k_a_webb | Aurora’s World: Ialaera: Jillian: Hunted (part 4) (Reply)

This entry is part 32 of 45 in the Aurora's World collection

Jillian sipped the soup, feeling warmer than she had since it had all started. “You’ve been hunting me for months. I don’t trust you and that makes it very hard for me to think of taking you up on your offer, especially as I know what you are and I know what you do.” She bit her lip. “I’ve seen the husks that you leave behind when you steal someone’s magic.” She blinked away tears as she tried not to think of a friend that she had lost to the thieves, but it was hard not to, especially as it had been less than three days since she had come across what was left of him. “Going with you, to the Hideaway, doesn’t make sense, but it might well be the best choice for me.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “Do you know how much I hate that?”

“Probably as much as I did.” He held his hand out. “I know this isn’t what you want. It isn’t what I wanted. You’re right, though, coming to the Hideout with me now is the best choice you could make, even though it’s also the worst one.”

Burying her teeth in her lip once more Jillian, shaking, took his hand with her free one, trying not to ask herself what she was doing. He might well have been the thief who killed her only friend, because she had been stupid enough to stay with him for a night instead of moving on, and yet… she studied him as they stepped onto a flight of stairs that hadn’t been there a moment before, wondering who he’d been before, why he’d become a thief, and what it was about him that made her feel like she knew him. During the short journey she managed to stop herself shaking, even though she hadn’t thought it was possible.

“What should I call you?” she asked.

“O’Connor.” He squeezed her hand. “It’s going to be okay, Jillian, but it will take you a while to get used to the Hideout. The people here, like me, aren’t nice, and there are things you’re going to need to hide from them.”

“Like why I’m here.”

O’Connor nodded. “Don’t tell them I made the offer to begin with. Let them wonder. You could be a sister or a cousin, because it isn’t unusual for one of the thieves to bring someone here they want to protect, and often it’s a family member – although they are normally just grabbed and brought here, rather than talked to about what’s happening, so you being quiet will make them think.”

“Will I ever understand why you did make the offer?”

“Yes, you will. I promise when the time is right I’ll tell you, but that time is not now. Now is the time to work out where we’re going to put you and how you’re going to help me pay for your room, because renting two rooms here isn’t cheap.”

“I could just stay with you.”

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.