Lucian was forced to inhale sharply every time he saw her bathed in moonlight. The frost on the ground crunched underfoot, yet he painfully took notice of the fact that Platina's window still wasn't boarded up. She was entirely covered in blankets and as Lucian leaned forward to search for her hand, he knew she was still cold.
"Lucian…" she murmured, her eyes fluttering open. He drew back.
"What's going on? Do you know what time it is?" She had sat up, and Lucian swallowed the lump in his throat. "Are you just tired or have you forgotten all of the evenings we shared out here…" he ached to say, but knew it was no time to berate her.
"Ssh! Be quiet…" he returned, his hand still held in front of him, "Platina… We've got to run! Come now, hurry!" His eyes were wide and pleading. She returned his gaze, frightened by the urgent tone in his voice.
"What are you talking about, Lucian?"
Lucian?
Lucian?
Her voice echoed in his head and he squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, shaking off any desire to calmly explain the situation. His heart beat fast with panic. "Listen to me," he said carefully, "Your mother and father, they…" His words died in his throat and he continued, "They've sold you-"
A cold sweat oozed out onto his skin as a menacing figure melted out of the shadows in the doorway of Platina's room.
"You little thief!" Laia's harsh voice intoned, and Lucian's head started to swim with fear.
"What are you doing to my daughter!"
"Come on!" Lucian barked, reaching forward and grasping at darkness, quickly finding Platina's hand. The urgency of his touch immediately moved Platina into his arms and he easily manoeuvred her through the window and away from her house. The two figures glided through the grass and opted to take cover within the trees.
Lucian's ears were ringing the entire time they ran. He didn't know how long it was; Platina's frightened, steady breathing was all that was real to him as he remained clamped to her hand, leading her further and further away from her doom. Every tree they passed seemed to bear the face of his lost sister, small and sad, crying out. They urged him to run faster, to pull Platina all the way through those woods until he felt his heart was ready to burst. Her braid flopped all the way behind them.
For as long as he could remember, they ran on, unquestioning. She said nothing; merely panting with weariness, but she didn't ask him to stop or slow down. Once he looked back at her, and he noted with sadness that her eyes were almost shut in exhaustion. Lucian had a sudden desire to stop her, to collapse onto the grass and just rock her to sleep.
With his heart swelling with love from time to time, he felt a renewed sense of direction and hope that carried them far into the forest.