Page 8 of The Iron Hex

“Good idea,” Eira said, rubbing her hands on the woman’s shoulders. “Go get the city guard. That’s all you can do.”

The door shuddered in its frame as someone, or something, slammed into it from the other side. Eira jumped at the sound, startled, and looked to Hugo, who flared his eyes to tell her they had to gonow.

He grabbed her arm.

“Let’s go!” he yelled before turning toward a dark alleyway across from the tavern’s back door.

They ran, hearing the banging of the door behind them fade as they moved along.

“This isn’t the direction of my house. We have to go to my house!” Eira shouted, grabbing at Hugo’s hand on her arm.

“No,” Hugo said, not slowing down. He ferried her to where he knew his horse was. “We’re getting out of this town.”

“No, I’m going home.” Her tone was resolute, the determination in her eyes as clear as could be.

Hugo heard the crack of the door behind them and the still-muffled voice of one of the guards shout “Get them both!” as he tried to figure out how to explain to her that she needed to come with him in as few words as possible.

She looked at him, brow furrowed in frustration and concern, and he could almost see her weighing the odds of each choice before her—stay, or go.

“You need to trust me. If you don’t come with me, you’re going to be killed. They will not give you a chance to explain yourself now. They do not care who you are or that you want to go home. They will kill you because you’re here with me,” Hugo said.

Eira stopped dead in her tracks, nearly causing Hugo to fall. Those legs always were like the roots of a tree when she didn’t want to move.

“No,” she said. “I don’t know you. I donottrust you.”

“That was the town’s potion witch!” another guard said as he started pushing through the splintering back door of the tavern.

Eira gasped, looking in their direction and seeing that the barrier was nearly broken.

Eira didn’t know him? What wasn’t she understanding about this? And why was this charade continuing with no one else around? Hugo hadn’t changed that much in the last three years... had he?

“Eira,” Hugo pleaded. “Please, we need to go.”

“I need to get my rabbit,” was all she said, hands up as shefrantically looked around to figure out which direction her house was in.

“Your rabbit?!” he exclaimed in a fierce whisper.

“Pennyroyal, yes,” she said, crossing her arms. “And I need a change of clothing.”

Hugo placed his hands on her arms, pleading, “I cannot let you go home, it’s not safe.”

“I willnotleave without my rabbit,” she said stubbornly.

Hugo watched her bag move slightly.

“Eira, we have no time to argue about this.” He quickly tugged open her bag to see the pointy, furry ears of a rabbit. Thank goodness.

“Your rabbit is here, and we need to gonow.”

She looked into her bag and a frustrated smile blossomed over her face at the sight of the rabbit. “I told you not to come tonight! You must stop slipping into my bag when I’m putting my boots on!”

Hugo watched the rabbit snap her teeth in response. This whole situation was insane. “We need to go,” he said, tugging Eira again.

Finally, she relented and started running again, closing her bag as she followed him through the winding alleyways he’d mapped out when he’d arrived a few days ago. It always paid to have an escape route, and he had never been happier for his obsessive precautions than he was in this moment.

After what felt like an eternity, he spotted the stables where Arthur was.

They ran to the chestnut-colored horse, who immediately started nuzzling Hugo.