Page 45 of The Iron Hex

He exhaled loudly, running his hand through his hair before looking back at Eira. “I was given the rank of commander due to my exceptional work during the coup,” he said without emotion, but Eira could see fear and sadness shadowing his eyes. He wasn’t proud of this, and he was afraid of how she’d react.

Good. He should be afraid of how she would react. “Did you kill my family?” she asked.

“What?” This seemed to startle him, and he shook his head in shock and held up his hands placatingly. “No, Eira. I didn’t kill your family. I told you that already.”

Eira knew that it was the question she’d asked, but it wasn’t the question that was twisting her gut into knots right now. “What did you do after the uprising?” Eira whispered, backing away from Hugo. She didn’twantto know the answer to this—sheneededto.

Hugo shook his head gently, silently begging her to take the question back.

“Eira, don’t,” he pleaded.

“Tell me,” Eira hissed in response. Silence fell between them, Hugo’s mouth opening and closing half a dozen times as Eirawaited for him to answer the question she already knew the answer to. He would have answered already if it wasn’t exactly what she thought, what she alreadyknewit was going to be.

“I hunted witches,” he finally said.

Eira closed her eyes—he’d hunted her people. “No,” she whispered.

“I’m not proud of it,” he said quietly, voice nearly breaking as he took a step closer.

Eira held her arm out. “Don’t.”

“Eira,” Hugo said, keeping the distance she’d asked for. “The Iron Empire. It... it was intoxicating, and I fell for every lie until I finally snapped out of it. I...” He paused, his breath shaky. “I understand if this means you don’t trust me anymore, but I am not the man that hunted those witches now. I’ve grown from who he was. I can hardly sleep at night because I’m haunted by the things I did in the name of an empire that ended up doing nothing but harm when it promised a better world... I—”

Eira heard his voice crack as his eyes welled up with tears. She watched him blink them away as he turned, sitting heavily on a cracked bench in her kitchen that the Iron Retinue had somehow left unturned. Eira had always, at least in her three years of memory, believed that people could change. But killing her people? Killing innocent witches for the Iron Empire?

“When did you stop?” Eira asked, her voice cold and alien to her own ears.

“Eira, this... I don’t think that will help—” Hugo pleaded.

“Tell me,” she snarled.

“I was a hunter for the first six months of the Iron Empire before the lord general called me back to Astrad and had me working by his side on more strategic efforts.”

Six months.Six monthsof making Eira’s people afraid to exist. But that also meant he hadn’t been hunting for three whole years.

“Eira, I didn’t enjoy any of it. I couldn’t say no to the lord general. You don’t understand—”

“You’re right, I don’t,” Eira said sharply, cutting him off. “I don’t even know how I feel. I’m angry you didn’t tell me before. If you told me before... I don’t know.” Eira shook her head, frustrated. If he’d told her before, it would feel different; that she was sure of. Finding out the truth from two guards as they hid in her ransacked home... it was awful.

Eira took a deep breath.When people show you who they are, believe them.It was a phrase that had served her well. What had Hugo shown her? That he was actively fighting against the Iron Empire, that he was willing to protect her as a witch with illegal abilities, and that he was ashamed of what he had done.

“That’s completely reasonable,” Hugo said, interrupting Eira’s thoughts.

They stood for a moment, frozen. Eira couldn’t help but wonder what Viscountess Eira would do if she had all of her memories right now. Would she forgive him? Eira hated to admit it, but there was a part of her that had already forgiven the lie.

“We do need to go,” Hugo said after a long, silent moment. He was right. The guards were on patrol, so there was a small increment of time before they came back for a second round.

Eira nodded and they set out, more carefully than before with the knowledge that they were officially fugitives in Cilirien now. Eira had initially been shocked that the Iron Retinue had lied about her and Hugo committing crimes, but now she assumed it was a strategic choice. The knights could explain away the bodies and simultaneously provide a good excuse for the Iron Empire to give chase.

Eira followed Hugo closely through town, silently saying her goodbyes as they left the alleyways and rushed through the farmlands again into the forest. He didn’t try to hold her hand this time, and she was grateful for that consideration, however small it was.

Just as they were about to enter their camp Hugo stopped her, holding up that same finger from at her house to his lips.

“I hear someone,” he whispered, tilting his head to the campsite that Eira could barely through the trees.

Eira’s heart started racing—what if someone had found Pennyroyal and Arthur? What if there was another ambush waiting for them?

The two of them crept forward, Hugo with a dagger in his hand as he looked around. He silently motioned to Eira, telling her to wait by the tree line as he curved around to another part of the campsite.