Page 76 of The Iron Hex

As the three of them sat astride their horses, nothing but the mountains and cold ahead of them, Hugo cleared his throat. “I bought you both some leather armor pieces,” Hugo said, handing them small bags.

“I’m keeping the sword,” Evangeline stated, off topic but clear in her intent—Hugo was not taking this weapon from her.

“Honestly, you should—you’re good with it.”

Evangeline looked at him in shock.

“I thought you’d try to tell me not to fight,” she said, scratching the back of her neck.

“We’re all going to need to fight in the war to come,” Hugo said solemnly. “If you truly want to take your throne back, we’re going to need allies too.”

“We could search for the witches that are in hiding,” Eira said, petting Arthur’s mane before pulling on a pair of fur-lined leather gloves.

“That’s a good first step, but we’re going to need more,” Hugo said. “With those Soulless Knights in play, we’re going to need a lot more.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask... What are those things?” Evangeline demanded, turning to Hugo.

“I was told of their existence before I left, but... I think they’re people. People who have been changed. They don’t bleed, they’re superhumanly strong... If there’s any humanity left in them, they can’t access it.”

“They’re abominations. Theyfeelwrong.” Eira couldn’t describe it, but something felt distinctly off about the Soulless Knights. She was learning how to feel the Flow in what she cast again, and their presence felt like an interruption, an aberration, in the pure natural feeling of magic.

Evangeline paused, pondering something as she looked out at the lake. Her dark curls billowed in the winter winds, her black cloak in stark contrast with the blowing snow. She looked every inch a queen. “We need Corisia,” she said finally. “We need to convince Corisia to invade with us.”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking, and I believe you’re right,” Hugo said.

“The main issue is, how can we get to Corisia safely?” Eira asked.

“It won’t be easy. The fastest is over the sea from Archport, but it’s also what everyone would expect, and... we’ll discuss that later. I say we go to Luwha, then Iceport. We’ll catch a boat from there and try to get to Corisia unscathed.”

“Perfect, I like a challenge,” Evangeline said, kicking into her horse and galloping ahead of them.

Hugo looked to Eira. “Are you okay?”

“Why did you leave the Iron Retinue?” Eira asked; the question had been plaguing her.

Hugo’s face softened, a look of shame overcoming it as he thought, again, about his past. He was so good to her, but there was a part of Eira that felt strange choosing to be with a man who would have killed her just a few years ago.Not you, she thought.He’d never kill you.

“Lord General Kerrigan... he took me in, you know?”Hugo said, golden skin and dark hair bright against the snow-covered backdrop. “I felt like I owed him my life, like I owed him my pastandmy future.”

Hugo paused and looked away, toward where Evangeline was riding ahead of them. “I never believed in the drastic things he wanted me to do, but I believed in the Iron Empire. I believed I needed to do the hard things to protect Astra.”

Eira grabbed his hand as she watched tears well up in his eyes before he blinked them away, shaking his hair back with a toss of his head.

“I found out about the Soulless Knights, about his plans for Corisia... and it all suddenly fell apart for me.” Hugo looked at Eira. “It was about Astra at first, and I believed him. But now? Now I think it’s about him, and power.”

Eira believed him. There was a ring of truth to what he was saying. She believed that he regretted it, that he’d never wanted to do it.

“I believe you,” she said out loud, squeezing his hand as she watched the tension melt off of him.

“I was so worried that you’d find out what I’d done and want to leave... I—” He let go of Eira’s hand to touch her face, his eyes full of emotion. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you again.”

38

Rhona

Cleaning up after the Corisian attack on the city was easier than Rhona had expected. She’d spearheaded the cleanup, prioritizing the damage to the barracks outside of the palace gates. The people of Astra needed to understand that this was nothing special, that the attack was quick and easily overcome—even if it had been completely unexpected by the Iron Retinue itself.

Rhona’s only disappointment was that they hadn’t taken anyone alive, so there was no way for them to use the fight as leverage against Corisia. The Corisians would deny the attack ever happened, and without a prisoner, a truth-sense witch couldn’t prove Corisia was the source of the attack... it left Astra in a dangerous position. To start a war, or not to start a war—that was Lord General Kerrigan’s next choice.