On My Drowing Day, He Announced His Bonding to Her Chapter 02
That night the ink on the Groom’s Mark kept flickering in and out, like a newspaper left out in the rain too long.
I fell into a nightmare, water everywhere, and woke up somehow already standing at the edge of Black Hollow River.
A cold wind cut through and snapped me out of it.
Scarlett was right behind me. I hadn’t even heard her come up. She had this hollow, far–off look on her face.
“Violet. You feel guilty about Lily too, don’t you?
That’s why you keep coming out here.”
I didn’t even get a word out before headlights swung across us.
John jumped out of the car and pulled Scarlett behind
him like I was some kind of threat.
“Violet, what are you doing out here in the middle of
the night, right where Lily drowned?”
“You think playing the victim is going to make me mark you?”
I tried to explain and that’s exactly when Scarlett
started sobbing.
“Violet, you killed her! That’s why you feel so guilty!”
“That’s why you sneak out here at night begging the
Moon Goddess to forgive you!”
Her fingers were actually shaking.
“Lily was terrified of water her whole life. She used to
shut her eyes just getting a bath.”
“There’s no way she came down to this river on her
own. You lured her here.”
She threw herself against John’s chest.
“John, people keep saying Violet’s out here at the river
every night. She’s probably looking for the body!”
“You’re the Pack’s legal counsel. Doesn’t killing
someone’s wolfhound on purpose get you thrown out of the territory?”
A handful of Pack members had already gathered around us.
They were on edge about the Groom’s Mark to begin with.
The second Scarlett said that, I watched every face in the crowd change.
“No wonder the Groom picked her this year. Guilty conscience.”
“That’s cold. Not even sparing a dog.”
My eyes went hot. I stepped forward, desperate.
“I didn’t do anything! I’m the one who found her in the first place!”
“I wanted her alive more than anybody. Why would I hurt her?”
John cut me off.
“Violet, if you did it, just say so.”
“We’re all Pack here. Nobody’s actually handing you
over to the Rogues.”
“Scarlett just wants the truth. That’s all this is.”
There it was, that same lawyer voice he pulled out at
council meetings.
I couldn’t tell if he was just being professional or if some part of him genuinely didn’t believe me.
I grabbed my phone and pulled up a photo from seven years back.
Little Lily curled up in my arms, John standing next to
us holding an umbrella over my head.
“John. I raised her from nothing. Why would I ever hurt her?”
He glanced at the screen for half a second.
“Violet, you’re not a kid anymore. A photo doesn’t prove a thing.”
“Besides, hearts change. Even over a dog.”
I felt myself go weak. Nothing I said was landing.
He knew hearts could change. He just didn’t think it was his that had.
Scarlett shoved up her sleeve and showed off the silver
bracelet on her wrist.
“John. The bell on Lily’s collar went missing the day she died.”
Her voice cracked as she looked straight at me.
“Violet made that bell herself. Years ago.”
“Lily never let anyone touch it but her.”
I ripped my arm out of her grip.
“That’s insane! I’ve never even seen that bell!”
That’s when something slipped loose from the folds of my veil.
A tiny clink.
A bell hit the dirt and rolled to a stop, right at my feet.