𝐼𝑁𝑁𝑂𝐶𝐸𝑁𝐶𝐸 𝐿𝑂𝑆𝑇 // 𝐴. 𝐷𝐸 𝑅𝑈𝑁𝐸

𝑋𝑋𝑉𝐼

| XXVI. Skybirds, and Strange Men, and Strange Dreams, Oh My! |

—

The moon had risen over the Château, and Amicia and Lucas were still gone. Marion was restless– and so was Hugo. She made the mistake of letting him rest all day, and now the boy was wide awake. Thankfully, he kept himself busy with a few sticks and rocks, sitting right by the fire with the rest of the children. Marion, Rodric, and the Twins sat together in silence, each waiting with baited breath for their friends to come back.

In reality, Lucas and Amicia had probably only just arrived at the De Rune estate. It made her nervous, knowing that they were going to a place infested with rats in the middle of the night. But they'd be fine; Marion was hanging on to the promise Amicia made, the promise to come back alive.

"You should rest." Arthur said quietly, his voice just barely louder than a whisper. "We can watch him, I promise we are not as incompetent as we may seem."

"I'm not tired..." Marion responded, though his words made the corners of her lips turn up in a subtle smile.

"Yeah right, you've been up all day–" Arthur tried to reason, but Marion cut him off.

"Doing nothing." She huffed, "I'm fine, Arthur, I don't need you to sit on me like a mother hen."

Arthur raised his hands in submission, a quiet chuckle leaving his lips. "Alright then, but the offer still stands."

The room was once again bathed in a tense silence, and Marion let out a soft sigh. She wanted to go outside, to the top of one of the towers and wait for Amicia, but she knew that it was a foolish idea. She'd probably end up sending herself into a coughing fit from breathing in all the cold air... recently, she'd found out that if her fits were violent enough, she'd end up coughing up blood along with mucus.

Hugo placed down the sticks and rocks he used as toys, silently crawling over to Marion and nestling into her side. The dark-haired girl wrapped her arm around him, gently rubbing his little arm. The black veins on his body had traveled further up his neck, on the cusp of his jaw... it worried Marion to no end.

"Tired?" Marion asked, and Hugo shrugged.

The boy had been very down in the dumps since his sister left... He wasn't his usual self, something more was on his mind, not just the sickness. Marion didn't pry– she didn't want to frustrate him, especially not in his delicate condition.

"You know... the more you sleep, the more time will pass... Amicia will be back sooner if you take a long sleep." She whispered, and Hugo seemed to dwell on her words.

"...Alright." He caved, and moved to lay down on the straw mattress squished between Marion's and Amicia's to make one big mattress.

Marion smiled at the little boy as he rested his head on the old pillow, although he had spent most of the day sleeping, he didn't seem too opposed to resting more. Slowly as the night progressed, everyone had found their way to their respected mattresses... everyone but Marion. She still sat in front of the fire, she couldn't even think about sleep– she was still worried about Amicia.

The dark-haired girl gently rubbed at her temple, her eyes closed and legs held to her chest. It was late– around three or four in the morning... If Amicia had left early in the morning, arrived at nightfall... then she'd probably make it home about this time–if not a bit earlier–tomorrow. If all went to plan, that was...