Deidre's Death (#2, Rhyn Eternal) (13 page)

“I wanted to know if Deidre is still alive,”
she said.

“How is that your concern?”

“It’s not necessarily,” she admitted. “I
simply want to know.”

Darkyn’s gaze never left hers. He was
assessing. She willed her mind not to betray her, aware he could
read her too easily now that she was human.

“For now,” he said.

Deidre wasn’t certain if that was good or
not. Was it worse to be alive in Hell at his mercy or slaughtered
by the Dark One?

“She’s … okay?”

Darkyn smiled coldly. Deidre swallowed hard,
images from her nightmares returning.

“You can ensure she stays alive and
relatively okay,” he offered. “How important is it to you?”

“No,” she said quickly. “No deals.”

“So it’s not important to you that the woman
Gabriel loves stays alive,” he said.

Deidre bit her tongue to keep from taking
the bait.

“I find it fascinating that you and Wynn
profess to care yet aren’t willing to deal,” Darkyn mused. “Must be
some emotional failing.”

“Self-preservation, I think,” she said. “If
I thought you’d give me a fair deal, I’d consider it.”

“Maybe you prefer her dead,” he
continued.

“No,” she said before she could stop
herself.

“It would remove the
obstacle between you and your
mate.
”

“You answered my question. That’s all I
wanted to know.”

“Very well.” He turned as if to leave then
stopped. “I wonder. How is your deal with her going?”

“How is that your concern?” she asked
mockingly.

“I have an interest in the outcome.”

“Not until the deal is up,” she said.

Darkyn circled her, pretending to consider.
She did her best to stay cool and detached, the way she would have
if she were still a goddess.

“You are doing well at ensuring my mate
wins,” he stated. “I don’t think you need my help in that
area.”

The human side of her hated his tone and the
truth of his words more. She was fucking up without the help of the
Dark One that wanted her to lose.

“Then again, I’m known for ensuring I win at
all costs,” he added. “Would revealing your secret to him make him
pity you or drive him away?”

“Whatever you want from me, you won’t get
it,” she snapped. “I’m not making a deal with you. Ever.”

“Maybe that tune will change when you lose
your soul in four days.”

“You also know Gabriel won’t kill me even if
I do lose. You will have to wait for my soul to come to her.”
Deidre glared at him. He was pleased with himself.

“What if something happens to you at the end
of the deal?”

“Something like you kidnapping me, killing
me and claiming my soul?” she challenged.

“It has a nice sound to it, doesn’t it?”

“Except your mate would get my soul, not
you.”

“Because she bears you less ill will than I
do?” Darkyn responded. “Because you didn’t dump her in Hell with
the most violent demon in Hell?”

Deidre said nothing. She never realized how
easily he read those around him until he was throwing her thoughts
into her face. Human Deidre was probably terrified, a bloody mess
who would do whatever Darkyn told her at the end of the week in
exchange for him sparing her more pain.

“I can summon her,” she said suddenly. “What
makes you think I won’t tell Gabe, summon her and he’ll claim her?”
At least, she could when Gabriel let her access the portals
again.

“Insurance.”

Deidre frowned, confused. Darkyn wasn’t
afraid of anything she might do. She didn’t understand exactly why,
except that Gabe was locked out of the underworld. Even if they got
human-Deidre away from Darkyn, Darkyn could find and reclaim her
anywhere she was hidden, outside of Death’s underworld.

“By the end of the week, she won’t want
Gabriel anyway. You’ll be stuck with your mess and no soul,” he
said.

Her eyes widened.
“
That
I’d almost
make a deal about. Unless you’re using magic on her, there’s no way
any woman – Immortal, deity or human – would ever
choose
to stay with
you.”

The demon lord bristled visibly for a split
second, long enough to tell her she hit a nerve.

“We’ll see, won’t we?” he asked, relaxing.
“Fortunately, I’m not the one with my soul on the line.”

Deidre studied him, unable to determine what
was going on with him and the human he’d kept in Hell. Human-Deidre
was alive, if nothing else. Darkyn spoke as if he intended for her
to remain that way, at least through the end of the deal.

