Page 302 of Mayhem and Minnie

“He is not sick. He is an abomination,” Azerius continues. “Something that should have never existed, yet still walks this earth.”

“I don’t understand.”

“What are you talking about, Ze?” the soldier in the blue uniform asks.

“You know fully well what this is, Cerenios. You have seen it before, though not in a mortal.”

The soldier named Cerenios freezes.

“You don’t mean…”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

“What the hell is this? What’s happening to Marlowe?” Minnie asks, her alarmed gaze flittering from Cerenios to Azerius.

“I didn’t give you leave to speak, female,” Azerius thunders, purple tendrils of energy floating around his body.

“I apologize for my sister, Commander. She’s a foolish female,” Molokai intervenes.

“Foolish, indeed.” Azerius lets out a dry laugh. “Because this is all her fault.”

Everyone frowns.

“What do you mean?” Molokai inquires in a measured tone.

Azerius pivots. Hands behind his back, he strides casually to Minnie’s side.

He gazes down at her with disdain, his nostrils flaring.

“There’s a reason why no one outside of the House of Moirai can intervene in a mortal’s fate, Minerva. And this”—he nods to me—“is precisely why.”

“I don’t un?—”

“You don’t understand. Of course. Your little undeveloped brain could not understand the enormity of what you have caused.”

“Ze, tone it down,” Cerenios mutters.

Azerius’s gaze snaps to Cerenios.

He shuts up and straightens his back.

“Cerenios, explain to this ignorant lot how Minerva’s actions have caused this.”

Cerenios clears his throat, anxious to be put on the spot. But out of everyone, he seems to have the closest relationship with Azerius since he even calls him by a nickname.

“When Minerva broke into the House of Moirai and tampered with the threads of fate, she created a rippling effect. That effect was further amplified when she interfered with the designated reincarnation times at the House of Psyche.”

I meet her gaze and note the turmoil residing in her eyes.

She looks at me and mouths, “I’m sorry.”

She didn’t tell me that. She didn’t say anything about breaking those laws.

Why would she not trust me with it?

Unless…

She knew.

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