Page 304 of Mayhem and Minnie

I meet his gaze and see nothing in it. There’s no emotion, nothing.

Only emptiness.

“Please don’t. I’ll do anything,” Minnie begs and cries.

“There’s nothing you can do, female. You have both broken the law. You’re both going to die.”

He raises his sword and aims it toward my neck.

My eyes widen in shock that this is how everything is going to end. After everything we’ve been through together, this cannot be the end.

She might have lied to me, and she might have hidden a lot of things. But she’s still mine. My Minnie. And I can’t let her go without a fight. I can’t die and let her meet the same fate.

No. I refuse to do so.

Mustering all the strength I’m able to, I fill my lungs with air and shout as loud as I can.

“M-Minnie!”

The sound of my voice takes on a life of its own as it pushes the sword away.

A brief look of surprise crosses Azerius’s face.

Something uncoils inside of me, something dark and vicious. A taste for blood unlike I’ve ever felt before.

My limbs are still weak, but through sheer willpower, I force them to move.

I get on my hands and knees and crawl toward her.

Tears roll down her cheeks as she looks at me. She’s struggling against the hold of the two soldiers—the next ones to die at my hands. She says something, but I cannot make it out.

I only know that I need to reach her. I need to tell her how much I love her—that nothing in the entire universe could change my feelings for her.

Protect!

The instinct to protect her and keep her safe roars to life inside of me, spurring me further even when I think I cannot take another step.

Ah, the pitiful image I must strike like this, on my knees, moving like a snail. But with every step, the invisible chains around my body rattle.

“Minnie,” I croak. “I’ll…save…you.”

I’m almost there.

I extend my arm, grabbing a fistful of her dress as I force myself to stand on my knees.

“You’re mine,” I whisper. “I won’t let you…go.”

“Marlowe.” Her cries of pain are more potent than the poison currently running through my bloodstream. Yet it’s because of that poison that I know what to do.

I look up at her, hoping my eyes can convey my thoughts.

She looks at me, teary and inconsolable as she fights to get her arms free.

But as our eyes connect, she knows.

I know she knows.

The ground is damp. Wet.

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