Darkyn's Mate (#3, Rhyn Eternal) (13 page)

“You can beg me,” he said and kissed her
hard enough to rob her of breath. “And fight me.” Another kiss,
this one harder. “And bleed for me. If you satisfy me, I might
consider whatever you ask of me, but I will never willingly spare
your world.”

Deidre stopped his next kiss by placing her
hand on his heart. Darkyn didn’t back down, and the light of lust
flared in his gaze.

“You are the only one I’d ever try to kill,”
she whispered.

“I’m the only one you never could kill, even
if you used all my power against me,” he replied. “You are my mate.
It’s not possible.”

“You’re bluffing,” she said, searching his
face.

“Am I?”

She couldn’t tell, but she doubted it. Anger
stirred within her at the satisfaction on his face. He was serious
about destroying the mortal world. If he was half as creative at
torturing people and planning his battles as he was in bed, he was
more than capable of doing it.

“We are nothing alike,” she said.

“I am what I am. You are what you are. Your
purity and my depravity. It will make eternity intriguing.” He
leaned forward to kiss her once more, his fangs fully extended.

Deidre pushed him away. The demon side of
her was always turned on by him, the human side of her determined
not to let him do anything to her world. Before he could start
another round of rough sex on his terms, she leaned into him, using
her body to press him to the bed. Darkyn didn’t resist. His hands
roamed her body, his long nails leaving trails of blood down her
skin. They healed fast and brought exquisite little pricks of
pleasure.

She bit his neck harder than she had before,
and he chuckled.

“Now you’re ready to play,” he assessed.
“Drink deep, love. What I plan on doing to you would kill a demon
ten times over.”

Anger burned in her blood. Deidre did as he
said and fed long, prepared to put up an honest fight this time.
Her fear was tamed by fury. No part of her would let Darkyn hurt
her world. Ever. No matter what the cost to her. She’d show him she
wasn’t afraid to back down in bed or anywhere else.

Deidre.
She frowned, not recognizing the voice. Darkyn
said nothing about leaving Hell after they returned from her
apartment. She hesitated, though, not wanting to walk into another
trap of Harmony’s death dealers. Darkyn wore her out, and when
she’d woken, she was alone.

On her way to see Zamon, she stepped into an
empty hallway before trying to call a portal. She saw someone
waiting for her in the center of the in-between world and
recognized Rhyn. At ease with the half-demon friend of Gabriel, she
entered the shadowy land. He waited for the portal behind her to
close.

“Thought I’d check up on you,” he started.
“Figured you had to make a deal that broke bad for you.”

“Um, no. Why?” she asked curiously.

“Five minutes after you left, he called off
the attacks.” Rhyn eyed her. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself to
make a deal that benefits me. I’ll make a deal with him first.”

Deidre grinned. With a whoop, she twirled in
the middle of the shadow world.

“So you did do something,” he said,
waiting.

“I think so,” she replied. “I basically
asked him to stop.”

“Just like that.”

She blushed, smile on her face.

“This is the creature that
nearly wiped out the planet and the human race, who’s building an
Army of Souls to make a second go at it, who has eaten more people
than you’ll ever know, even if you live forever, and who’s got the
largest source of power of any deity,” Rhyn said. “You
asked
him not to kill a
few kids, at the request of the half-breed he fucking hates, and he
just agreed.”

“It’s purely on his terms,” she added. “Why
he chose to agree, I don’t know. I think …” She was pensive for a
moment. “No, I have no idea. I’ve been trying to figure him out for
the past few days and have no clue. I didn’t know what to do after
you showed me those pictures, Rhyn. I knew I had to try. I can’t
out-deal him. I can’t lie to him. I can’t manipulate him. All I
could do was ask. Maybe he’s got something worse planned. I don’t
know why he agreed.”

Rhyn studied her. “I think I do.”

“I’m all ears.”

“You’ll figure it out,” he said. He held out
something to her. “I brought this, in case you needed a negotiation
tool to use to protect yourself from him.”

She accepted the small vial. It was the size
of her thumb and filled with blood.

“A little birdie in my spy network fills me
in on shit going on down there from time-to-time,” he started.
“Past-Death said Darkyn kept Wynn, and the birdie told me awhile
ago the reason I think he did. Darkyn’s daughter?”

Deidre nodded.

“That is the solution.” He raised his eyes
at the vial. “Not enough for him to duplicate, but enough for you
to make a deal.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“My mate’s blood.”

She met his gaze, surprised.

“She has an anomaly that makes her immune to
young and old Immortal magic, all the way back to the Ancients.
Whatever my half-brother did to her, that should fix it,” he
explained. “Consider it a thank you. Use it how you will. If you
need the negotiation tool, use it. If you want to use it elsewhere,
do so. No one will know but you and me.”

“Wow,” she breathed. “Thank you, Rhyn. But
really, he humored me for his own reasons. What if it starts up
again tomorrow?”

“It won’t.”

“You know this how?”

“His game isn’t the one you think he’s
playing. I’ll leave it at that. Just promise me one thing,” he
added. “Don’t give that vial to Wynn. He’ll bargain a way home and
swallow it on his way out. If you use it for his daughter, dump it
in her mouth yourself. If you keep it, hide it somewhere safe until
you need to make a deal. Darkyn will know what it is the minute he
sees it.”

“I promise. I know better than to trust
Wynn,” she said with a sigh.

“You did what no one else has ever done and
convinced the Dark One to stop slaughtering innocents. Be proud of
that,” he said. “Now, get your ass back to hell before your mate
hunts me down.”

She gave him another smile and turned away,
retreating through the black portal. She emerged on the landing and
stopped to study the vial. He was right. It’d make a good
bargaining tool for a deal. Her thoughts returned to the sight of
the girl in the bed.

