Wapun Meadow garrote

set directly after this

ursus listened. ursus breathed.
he felt his veins open as astara skulked off into the wet, dragging rosina with her as if the lifeless witch weighed nothing.
merrick trailed his beloved, compelled, haunted; his one remaining eye rolled to the smudge of mountains, and in the wildflower meadow that had formed such horrid backdrops, he paused.
a breath; that near-sick clench of anticipation and bloodlust converging beneath his flesh.
mama
auntie laurel
"it's time," he laughed, raindrops clinging wetly to his lips.