to use violence as a primary source of education.”

Rage blossomed in Rhona’s chest. Not only was Lady Heathecote a witch who should have been rooted out and executed years ago, but she had the audacity to speak poorly of the empire that had saved them all from the tyranny of the De Clares.

“You had best remember you’re speaking to a knight of the Iron Empire when you slander our great leader.” Rhona clasped her hands behind her back as they shook in anger.

Lady Heathecote looked at Rhona again, a smirk on her full, berry-tinted lips. “What are you going to do? Arrest me? Hit me, like you were hit?”

“Tread carefully, is all I’m saying.”

“I’m not slandering anything. I’m simply stating facts. The Iron Empire has made significant changes to Astra, certainly, but they did so with exceptional violence. It’s not slander if it’s true.” Lady Maeve chuckled as she spoke, as if this was all a joke.

“Just tread carefully,” Rhona said again, the strong warning ringing in her words. Lady Heathecote needed to be careful. Not only around Rhona, but around anyone in the Iron Retinue.

Lady Heathecote rolled her eyes, and Rhona wondered if she’d made a massive mistake in deciding not to turn her in.

“Arguing with you about the meaning of words is not on my list of things I need to do today, but discussing what happened yesterday is,” Lady Heathecote said, changing the subject.

Rhona looked down at her, at her tight black curls piled on her head. Lady Heathecote casually glanced around as she walked with Rhona. If anyone looked in their direction it would seem as though they were having a cordial, common, and casual chat.

It was smart, and Rhona was realizing that the lady was much more intelligent than she let on with her noble friends.Hiding from the Iron Empire for years will make you a good liar, Rhona thought.

“You can call me Maeve, by the way,” Lady Heathecote said, her face turned to the left. “I would ask you if you’re going to work with me on this, but I already know you’re going to.”

“Your visions have told you?” Rhona said, unable to keep the disdain from her voice.

“It’s not that clear,” Lady Heathecote responded, unperturbed. “I see things about myself and others, but it’s quite often confusing and out of context until the thing actually happens. I had a vision about this conversation, but only this part of it.”

“So why me?”

“I’ve had other visions,” the lady answered crisply, an edge to her voice that was new to Rhona’s ears.

Rhona waited for her to say more as they watched each other, both parties guarded and unsure. Rhona’s heart picked up into a furious beat as Lady Heathecote’s dark brown eyes bored into hers. She willed herself to stop reacting to Maeve every single time this happened, but it hadn’t worked yet.

“I was... working with someone else,” Maeve finally relented, giving Rhona something new. “I don’t know what happened to them, but they disappeared from my visions. They could be dead, but it... I can’t describe it. It feels different in the vision than when someone dies. They’re just a blank spot now, missing. When someone dies, there’s a sense of finality in my visions usually, at least when I go searching for their future specifically.”

“Who were you working with?” Rhona asked, instantly curious. Had it been her prior commander? She’d always wondered if the betrayer had secretly been hiding so much more from them than just his plans to steal from Lord General Kerrigan.

“It was someone here in the castle, and they weren’t the first person to disappear from my visions out of nowhere.” Maeve looked up at Rhona.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Rhona said.

“I don’t think I’m ready to answer that in case they somehow manage to come back,” Maeve answered bluntly.

Anger flooded through Rhona for a moment before she realized that Maeve was probably scared too. She knew Rhona could report her at any second, and she didn’t know that Rhona had decided, against her better judgment, not to... yet.

“Do you have visions about everyone?”

“I— It’s hard to explain.” Maeve sat on the bench they’d just walked by and patted the seat next to her with a hand gloved in green lace.

Rhona looked around, scanning to see if anyone who would report back to Lord General Kerrigan was watching. When shewas safely sure that there was no one watching, she sat beside the lady, their arms briefly touching as Rhona crossed one ankle over the other. She could feel their proximity in every cell of her body. It made her anxious.

“My visions are usually about me or people in my orbit,” Maeve said, only continuing after Rhona nodded her acknowledgment. “But sometimes they’re about things that could affect me going forward, or things that are important. Deciphering what each vision means to me personally is half of what I do once I have a vision. Sometimes the visions are about people outside of Astra... or about people on the other side of the country, if I go looking for them.”

“Sounds exhausting,” was all Rhona said, while internally she screamed. It sounded like abuse of the natural order of the world. No one should have the ability to see the future like that, no matter how difficult the visions were to decipher.

“It is simply my life,” Lady Maeve answered, a distant look in her eyes.