Page 44 of Salt Between the Wolves

"Riven."

Her voice trembled as she spoke his name again.

"Riven."

Nothing happened. The square remained utterly still while Eira stood frozen, wanting desperately to look away and finding herself unable to do so.

Riven's mother touched his cheek again and again, clinging to denial for a few moments longer before it finally shattered.

The sound that tore from her seemed to rip through the entire square, and Eira knew she would remember it for the rest of her life.

Several women rushed forward at once. One caught Helvi before she collapsed, another began crying herself, but none of it helped. Nothing could.

A younger boy pushed through the crowd a moment later.

It was Riven's brother, no older than fourteen.

His gaze moved from the gathered wolves to the body and back again, as though his mind refused to assemble the pieces into something meaningful. When understanding finally reached him, all color drained from his face.

"Riven?"

No one answered, and he didn't ask again because the answer already lay before him.

For a while, only Helvi's grief could be heard. It moved through the crowd like a living thing, raw enough to make even strangers lower their eyes. Gradually, however, something else began to emerge beneath it as pain slowly transformed into anger, and anger demanded somewhere to go.

Her gaze lifted and found Soren.

"You sent him."

The words cracked across the square.

"He wasn't supposed to lead."

Soren took a step forward.

"Helvi—"

"Don't."

The interruption struck like a blow.

She rose abruptly, her hands still stained with her son's blood.

"Don't you dare tell me what to do when my son is lying here dead."

The square fell silent once more. Every wolf present heard the accusation, and every wolf present knew she would never have spoken to him that way under any other circumstances. Today, however, no one expected her to stop.

"He trusted you," she said, her voice breaking. "He looked up to you."

Soren remained silent, perhaps because there was nothing he could say, or perhaps because any answer would have sounded hollow beside the body lying between them.

Helvi pointed toward Riven with a trembling hand.

"You should have been there."

The accusation landed even harder than the first.

"You should have been leading that patrol."