The Binding (Chronicles of Azaria #1) Read Free Page B

trying to lighten the mood. Phew.
    Ryan, however, hadn ’t missed the relief in my voice, and raised an eyebrow.
    “Sorry.” I fiddled with my laces. Don ’t make him suspicious. Play it cool. “Yeah, I wasn’t planning on being a late night snack.” I had to swallow before I could get the next words out. “I was...lucky you were around to save me.”
    “Don ’t mention it,” Ryan said. He helped pull my boot back over the bandages. Warmth spread across my cheeks, so I shifted my foot so our fingers wouldn’t meet. “But what are you doing in the Galgiza forest so late?”
    “I could ask the same of you,” I answered. If I wasn ’t so terrified of looking him in the eye, I would’ve kept a level gaze. “Not had much luck finding good prey?”
    I hoped he would rise to the bait. It would give me time to think of an excuse myself.
    Ryan sighed, and rested his arm on his knee.
    “Actually, no,” he said. “I ’m not much of a hunter. I’m more a traveller.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know why, but tonight I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d go for a walk. Then I heard the bear and saw you, and, well, you know the rest.”
    I had to clench my teeth to stop my jaw hitting the ground. Wow. I ’d given him a prime excuse and he’d still gone for an explanation worthy of the title ‘Most Evasive Answer’. A traveller? Please, you’d have to be downright insane to take a short-cut through the Galgiza. Either he was painfully honest, or he was simpler than he looked.
    “So what about you?” He picked up a twig and began doodling in the dirt. “Out for a moonlit stroll as well?”
    I sighed, snaring my fingers in my laces. My moment of excuse-conjuring had only given me one option, and I really didn’t want to use it. But he was looking at me with that expectant expression again. I swallowed, thinking through what to say. The very idea made me sick. It was a lie no loving daughter should ever consider, let alone speak aloud.
    But I had no choice.
    “I…” My throat burned, trying to drown the words. I couldn’t say it. It was wrong!
    Ryan dropped his twig and shuffled closer. I had to say something quickly , otherwise he’d know I was hiding something. Taking a deep breath, I summoned my courage.
    “I ran away from home.” I licked my lips, which were parched as sandpaper. “My parents, they...well, they...” I clenched my fists. “They used to lock me up.”
    “Oh.” Ryan looked at me in sympathy. I pressed my hand to the cut on my cheek. Goddess, forgive me! “Why did they do that?”
    I gulped. Come on Eliza, think!
    “Well…” Finally an idea sprang forth, and I cleared my throat. “My parents were trying to arrange a Binding for me.”
    Ryan sat up a little straighter.
    “Not that I’m affected by the spell or anything, it was the other person,” I hastily added; I needed to cover my tracks. “But when I refused to go through with it, they locked me away.” I loathed the words that rolled off my tongue. “Anyway, tonight they’d gone out together, and they’d forgotten to bolt my door, so I just…”
    Ryan put his hand on my shoulder. I fought the urge to shiver with delight.
    “It ’s alright,” he said. “I understand. You don’t have to say anymore.”
    I nodded miserably. With such a lie to my name, I deserved to be Bound and taken away. Nonetheless, I was a little surprised that was all it took to convince him. It was hardly any better than his own reason for being here. And the way he ’d looked at me earlier; did he know I was keeping a low profile because of my Binding time?
    If that was the case…
    Ryan’s hand left my shoulder, and my heart juddered, forcing me to catch my breath. Sheesh, this would take some getting used to.
    “Well,” he said, sitting forwards, “as much as I ’d love to sit here all night, why don’t we go back to my camp? You can stay with me for tonight, then tomorrow I can drop you off in Bane. I’m