✿ ✿
"It's fine, love," he said, caressing her cheek. "Go with him. I'll be with you shortly."
Ariel dipped her head and stepped away. "Let's go," she said to the young man waiting, and they moved toward the exit. Before she left, she paused and cast a glance back at Bernard. His face was pale, his world seemingly crumbling around him.
"Ariel, I want you to know one thing," Bernard's voice echoed through the hall, raw and desperate. "I will never give up on you! I will make you mine!"
She let out a deep, hopeless sigh and turned away, walking toward the waiting car.
[Horace, please spare his life. I beg you,] she sent through their mind-link, her fingers trembling as she slid into the backseat.
[As you wish, my love.] Horace's voice replied calmly, chillingly composed.
Xavier, in disguise, slipped into the passenger seat, and the bodyguards snapped into position, shadows of lethal precision.
— — —
