Vivienne Von Vexx's Arc

Chapter 14 of 21

Vivienne kept her hand on the rope long after the fangs cooled. The swing creaked. The water stayed empty. She had no way to know if he was alive, no way to know if he would come back, and the sky behind her was no longer black. A pale gray bled through the trees. She could not sit here much longer. Then she saw it. Across the river, at the edge of the far bank, a gray wolf stood still as stone. Yellow eyes fixed on her. It did not pace. It did not howl. It had been watching, perhaps since the hunter walked into the fire. Around its neck hung a thin strip of cloth, torn from a sleeve she knew. He had sent it. He was telling her he was alive. The first true light touched the iron gate at the grove's edge, lighting the red roses woven through its bars like small fires. Vivienne pulled the bracelet free from the rope and closed it in her fist. She stepped back from the water, into the deeper shade, and turned toward home. The wolf would carry the message back. She would not die waiting. She would live, and she would wait inside.