Raising a Hero

Chapter 50

The west gates to the city were open wide, as they always were. Mist's hooves rang loudly on the stone streets.The lights in the inn were bright and warm when we arrived. I directed Miurian to the back door, which, thankfully, Mist was just small enough to pass through to. The chickens had turned in for the night, so I didn't get the pleasure of their reaction to this great new beast.

No sooner had he helped me down from the horse when the back door flew open and Milly rushed out.

"Lillian, you little wart! How dare you worry me like this!"

And the next thing I knew I was being suffocated by her breasts, engulfed by an embrace which squeezed the air from my lungs. I only just managed to squeak out a 'sorry.'

She hugged me for longer than I was comfortable with. Miurian watched on awkwardly by his gentle giant.

"Well...I'll just be heading back then," he said.

Milly seemed to wake up then and detached herself from me.

"Thank you, sir, for bringing her home safely."

"Of course."

"Wait, your coat!" I quickly took it off. Having had to buy a dress for myself, I knew the value of clothes in this world.

"You can—"

"I'm not going to keep it. I have a coat, it's pretty, and I'm not going to be the cause of you catching your death on the way back to the temple."

"Alright, alright." But despite my stern tone, he smiled as he took the coat. I almost expected him to say 'yes, mother.'

I was slightly jealous of how easily he rescaled the mountain of his horse. It made him look cool. I wanted those mad cowboy skills. If cowboys ever rode warhorses, that is.

I waited for Milly to start attacking me with questions, but she rushed me inside to thaw in front of the kitchen fire. She only spoke once I had a bowl of veggie and pork bone soup on my lap.

"I'll go tell them you're back."

The soup tasted good. But, then, pretty much everything Milly made tasted good. Not gourmet royal court, but homely, as though nostalgia and happy memories could be made into a taste.

Only a minute after she'd gone, the last person I was ready to see turned into the kitchen, pale as I felt and eyes puffy and rimmed with red.

Gus strode in. "Lilly..."

I hugged my soup, as though it could protect me. "Gus—"

He fell to his knees before he could reach me.

"Gus! Are you hurt? What's wrong?" Holy crap, had Hal beaten him? Had someone else beaten him? Should I start looking for knives to murder someone?

"I'm fine," he said quickly, before bowing his head. "I just—I just need to say sorry. Please, sit down. There's nothing to worry about."

I did so, hesitantly, hoping I hadn't spilled anything on my dress. Laundry in this age was a pain.

"I'm the one who should be saying sorry," I said. "Yelling at you like that and running off—"

"Stop."

The slight trembling to his voice, as though he might burst into tears, made me stop. I closed up my mouth.

"I'm the one who forced my feelings and wants on you without any consideration as to how it would make you feel," he said, very low and soft. "I insulted you, demeaned you, and tried to make you think and do what I wanted you to do. I was a selfish and immature and you're right. I am a child. A cocky, angry, belligerent child."