Page 37 of The Iron Hex

“There is something I want to discuss with you,” he said after the barmaid took their empty plates from them, leaving only two mugs of mead on the table.

“Please tell me it’s something normal and not something else that’s going to set my life further off-kilter.” She leaned back in her chair and raised an auburn eyebrow.

“You’re not going to like it then.” Hugo leaned forward and pulled on his collar to expose his now-unbandaged shoulder. “This is completely healed.”

He pointed to where the massive gash in his shoulder had been, as Eira leaned forward over the small table to get a closer look.

“I must have misunderstood how severe your wound was. The poultice was clearly overkill if it healed that quickly,” she scoffed as she touched the spot where his skin had perfectly healed, his body flaring with heat as her fingers gently caressed his sensitive arm.

“The woundwassevere. I almost bled out,” Hugo choked out, as he tried not to turn his head and press his lips to Eira’s.

“Then it was a good poultice,” she laughed, and in that moment, it was his favorite sound in all of Astra.

“No,” Hugo said as he glanced down at Eira’s lips and forced himself to look back at her eyes.

“What are you trying to say?” Eira’s eyes flicked to Hugo’s lips too for the briefest of seconds, so quickly Hugo thought he had imagined it.

“I’m wondering... if you haveabilitiesyou’ve been hiding from me.” Hugo wouldn’t blame her if she did. This was a scarytime for witches, and when he’d asked her before, he hadn’t been particularly kind about it. While Hugo hadn’t personally lost anyone from the culling when the Iron Empire rose, he knew that many of the witches that were executed just happened to have abilities that were deemed evil, but they were not actually evil themselves. In fact, he knew it firsthand.

Hugo had drunk the wine of the Iron Empire, rusted and bitter as it may have been. He’d swung the sword that killed too many witches, and he had regretted it every single day since. Sometimes though, he wondered, if he hadn’t had to execute those witches, would he have ever seen the true colors of the Iron Empire? Or would he have followed Lord General Kerrigan until he’d died in glorious battle defending the empire?

So no, he didn’t blame Eira for pretending like she wasn’t more powerful than a mere potions witch; he was sure there were many witches throughout Astra who were smart enough to hide from the Iron Empire by claiming to only use alchemical magic.

But Eira merely laughed, hand on her belly. “Youstillthink I can do magic that isn’t making potions?” she said through ripples of laughter.

“A poultice did not fix my arm this quickly,” Hugo said. “It’s clear you can... and you kept your potion’s magic a secret in the capital. I didn’t know you didanymagic.”

Eira backed up, watching Hugo. “I didn’t do alchemical magic in the capital?”

“Not in front of me, at least,” he said. Hugo didn’t know what to believe anymore about anyone in the damned capital.

“I promise you, I’ve got potion and poultice making down to an art... and that’s it. Witches don’t perform magic outside of their domain. We couldn’t even if we wanted to.”

“You could summon that hand in your house, though.” Hugo pointed in Eira’s direction, her gray eyes watching him, anger darkening them as he mentioned how he’d watched her beforehe’d spoken to her. As if any half-decent hunter wouldn’t do reconnaissance on a target. She was naive if she thought that he had just stumbled upon her in Cilirien.

“I’m a potions witch,” she insisted. “Justa potions witch.”

“Then explain the conjuration magic to me,” Hugo pushed.

“You never explained to me how you saw Beatrice,” she snapped. “I kept the casting of that hand very private, and in the entire three years I lived in Cilirien, no one else caught on to her being in the house. I was very careful, so the Iron Empire didn’t suddenly deem me evil enough to kill.”

“Don’t change the subject,” Hugo snapped back, hoping that she wouldn’t push it. She didn’t need to know he’d picked the lock the day they’d met, that he’d slipped out the back door just after she’d walked in once she’d closed her shop. She certainly didn’t need to know that he’d broken into her shop the night before, that he’d surveyed her potions and workspace to see if anything had been awry.

“I... I don’t know, all right?” Eira said, shrugging uncomfortably. “Most witches only have capabilities in one magical domain. I know alchemy and conjuration are different domains, but I think it’s just a fluke. I can do exactly one conjuration spell, and myriad of alchemical ones, so I’m a potions witch.”

“Eira, I cannot stress to you enough that younevertalked about your magic at the capital. You kept it incredibly well hidden.” Hugo didn’t know why he was pushing this; Eira didn’t know why she hid her magic either. “Maybe you were hiding something more?”

“Or I was just a potions witch!” Eira exclaimed, just a little louder than she should have as a few heads turned in their direction. Hugo could hear the exasperation in her voice.

“You and your family may have kept it well hidden, but—” Hugo paused, wondering if this was the right time to tell her. “Your father told me that I needed to protect you from those who would take advantage of you when I was first placed inyour family’s manor. I’m wondering if he was actually hinting at your abilities as a witch.”

“What?” Eira looked from the fire back to Hugo, soft jawline lit in golden light, and his heart skipped a beat—she looked ethereal. She watched him, her brow crinkled in thought as she waited for him to continue.

“Never mind the fact that I never saw you make a potion, I always assumed the fear of being taken advantage of was alluding to your family’s power and position. Imagine my surprise when I found you in Cilirien and you owned a potions shop.” Hugo was absolutely pushing the topic too hard, but he couldsensethat there was more going on here.

“Hugo, I don’t know what to tell you...Idon’t even know any witches with multiple domain capabilities, and I wouldn’t know the first thing about figuring out what domains I can use.” Eira shook her head slightly as she spoke. “And I certainly can’t tell you why I kept my abilities a secret. Maybe I can once I get my memories back.”

That answered that and left room for a new thought—one that could explain all of this.