What condition Darkyn’s mate was in was not
something past-Death wanted to think about. It made her feel
ill.

“A visit to Gabriel seems to be in order,”
Darkyn said. “You’re fucking up fine, but … sometimes it pays to be
doubly sure.”

“No, don’t,” she said, gritting her teeth.
“You think I won’t tell him. You’re wrong.”

“Am I?”

She was quiet for a moment, grappling with
emotions that kept clouding her judgment. It was dangerous to deal
with Darkyn when emotional.

“You will do the opposite of what the human
you created would,” Darkyn said. “Perhaps you belong in Hell, not
her.”

She flushed.

“When you want to deal, summon me.
Otherwise, don’t waste my time.” The demon lord strode into a
portal, leaving her angry and no closer to alleviating her
remorse.

Deidre blew out air in frustration then
looked around. She was so tense, her shoulders ached. She shrugged
them and glanced back the way she came. No part of her wanted to be
cooped up right now. She had to find a way to help Gabe.

Darkyn was right. She wasn’t going to reveal
her secret unless she had to. Perhaps when she lost her soul at the
end of the week or maybe, if she could help him recover his
underworld, she’d tell Gabriel then. She had to wait for the right
moment, when she wouldn’t risk losing him.

She paused mid-step. The thoughts made her
feel worse. She couldn’t think about human-Deidre, powerless and
vulnerable in the hands of the most violent demon in Hell. Then
again, Darkyn was right. As guilty as she felt, she wasn’t willing
to make a deal with him to protect the human she’d condemned.
Because if she did, she’d lose what little she had left.

Past-Death began walking again. She was
unaware of where she went until a death dealer faded from the
surrounding forest. He didn’t confront her, but he startled her.
She slowed, hating that she no longer had the heightened senses of
a deity. No one had ever been able to sneak up on her before, and
now, it seemed like everyone did. The human senses that made her
gasp at the colors of spring flowers were also ill-made to defend
them against Immortals and deities.

The death dealer didn’t challenge her,
instead melting back into the forest shadows.

Deidre reached the earthly version of the
Lake of Souls. She always experienced a sense of peace around the
souls. Perhaps it was the knowledge they were safe because of her.
No deity or Immortal or living human ever welcomed or accepted
Death, but the souls always had.

She went to the edge of the lake and peered
into it. Seating herself on a low bank, she studied the souls. They
were green, glowing and healthy. They didn’t suffer, which was
good. The only problem seemed to be that they were somehow trapped
on the mortal plane.

“There are so many,” she murmured, dismayed
by the green glow over the lake. It wasn’t a natural
phenomenon.

Losing a soul was always a
possibility. Sometimes even she had put one in her pocket and
forgotten to drop it in the lake for weeks. But how did one
misplace or lose
millions
? Possibly
billions?

“Deidre!” Cora sounded frantic.

She glanced over her shoulder. The female
death dealer was exiting a portal.

“Don’t leave without me,” Cora lectured.
“I’m under strict orders to keep you safe.”

“I can do as I wish,” Deidre snapped in
response. She pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the death
dealer’s glare. “These souls. Are they all new? Or did they cross
over from the underworld?”

Cora frowned. When she didn’t answer, Deidre
faced her.

“Look, I may not be Death, but I’m his mate.
Tell me.”

“Gods. We don’t know,” Cora responded. “Does
it matter?”

“Of course it does.”

“All we know is that they appeared in over
fifty lakes across the world. Gabe had us gather them all and place
them here near the Immortals.”

“So they crossed over.”

“Maybe. We haven’t been able to collect
souls for very long. We didn’t have the ability to gather this
many.”

Deidre gritted her teeth, silently cursing
everyone under the sun for not keeping better track of the souls.
Maybe Gabe was right; maybe this was partially her fault for
breaking too many Immortal Laws at once.

“I feel like I should know how to fix
things,” she muttered. “It’s in here somewhere.” She tapped her
temple.

She remembered what caused the dome of her
underworld to crack. If it happened before and she fixed it, she
couldn’t recall. Her eyes went to the sky instinctively.

