Iron and Magic (The Iron Covenant #1)(55)

Hugh whirled below, striking and slicing invisible opponents. Beside him about twenty of his people were doing the same thing, some paired off into practice fights, some by themselves, going through the exercises. In the main bailey. Right in front of the gates.

Rook raised his hand. She looked in the direction of his fingers. Six riders coming up the road. The Pack delegation. They would ride right into the middle of Hugh’s training spree.

Damn that man.

Elara turned and ran to the tower.

She made it out of the tower onto the landing just as the Pack delegates rode to the gates. Dugas was already there, watching.

Hugh showed no signs of slowing down. He had at least two dozen soldiers and he’d ordered the horses out too. They waited on the side, already saddled and tied to the rail at the wall, Bucky with his silver hair standing out like a sore thumb.

“What is he doing?” she ground out.

“Not staying in his room like you told him to,” Dugas said. “I suppose he doesn’t like being grounded.”

The first rider entered through the gates. He was surprisingly young, maybe eighteen at most, dark-haired, dark-eyed, and shockingly beautiful. He saw Hugh. A red sheen rolled over his eyes.

She sighed. There was no way to stop it.

Behind him the second rider saw Hugh and stopped.

The leading rider said something and started toward Hugh, slowly.

Dugas turned to her.

“If I run down there now and dramatically thrust myself between him and Hugh, it will destroy Hugh’s credibility and make me look like an idiot.”

“Yes,” Dugas said.

Elara plastered a smile on her face. “Then I will slowly walk. Here is hoping they don’t kill each other.” She crossed her fingers and walked down the steps.

The boy got there first.

Hugh finished his swing, wiped the sword with a cloth, thrust it into the weapon rack, and picked up a bucket.

“Fancy meeting you here,” the boy said.

“Hello,” Elara said. “I take it you’re Ascanio Ferara. I see you know my husband.”

“Yes, I do. The last time we met, he tortured me,” Ascanio said.

He what? Could this get any worse?

“You’re still alive,” Hugh said. “Clearly my heart wasn’t in it.” He raised the bucket and poured water over his head.

“He tortured you?” she asked.

“He was trying to get a friend of mine to come out of a cage, so he could take her to her father,” Ascanio said. “So he would heal me, then break me, then heal me again. I don’t remember it, but I heard such wonderful stories about it. Your husband is a man of many accomplishments.”

Oh, there was no doubt of that.

“Let’s see, his people killed the alpha of my clan, he broke the Beast Lord’s legs, he kidnapped the Beast Lord’s mate, dumped her into a shaft filled with water inside her father’s prison, and almost starved her to death. These are just the highlights.” He laughed, an eerie crazy cackle.

A bouda, Elara realized. A werehyena. They were notoriously quick-tempered and crazy. And Hugh didn’t mention kidnapping Daniels. He’d kept that to himself.

She couldn’t believe it actually bothered her.

This had gone far enough, Elara reminded herself. Pulling his feelings out of him was about understanding your enemy, not fueling insecurities.

Hugh regarded the shapeshifter, his face slightly bored. “Do you want to do something about it?”

“Mmmm, let me think…” Ascanio leaned forward, his agile face taking on a pondering expression. “I attack you, you kill me, I start a war, shame the Bouda Clan, and my mother will never get to hear the end of it as long as she lives. Not to mention she would be sad. Tempting, but no. I’m here to retrieve the two families and that’s exactly what I will do. The question is, are you going to do something about it?”

She caught her breath.

“No,” Hugh said. “Are they ready to go, Elara?”

“Yes, they are.”

Hugh looked back at Ascanio. “They were treated well. If more come, they will be treated the same. We’ll keep them safe until you pick them up.”

The bouda squinted at Hugh. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.” Hugh turned his back to Ascanio.

She felt like sitting down. Instead she smiled at Ascanio. “Do you need any provisions for the road?”





Hugh stretched his shoulders. The small shapeshifter group was about two-thirds of the way to the tree line. They were moving at a crawl, the possessions of the two families loaded into two large carts. They were planning to catch the leyline by Aberdine. At the ley point, they would transfer the furniture and clothes to the shipping platform, board, and let the magic drag them east. Once they got close enough to Atlanta, they’d likely load the possessions into trucks, but the carts were a prudent move for the road that snaked its way through the forest. Any truck that ran on enchanted water would’ve made enough noise to wake the dead, and Ferara clearly wanted to do this quietly. They had barely twelve miles to go, and on this occasion slow and quiet would win the race.

A woman from the town had come to get Elara fifteen minutes ago. Something about a child. His cantankerous wife finally decided that he wasn’t going to do anything and left.