MY CRUEL PROTECTOR
"And if you point that thing at her again, I’ll feed it to you."
The man laughed, a dry, wheezing sound. "You're weak, Shield. I can see the way you're shaking. Without your mistress to juice your veins, you're just a broken soldier in a fancy suit."
The man pulled the bolt back on his rifle. Click-clack.
In that moment, I saw the true Nevan. Not the monster created by the Syndicate, not the hero forged by the Sovereign. I saw the man who had loved me since Florence.