How many days, months, years had she prayed
for a miracle like the one in her hand? Diagnosed with a brain
tumor as a child, she was pronounced terminal over three years
before. The pain, the surgeries, the rollercoaster of hope and
despair. Was the girl in pain?

Should it matter that she was Darkyn’s
daughter? Deidre wasn’t certain what to feel in that regard. The
daughter of her mate for eternity, who terrified her and ordered
the slaughter of innocents.

Who’d stopped because she asked him and
showed some sign of yielding to their bond, if not to her.

In either case, Deidre
never put a stupid
deal
over the life of another suffering as she had.
She’d be helping Wynn out of Hell as well. The idea he got out
causing all her suffering made her frown. Deidre wasn’t vindictive,
but she still didn’t fathom the amount of evil in one’s heart it
took to kill them slowly while smiling and saying they’d get
better.

Yet the alternative was that Darkyn probably
killed Wynn tomorrow, when he failed. It was too easy of a death
for the first Ancient.

She’d make him a deal. One he couldn’t turn
down.

She wrapped her hand around the vial and
focused on calling a portal back to her room. The hole appeared,
and she cringed as she went through it. She’d never liked the
portal system outside of Hell; this one was scarier. There were no
doorways, just a hole.

She ended up in her room as expected and
left for the girl’s room three doors down. She knocked, and Wynn
answered.

“I hope you have good news,” he said and
pushed the door open, stepping aside. “I don’t.”

“Just checking in,” she murmured. Her eyes
fell to the girl. “What’s her name?”

“Selyn.”

Deidre crossed to her and touched the girl’s
forehead. Wynn paced to the desk in one corner, pushing the papers
around with frustration.

“Your time is almost up, Wynn. What will you
do?” Deidre asked carefully.

“I don’t know, Deidre. Chances are he kills
me or sells me back to Rhyn at some great cost.”

“Or leaves you here somewhere,” she
mused.

“That would be the worst of the options.
Have my magic stripped and turned into a blood monkey for demon
scum.”

“Can you make him a deal?”

“Maybe. I’m well aware of his reputation,
though.”

“I wouldn’t make him a deal, and I’m his
mate,” she said with a snort. “I get Hell for eternity and you get
…death. Or to leave.”

“Fate is a cruel master,” Wynn said.

His nonchalance made her angry. She sat down
and pulled her knees into the chair.

“Do you have any regrets, Wynn? I mean, this
time around, I guess.”

“You want me to say I regret what I did to
you.”

“It’d be nice to hear you wish you hadn’t
almost killed me.” Deidre smiled sadly as he glanced at her. She
rested her head against the back of the chair. Nervous about
proposing a deal, she also feared doing it wrong. Darkyn’s first
few lessons returned to her. She went over the wording of the deal
in her mind.

“I do,” Wynn said in a considering tone. “In
some respects.”

“I think you do a little. I mean, why else
did you want to ask me out to dinner at the end?”

“I did what little I could to assuage my
guilt.”

“But not for my sake,” she murmured. “For
yours.”

“The greatest lesson I’ve learned this life
is survival. In my previous life, I was nearly invincible. My magic
was stunted this time around. It’s made me cautious and
appreciative of the importance of self-reliance. Caring for someone
is a vulnerability.”

She heard what was behind his message, the
cunning edge Darkyn didn’t try to hide behind pretty words like
Wynn did. No, she didn’t trust the Dark One, but she doubted he’d
cover up what he was.

“I miss my friend Wynn,” she admitted
softly. “I trusted you with everything I had.”

“See where that got you,” he teased.

“Well, what if our roles were reversed?” she
started with thoughtfulness. “What if I could help you meet your
deadline? Would you trust me?”

“I imagine if you had that ability, Darkyn
would’ve discovered it.”

“What if he didn’t?” she asked. “What if the
silly, innocent, clueless little girl you spent years lying to
actually had something that you need to leave here?”

“What are you saying?” Wynn faced her,
alerted by the note in her voice. His sharp gaze took her in.

“Just that,” she said with a shrug. “What if
there was something I could do to help you?”

“The Deidre I know wouldn’t put politics
over helping someone in need, like Selyn,” he replied.

“True,” she agreed. “Though I could always
wait until tomorrow, after Darkyn deals with you.”

“You’re not vindictive. I know how good you
are. You’ll forgive Past-Death for hurting you. You’ve probably
already forgiven me. You’ll be the one person in the universe who
finds an ounce of good in that creature, Darkyn.”

His words struck home. They always did. Only
now, she understood he was manipulating her. Darkyn’s shared sense
warned her. She heard it in Wynn’s, saw it in the ruthless gleam in
his eyes. The knowledge made her want to scream, knowing she’d
spent years blindly letting him talk to her like this and encourage
her with pretty words, while he ensured the tumor in her head
killed her.

This was the kind of man whose depravity
Darkyn preyed on.

“I have forgiven you,” she said. “Not
because you deserve it, but because I understand you had a weakness
that consumed you.”

“Darkyn’s bond has given you insight.”

“Either that or being screwed over by
everyone you trust,” she replied. “It doesn’t matter. I have
forgiven you, Wynn. I am sorry you did what you did. I’m even
sorrier to know that it didn’t change you.” Her throat tightened at
the words. “You’re right. I’m not vindictive. I don’t want to see
you hurt here or killed.”

He appeared wary for the first time since
she’d known him.

“I have a solution that might work. It’s not
guaranteed, but it’s a shot,” she said.

“Why should I trust this?”

“Because if it fails, it costs you nothing.
We both walk away, and it never happened.”

“You are offering me a deal.”