Page 170 of Venom Sweeter than Honey
“Because they don’t want to be known. Not to mention, they’re even older than I am. The only reason I know them is because their domain is adjacent to mine. Time and death, and whatnot.”
“And you trust these gods?”
“Not even with a pair of scissors.”
“Well, you’re just proving my point... Maybe they were lying. Maybe one of them has affection for you or Persephone, and?—”
“Violette.”
My mouth snaps shut.
“I witnessed it myself.”
“... But how?”
“They took me there. Persephone and I, both. Long before I ever met Persephone—who, to me at the time, had been nothing but a whisper on the wind—Kairos told me of this horrible fate, and being the god that he is, knew that I would doubt him, so he had Tempus, Kairos, Aion, and even Moirai—the goddess of fate—take us there.”
What?
“Take you where?”
“To this potential. To the end of time. The end of life. The end of death. The end of everything. They brought Persephone and me to the edge of it, shoved us inside the mind of our malevolent offspring, and then weexperiencedthe end.”
My mind reels trying to fathom such a thing.
“I think I need to sit down.”
Azrael frowns. “So you see…”
Not nearly.
My rear lands on the edge of the bed with a soft thud as my mind supplies his earlier words.
“... You said that you sought her out, time and time again. That she refused to give you a chance. You pursued her, even after you found out?”
Azrael gives me a sad smile. “Relentlessly. How can I fear the end or death, when it is all that I am?”
I rear back in disbelief. “But... It’s so selfish. Your union would mean the death of everyone and everything.”
The guilt and resignation weighing on Azrael’s shoulders are heavy enough formeto feel. “Just one of many... I have witnessed entropy more times than I can even recall.”
I shake my head, unable to comprehend the magnitude of this.
“For what it’s worth, I offered to have a vasectomy.”
I can’t help but huff a sad laugh. “Would that even work?”
He shrugs, limply. “Probably not.”
Silence falls heavily between us, and with each passing moment, I watch his posture grow heavier, and an all too familiar look settles on his handsome features.
A mixture of sadness, expectation, anddefeat.
He’s certain I will refuse him now, just as I thought Levi would refuse me.
I almost chuckle.
You sweet, sweet creature. It’s like you don’t know me at all.
