Iron and Magic (The Iron Covenant #1)(61)

He was into his fifth beer and he appeared to be enjoying himself.

Rufus raised his mug. “Beer me!”

Make that sixth.

Irene dipped a pitcher into the barrel of beer, glided over, and refilled the mug.

“Thanks, sweetness.”

Irene moved out of his way.

Elara glanced around the table. The six guardsmen Fortner had sat at their table were a mixed lot. Five men and only one woman. They were drinking, and eating, relaxed.

“It’s a nice place you’ve got here,” Rufus said.

Something tugged at Elara’s consciousness.

“Can’t complain,” Hugh said.

“We’ve worked a castle once. In Cincinnati,” one of the guardsmen offered.

“Ah, yes, the Cus.. Ces… What the hell was that fellah’s name?” Rufus wrinkled his forehead.

“Cousteau,” the lone female guard supplied.

“That’s right.”

Here it was again, a faint tug.

“Excuse me.” Elara rose from the table.

Hugh caught her hand. “Where are you going, pumpkin?”

To cast a death spell that will sear your eyes from their sockets. “Somewhere you can’t come with me.” She winked. “To the room down the hallway with the word LADIES on the door.”

He let go. “Don’t be too long.”

“I won’t.”

Elara walked away. Behind her, Rufus said in what he probably thought was his confidential voice, “You’re a lucky man, Preceptor. No offense.”

“Oh I am,” Hugh said. “I am.”

She was one hundred percent sure he was watching her backside as she was walking away. Elara put an extra wiggle into it. Eat your heart out.

In the hallway, she turned left, walked through a door, and ran up the flight of stone stairs to the hidden balcony. Savannah stood in the shadows, watching the room. From the floor this area was practically invisible.

“What is it?” Savannah asked.

“I don’t know. Something… I need a minute.”

Below Hugh clapped Rufus’s shoulder and laughed.

“D’Ambray plays his role well, doesn’t he?” Savannah observed.

“Yes. He’s a chameleon. He’ll be whatever the circumstances require him to be.” It’s finding the real man that was the problem.

“The two of you have been avoiding each other.”

Hiding things from Savannah was impossible. “I walked through his dreams. He caught me.”

“Elara!”

“I know, I know.”

Dreams were woven from emotions, from the most basic wants, the strongest desires, the sharpest fears. Logic and reason didn’t exist there, except as twisted shadows of themselves. Walking through them was dangerous. She’d stepped into Hugh’s inner world. Elara had trespassed, and he knew it. He would make her pay one way or another.

“Why?” Savannah shook her head. “Expending your power? Letting him see you?”

“You weren’t on the wall when he fought the vampires. I was. He used a spell, Savannah. It wasn’t like his normal magic. He pulled it to him and then he altered it, shaping it into something else. He said two words. He was clear across the field by the trees and I felt it all the way on the wall. It wasn’t just powerful, it was precise. He pulled the undead out into the open, but he’d already had his people in the woods and they weren’t affected.”

“Power words,” Savannah said. “They call Roland the Builder of Towers. Maybe there is a reason for that.”

“You think this is the language of the Tower of Babylon?”

“That’s what rumors say. It’s supposed to command the magic itself.”

“It did. I went into his dreams. I had no choice. I wanted to know what else he was capable of.”

Elara fell silent. Below Hugh laughed, flashing white teeth.

“What did you find out?” Savannah asked.

“He’s a monster. Like me.”

“We’ve had this talk,” the older witch said quietly.

“I am what I am. You, of all people, know that.” Elara hugged her shoulders. “You should’ve heard him speak about Roland.”

“What did he say?”

“That he was his king, his god, his life. He thinks that everything he is comes from Roland.”

“And since there is no Roland now,” Savannah said, “there is no Hugh.”

“The exile should’ve broken him. I don’t understand how he survived, but he did. He’s extremely dangerous, Savannah. There are things I saw in his past...”

“Things?” Savannah asked.

“Killing is second nature to him. It’s like breathing. Once Hugh decides someone has to die, he does it. There is no doubt.”

“We’ve dealt with killers before,” Savannah said.

“Not like this.” She wasn’t explaining it well, three fourths of her attention on trying to narrow down the feeling that brought her here. “Hugh has more magic than he lets on and he is very skilled. He’s trained beyond anything I’ve seen.”

Savannah raised one eyebrow at her.

“He threw me out of his dreams.”