Duck Lake Reflektion

Aventus traced the sloping wolf's neck with his eyes, the neat peak of her shoulders, as black as any shade in the night and glossy as a crow's wing. She looked almost exactly like Astara from this angle. That was why he remained at a distance, watchful, with his mouth feeling like it was full of sand.

Astara was dead. He had seen her body. He had seen her skull removed from it and grinning in his father's possession. Yet he could not will his paws from the ground for Violante's resemblance to his dam. The most he could do was frisk his tail side-to-side and stare.

Should Violante turn in his direction, she would see a pair of wide silver eyes fixed on her void-like features from a gaunt and expressionless black face.