The Riverwalk Gardens spread before Alaric like something out of a painting.
Stone pathways wound between carefully manicured beds of late-season blooms, deep purples and oranges that caught the afternoon light.
Ornamental trees provided scattered shade, their leaves just beginning to turn.
In the distance, a fountain sent arcs of water into the air, the spray catching sunlight and throwing tiny rainbows.
And just near that, his eyes found Vivienne near a marble bench beneath a willow tree, its trailing branches creating a natural curtain around her.
She wasn't sitting, just standing there, one hand resting on the bench's curved arm, her gaze fixed on the fountain in the distance.
She looked... softer somehow. The emerald gown shifted gently in the breeze, and that rebellious strand of hair had escaped again, curling against her neck.
Alaric paused at the garden's entrance, studying her.
Fascinating.
