Chapter 5 Run, Little Rabbit

Hargrave loomed over Amara, his breath hot and heavy on her skin.

"You will lie still," he growled.

Tears blurred her vision.

"Stop-please-" Amara gasped, pushing at his chest. "Please!"

She had one heartbeat... one fragile moment to realize she could die here.

Her mother's voice whispered through her memory:

'Never let anyone trap you, Amara. Fight.'

So she did.

Her heel drove into his shin with all her strength.

Hargrave snarled a raw, human sound and staggered.

Pain shot up her leg, but she didn't stop.

She twisted, clawed, slipped from his grip for a heartbeat, and dropped to the cold floor.

Stone scraped her knees.

Her breath tore in and out.

"YOU-!" his voice cracked with rage, not loud, but deadly.

She didn't wait.

She sprinted for the door, down the corridor.

Her Bare feet slapping the stone, heartbeat pounding so loud she could barely hear her own sobs.

Torches flickered against the walls, stretching her shadow long and frantic.

She was nothing to Morwen. Never had been.

She would die here.

Forgotten.

But she wasn't ready to die.

Not like this.

The guards turned their eyes widening at her torn dress, at the bruise blooming across her cheek.

"What-?" one stuttered.

Hargrave staggered into view behind her, a hand pressed to the place she'd kicked, rage sharpening his every breath.

"GUARDS! After her!"

The men outside jerked to attention, startled.

"What- what happened, my lord?"

He straightened, rage shaking his breath.

"Do not let her leave this estate. Find her. Drag her back- "he snarled. "-and if you return without her... I'll strip the skin from your back myself."

The guards froze.

"MOVE!" he roared.

They scattered instantly, boots pounding down opposite corridors shouting orders.

Hargrave exhaled a sharp hiss, fingers touching the bruise already forming.

"How dare she," he muttered. "A gutter-born nothing."

Then, quieter, with a smile that didn't reach his eyes-

"Run, little rabbit.

Once you're taken... you belong to me."

Amara ran.

She didn't know how long anymore - minutes, hours, time itself had torn apart.

All she knew was the fire in her lungs and the knives in her feet each time they struck the ground. Blood slicked her heels, making every step slide, scream. Her dress clung to her legs, torn and heavy, snagging on roots and stone.

Her breath came in sharp, broken bursts.

I have to survive.

I have to survive.

The words beat in her skull as the estate lights shrank behind her.

A narrow path split open between two storage sheds.

She didn't think. She ran for it.

A hand shot from the dark and yanked her back so hard she nearly screamed.

"Not that way - that's the border. Are you trying to die?" a girl hissed.

Amara stumbled, vision swimming with tears.

The girl was around her age. Breathless. Bruised. Fear lived in her eyes - the kind that came from watching people disappear and knowing exactly why.

"Please," Amara choked. "I don't want to die. Please-"

The girl's grip tightened, nails biting into her arm.

"Quiet," she snapped. "If they catch you before the master-" Her voice faltered. "You don't get a second chance. He doesn't like ruined girls."

Amara's stomach twisted.

The girl didn't wait. She dragged Amara toward a narrow side path hidden behind the shed.

"Come. Now."

They ducked beneath a broken fence plank, squeezing through a gap only someone who knew the grounds would find. Stones bit into Amara's raw feet. Every step sent pain screaming up her legs.

The woods loomed ahead - dark, vast, swallowing the world whole.

Just a little farther.

A shout exploded behind them.

"HEY!"

The girl swore under her breath.

Amara's heart dropped in her chest.

Father... I'm sorry, she thought, though she didn't know why. She just didn't want to die like this - not sold, not discarded, not forgotten.

The guard's torchlight flared.

"Run," the girl whispered. Then louder, pushing Amara hard toward the trees.

"RUN!"

Boots thundered behind them as Amara plunged into the dark.

Amara stumbled forward. An arrow sliced the air beside her.

A soft sound - more breath than impact.

She turned just in time to see the girl fall.

She crashed to the ground, eyes wide, lips quivering. Blood slipped from her mouth as she looked at Amara one last time.

"Don't stop," she whispered. "Whatever happens... don't stop."

Amara clamped her hands over her mouth, choking on a scream.

Tears burned her eyes.

"No...!" she sobbed.

The girl didn't move again.

She stared. Just a heartbeat. Long enough for grief to pierce her. Her knees stung where they scraped on stones.

THEN the shouts tore through the night.

Boots pounding. Men were closing in.

Her body moved before her mind could.

She ran.