Escape from the Witch Hunters ✓

Chapter 21

"There you go." Gillian let the ends of the laces fall down dress.

She turned around and faced him. "Thank you."

They didn't move and Ryia looked down shyly.

He put his hand under her chin and made her look at him.

Her mismatched eyes bewitched him, making it impossible to look away. It'd be so easy just to lean down and, he stopped his train of thought, I can't do that. I can't take advantage of her. I can't hurt myself again. Let her go.

He dropped his gaze and let his hand fall, their hands brushed, sending a thrill coursing through his body.

This isn't right, he looked down dejectedly. "We should go eat."

When he spoke, his voice cracked and he swallowed visibly before turning to go out the door back to the table.

Ryia stood there embarrassed and rather uncomfortable for a little while, somewhat disappointed how Gillian would look almost as if he thought of her as special, like Chloe, then pretend she was nothing to him. Was she anything to him?

She sighed and headed out towards the breakfast table.

~~~

"Goodbye my dear." Maria sniffed and held Ryia in a tight embrace. "We'll miss you."

"Thank you so much for helping us." she patted Maria's back. "We couldn't have done it without you."

Maria let her go. "Oh, hardly! You and Gillian were doing perfectly fine without us."

Ryia smiled and shook her head. "We both know that isn't true."

"Here." Gillian shoved a small sack of something into Maria's hands. "For all the trouble and stuff that got burned."

"That isn't necessary!" Maria waved her hand.

"Speak for yourself woman." Markus said playfully and grabbed the sack of money. "Thank you very much, Gillian. It was a pleasure having two youngsters in our home once again."

Gillian slapped Markus on the back a few times. "Thanks for having us. If the Great Father wills it, perhaps we'll see you both again."

Maria wiped her eyes with her hanky.

Gillian swung up on Red and helped Ryia get up in front of him. "Thanks once again!"

They waved goodbye and rode down the dirt path, and soon back into the woods.

~~~

It was going to be a very long, and very boring ride to Carenthia. It wasn't that Ryia didn't like being in Gillian's company, she simply did not like sitting in the saddle all day in silence.

"Where was your mother from?" Ryia decided to break the silence.

"Rhône." he answered.

"That's far away, isn't it?" she asked. "Across the Middle Sea if I'm not mistaken."

He shrugged. "Yeah. She came to Norcliffe when she was seventeen. Or so she said. There, she met my Father and fell deeply in love. That is what she told me anyway. So she decided to stay."

"What was her name?" Ryia searched her brain, but she was pretty sure that Gillian had never told her.

Gillian avoided looking in her eyes. "Amélie. Amélie Ryia. But she went by Ryia."

Ryia's eyebrows shot up. "Oh really. Very interesting."

Gillian grunted. "It was just because you looked like her, and you needed a name, and it was the first thing that came to mind."