The days bled together in a haze of unease. The forest had grown quiet again, but not the kind of quiet that soothed. It was the silence of a predator crouching just beyond sight, waiting. The wolves of the stronghold moved with twitching ears and anxious glances, caught between fear of what stalked the woods and hope that the rumors weren't true.
Liora felt it gnawing at her bones. The dagger at her belt had gone restless, pulsing in bursts, as though impatient, as though it knew something she did not. She didn't sleep. She barely ate. When she walked among her people, their eyes avoided hers, their voices dropped to whispers.
And then it happened.
On the third morning, as the dawn stretched gold fingers across the cliffs, Alpha Gonzalo summoned the pack to the gathering grounds. His voice rang clear, proud, steady, carrying weight that made hearts still.
"Brothers. Sisters. Children of the Moon." He stood upon the great stone, cloak billowing in the wind. "The Goddess has blessed us. The rumors you have heard are true."
A ripple of sound coursed through the crowd, surprise, disbelief, hope sharpened into hunger.
"Vanya walks again," Gonzalo declared.
A hush fell. Even the wind seemed to freeze.
Liora's throat went dry. Her pulse hammered in her ears.
"She was not taken from us, as we thought. She was saved," Gonzalo continued. His hand swept out, commanding attention. "Not by luck. Not by chance. But by the will of the Goddess and the courage of one among us."
The pack leaned forward as one, eyes wide, breath held.
"By Nyssa."
The name struck like a thunderclap.
Gasps broke out. Wolves turned, seeking the healer in the crowd. Nyssa stood among them, her head bowed, her face pale but unyielding.
"She hid what she had done because she feared division," Gonzalo said, his voice solemn. "But she could not hide forever. Not from the Goddess. Not from me. She saved Vanya's life when all others believed her gone. She shielded her, healed her, kept her in secret until the time was right to return her to us."
Then as if to seal the truth, Vanya herself stepped forward.
The crowd erupted.
She wore a cloak of pale fur, her scars faint beneath her moonlit skin. Her eyes glowed, sharper, deeper, touched with something both human and divine. Every wolf dropped to their knees, bowing, howling their reverence. The sound rose, deafening, joyous, a storm of belief crashing against the sky.
"Praise the Moon Goddess!" voices cried.
"Blessed be Nyssa!" others howled.
"Vanya lives!"
The chant thundered, shaking the stones beneath Liora's boots.
But she did not kneel.
She could not.
Her body trembled, but not from awe. From rage. From betrayal so sharp it left her gasping.
Nyssa.
Nyssa, who had pulled her back from the Alpha's door, who had whispered reason into her fury, who had sworn to stand beside her. Nyssa, who had looked her in the eye and let her believe Vanya was gone forever.
It felt like knives driven beneath her ribs.
She couldn't breathe.
The celebration blurred. Gonzalo stepped forward, clasping Vanya's shoulders, kissing her brow as though she were a miracle reborn. Wolves wept openly. Mothers lifted their pups high to see the Goddess's gift. Nyssa was surrounded by praise, hands reaching to touch her cloak, her hands, her face, her very presence.
Liora was drowning. She wasn't sure she could breathe again.
Her voice broke from her throat before she even realized it.
"Why?"
The word cut sharper than the dagger at her belt. It ripped through the joy like claws.
Heads turned. Silence rippled, awkward, sharp-edged.
Nyssa froze where she stood, eyes wide.
"Why?" Liora said again, louder now, her voice cracking with fury. "Why didn't you tell me? Why did you let me believe she was dead? Why did you help her? Why did you betray me?"
Nyssa took a hesitant step forward. "Liora…"
"Don't!" Liora's scream tore the air. "Don't you dare speak my name! You…" Her chest heaved, her hands shook. "You lied to me. You watched me bleed, you watched me suffer, you watched me bury her in my heart, and you said nothing."
Nyssa's lips parted, her throat working soundlessly before she finally spoke. "The kingdom is watching. Stop it…No one knows it was you and I will keep it that way, but if you make an attempt on anyone again…I won't protect you anymore."
The pack looked between them, unease growing. Whispers stirred.
"You betrayed me," Liora spat, tears stinging her eyes. "You betrayed everything. For what? For her? For Gonzalo? For your Goddess?" Her voice cracked into a sob.
She turned and ran.
Through the gathering grounds, past the torches, past the walls and the guards, until the sounds of celebration faded behind her. She did not stop until she reached the river.
The water raged, swollen with spring melt, crashing against the rocks with a fury that mirrored her own. Liora fell to her knees at the bank, chest heaving, sobs clawing their way free.
She hurled the dagger into the dirt beside her, screaming wordless rage at the sky.
The river did not answer.
She scooped stones from the bank and flung them, one by one, into the current. Each splash was a curse, a wound, a memory. Her voice cracked with the force of it.
"She was mine to kill!" she screamed, throat raw. "Mine! Not yours, not Gonzalo's, not the Goddess's! Mine!"
Her reflection wavered in the water, distorted, broken by ripples. For an instant, she thought she saw Vanya's face staring back, pale, smiling…before it vanished in the churn.
Her hands trembled. She pressed them to her face, dragging down as if she could scrape the hurt away. Tears burned hot trails over her cheeks.
Behind her, faint but unmistakable, the stronghold roared with joy. Howls rose to the heavens, song and praise woven into the wind. The kingdom celebrated, voices lifted in unity, thanking the Moon Goddess, worshiping Nyssa, rejoicing in Vanya's return.
And Liora knelt alone by the river, her sobs swallowed by the water's endless rush.
Her heart cracked open in her chest, spilling everything… fury, grief, betrayal until there was nothing left but emptiness.
"Nothing," she whispered to the water. "I have nothing now she is back."
The dagger pulsed once at her side, faint and hollow.
The river kept running.
And the kingdom kept celebrating.