"Christiana!" Her voice broke through the crowded street and Ethan dashed into a tiny alley with her basket of bread almost falling off her hands. She could not look back, could not allow herself the sight of the desperation in his eyes, since she knew that once she saw it her own would collapse.
Her legs throttled the cobblestones, and her heart hurt. Why is he here? Why won't he just let me go?
But Ethan was faster. His hand reached round and seized her wrist before she turned a corner, and made her stop.
Stop running away, Christiana? he pleaded, his chest heaving.
Let me go, Ethan, she said to herself, shaking.
It was by gripping rather than by force. "I can't. I have been looking after you weeks. Would you know what it has been without you? I'm losing myself."
Christiana was shining with wet eyes. "And what about Sophia? What about that night? Whenever I attempt to think we are anything, she manages to separate us.
Ethan had shaken violently. "That night was a lie. She made me come there, and you came in at the most bad time. I have never wanted her, I tell you, Christiana. I never will."
The quiver of her lips broke her defences. "But she'll never stop, Ethan. She has it all, she has money, power, and the approval of your family. I'm just... me. How can I fight that?"
Ethan put a cup over her face, and obliged her to face him. "You don't need to fight her. Because I've already chosen. I picked you when we went out of that orphanage. And I shall continue to pick you, day after day, whatever she says.
Christiana's breath hitched. His earnestness in the eyes, his harshness in the voice--it knocked the final fences out she had made about her heart.
However, she had not made any reply when a rude voice called out at the end of the alley.
"Well, isn't this touching?"
They froze. Sophia stood on her part, with two of the family guards of the Williams standing beside her. She smiled coldly and her eyes blazed with raging.
Go, go, Christiana, run all you like, hissed, she said. But Ethan will never really be yours so long as he is part of the family.
His pose was in defiance as Ethan wrapped his arm around Christiana to protect her. "You're wrong, Sophia. I am not a part of you, or anybody. My life is mine to choose."
Sophia's smile twisted. Then make yourself ready to lose all.