Page 307 of Venom Sweeter than Honey
My heart is in my throat, and I know if I don’t hurry up and do this, I might forfeit the whole idea. Already, every atom in my very being is screaming for me to return to Violette and Levi.
Fuck.
Am I making a mistake?
Logic helpfully returns, instantly supplying images of everyone I’ve known and loved dying, followed by the inevitability of having to watch Violette and Levi die.
All to be left alone.
Again.
To mourn.
Again.
And that is an event I cannot recover from.
Before Persephone can finish her sentence, there’s a dramatic burst of dark red magic that cracks through the air and splits open to reveal Mors’ daughter.
Mareina.
Despite being a queen of both Atratus, and Avernus, she is, as per usual, dressed in a set of dark fighting leathers, armed to the teeth, and wearing a deep scowl as her wings flare wide behind her.
“What the fuck ishedoing here?”
Persephone and Mors exchange a notably fearful look.
Odd.
A metallic song sings through the air as Mareina draws the sword strapped to her back from its sheath.
Oh, fuck.
Heaving a long-suffering sigh, I stand, momentarily willing away my mug.
Mors steps in front of Mareina, raising placating hands. “There’s no need for bloodshed. He merely wishes to?—”
As expected, Mareina remains undeterred. She side steps him, glaring at me and directing the length of her sword at me. “The only reason you aren’t rotting in my dungeon still is because of what you did for Ataraxus, but it was under the condition youneverreturn. And now you have the audacity to show up, inmydomain, to exploit its fruits. Did you use the last of your Mortsbane on me? Whose memory are you looking to wipe now?”
Guilt pierces me swift and merciless. “My own.”
Mareina’s steps falter. She lowers her sword, distrust and confusion twisting her features. “What?”
Persephone and Mors exchange yet another worried glance.
My intuition prickles, telling me there’s something I’m missing here, as Persephone clears her throat, looping her arm in Mors’, looking strangely nervous.
“He... wishes for a reprieve. Time to rest and rejuvenate his soul as those in Avernus do without the burden of... history."
Mareina stares at me blankly for a moment before she begins to chuckle. Her chuckle escalates, and she stakes the tip of her sword in the ground to lean on it and succumbs to full body laughter. Mors frowns at her, but remains silent.
Unfortunately, I deserve every ounce of Mareina’s ire and wrath. I’d have done far worse to the person who dared to commit the same transgressions I have against her and hersoulbound.
She wipes tears from her eyes, as her laughter wanes and her tone grows serious. “You know... I can appreciate your desire to forget. There was once a time I contemplated doing the same; to liberate myself of the pain, guilt, and shame that follows you like a blood-thirsty shadow.”
She pauses for a moment, gaze flicking thoughtfully to her river before her verdant eyes return to mine, piercing.
“But, if you honestly think, short of ridding the realms of your existence, that I would allow you such a blessed reprieve from even a fragment of the suffering you have inflicted, then truly, your delusion knows no bounds. Go home, Azrael.”
