Page 82 of The Iron Hex

“Sylvie, what doyouwant?” Eira asked, on the same page as Hugo.

Hugo looked at her, her steely eyes staring them down in the growing morning light—she looked more like the viscountess now than she ever truly had, even when she had had her memories, a naturally commanding presence emanating from her.

“You need to help me kill Sanders,” Sylvie said, locking eyes with Eira. It was like a silent conversation happened between the two women, quicker than Hugo could even determine. In an instant Eira’s hands were back up, the snow climbing and swirling again, quicker this time.

“Whoa, no!” Hugo said, the situation quickly getting away from him.

Sylvie lifted her sword as Sanders turned to her, fear and anger in his eyes as she stabbed the blade through his gut, the snow creeping so high that he couldn’t even defend himself.

Silence fell over the three of them as Sylvie pulled the sword out and wiped it on the snow, kicking Sanders’s still-standing body over as Eira lowered her hands, and the magical snow with them.

“Why did you do that?” Hugo yelled, though it was all coming together for him. Sylvie hadn’t reported on Eira...

“Because I’m a witch—and now youknowI’m on your side,” Sylvie said, the eagle flying down and landing on her shoulder after she gave a quick whistle. “That, and he was a real bastard.”

A witch in the Iron Retinue’s ranks? How was that even possible?

“We got good at hiding,” she said, though he hadn’t voiced the thought aloud.

“How did you—” Hugo said, feeling invaded.

“I can see it on your face. You’re wondering how a witch was even in the Iron Empire’s sights and managed to get away with it... It was by not using my powers,” Sylvie said as she looked to Eira. “Thank you.”

“What can you do?” Eira asked, stepping forward. “I’m Eira, by the way.”

Hugo cringed, wishing she hadn’t said her name. The tracker gave him a quick sidelong glance.

Sylvie looked back to Eira. “I can... make things shape shift,” she said, looking to the eagle. “I think it’s safe.”

A familiar, horrible cracking sound filled the air as the eagle turned into a middle-aged woman in front of their eyes. She looked like an older version of Sylvie, the same golden-brown skin and a matching suspicious gaze. “And I can conjure,” the woman who was no longer an eagle said. “I’m Asha.”

“My aunt,” Sylvie explained.

Hugo was suddenly aware that he may have been much worse at hunting than he’d thought for the past three years, which made him feel better than he had in a long time. He hoped more witches had figured out ways to avoid his detection, and the detection of other witch hunters in the Iron Retinue.

“Oh!” Eira said, a smile on her face. “It’s so lovely to meettwoother witches.”

“You do elemental work?” Asha asked.

“Yes.” Eira glanced at Hugo surreptitiously, her way of telling him she knew she needed to be cautious still.

“Your conjurations, how physically real do they look?” Eira asked. “A witch taught me a hand conjuration spell but it looks ephemeral, not real... as if it can’t break out of the Flow it was conjured from.”

“Huh. Usually they don’t look like the Flow itself but... a hand is pretty challenging because it requires articulation and movement. All magic is pulled from the Flow, so maybe you justhaven’t gotten to the next step of the conjuration. It can still be helpful how you do it, but mine look, and feel, more real because they are inanimate.” Asha pulled the scarf off of Sylvie’s neck and let Eira feel it before it disappeared from Eira’s hand and reappeared back on Sylvie’s neck. Hugo could almost see the waves of magic rolling off of it before it settled on her neck, looking just as real as anything else.

“You’ve been hidden as an eagle... for how long?” Eira asked.

“I cast the spell when the hunts started. I’d already worked my way into the Iron Retinue’s ranks,” Sylvie answered, and Hugo realized where he’d seen her before, besides the tavern the other night. She’d been at those meetings in the capital, the ones in the dark of the night when Lord General Kerrigan had just called them the Iron Resistance.

“You were first in line to join the cause,” Hugo said, stunned.

“I didn’t realize he was going to kill my own people,” Sylvie said to him, eyes full of a helpless rage.

“None of us did,” Eira said. “You were smart to protect your aunt, though. I’m glad you both made it for this long.”

Hugo looked at Eira, who quickly met his gaze—it was time for him to interrupt this conversation before Sylvie realized Eira didn’t have any memory of anything prior to the Iron Empire.

“Okay,” Hugo said, clapping his hands together. “While this has been helpful, I do think we need to go our separate ways.Now.”