The souls crossed over into mortal lakes,
after the dome of her underworld cracked, and she resigned. How
were the two connected?

“Gabriel said no more shoes,” Cora said.

“Fine.”

Deidre ignored the grunt the death dealer
gave her in response. She moved once more to the edge of the lake
and stared at the souls. Most of them rested in piles at the bottom
of the lake while some floated in the water. They moved slowly to
the bank on which she stood, bumped into the dirt wall and floated
to nestle into piles at the bottom.

The deliberate dance was methodical. She
watched it for a few seconds, entranced by the movement. The green
gems were caught in some sort of invisible current that ended when
it reached the bank. A few floated away until caught by another
current while others settled nearby.

Her instinct wriggled. Deidre sought to
figure out what it was about the currents and subtle movement that
kept her in place when she wanted to return to the castle, where it
was warm. She found herself walking along the bank, gaze on the
souls that were moving. The panhandle fed into the roughly circular
main body of the lake, and she paused. More gems swirled in the
lake, seemingly at random.

But they weren’t.

Lake of Souls bubbling.

That issue, she should understand how to
fix. Maybe, at one time, she did. Mesmerized by the souls, Deidre
stopped in place suddenly. She didn’t understand what her instincts
were trying to tell her, but right now, they wanted her to climb a
tree to see the lake from above.

Striding to a tree, she barked an order.

“Tree, up!”

It didn’t respond like the ones in her
underworld would. She touched a branch gingerly, uncertain if the
trees here were sensitive to touch or not. When it didn’t fling
her, she moved closer and gripped a low branch. With effort, Deidre
hauled herself up onto a branch, wrapped her legs around it in a
careful balancing act then stretched upward for the next. She
continued in that fashion until she was a good fifteen feet off the
ground. It wasn’t high enough for her to see exactly what she
wanted, but she was tired from effort.

“These are
the
laziest trees in any
of the worlds,” she complained, not caring what the tree thought of
her.

Deidre looped her arm through branches and
leaned out as far as she could to see the lake.

The movements that seemed random when
standing beside the lake were lazily coordinated from above. She
could see the paths of currents. They moved like pinwheels around
the mound of souls in the center of the lake. The starting point
was on the near side of the lake. The movements seemed to start
there, circle around the lake then drop, as if there was an
invisible wall.

It meant something, but she didn’t know
what.

“What’re you doing?” Cora sounded
exasperated.

Deidre shifted to see the woman standing
below. She carefully began the trip down the tree. Dropping the
last few feet to the ground, she regained her balance.

“I am not pleased by these mortal plants.
They’re beautiful but useless,” she grumbled. “Any idea why the
currents run the direction they do in the lake?”

“No.” The death dealer was gazing at her
intently.

“Did you notice the currents in the
lake?”

“No. I’m sure Gabe did.”

Deidre almost rolled her eyes but stopped
herself. It was good that Cora had faith in Gabriel when he was
losing death dealers who no longer believed in him. Cora was a good
woman, and Gabriel needed those in his life.

“There are no currents in the Lake of
Souls,” she told Cora. “Do you know what this means that there are
here?”

“No.”

“Me neither.” Deidre strode to the edge of
the lake again. She wiped away the pine needles clinging to her
clothes.

Cora joined her on the bank. They stood in
silence.

“Currents,” Cora repeated. “There’s no river
feeding into this lake. Could be an underground spring or river or
something causing them to move.”

“They’re moving in patterns,” Deidre said.
“This way, around the center of the lake.” She drew a circle in the
air.

Underground spring.
She felt it again, a sense that this should mean
more than it did.

“The souls just appeared,” she murmured. “In
lakes. With currents.”

A gem bubbled to the top of the lake then
dropped down, rejoining the rest of them beneath the surface.
Deidre cocked her head to the side.

The Lake of Souls in her underworld was
always still. What made it bubble? It was a sign that her power was
weakening, just like the cracking of the sky in the underworld’s
dome. The demons had been able to enter her realm when the sky
broke apart.