Gabriel's Hope (#1, Rhyn Eternal)

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

“I was expecting you sooner.”

Gabe emerged into the garden next to a southern style mansion. He was getting tired of surprises and men he didn’t want to see popping up to meet him. Wynn lounged in his seat at the garden table, an empty wine glass before him.

“You haven’t aged, Gabe,” Wynn added.

“You look pretty good for being dead-dead,” Gabe replied.

Wynn motioned to the chair across from him. A full wine glass sat in front of the seat. Gabe knew Deidre had been there; her scent lingered. He should’ve taken some satisfaction at the full glass of wine. The knowing look on Wynn’s face, however, made him realize the long dead-dead Immortal had figured things out.

“She’s charming this time around, isn’t she?” Wynn asked.

Gabe sat. She’d truly thought he was going to kill Wynn. Whatever step towards him she seemed to take this day, she’d leapt back about twenty. He’d drooled over her offer, after wrapping himself around her warm body.

“She is,” he replied. “She raised you before she crossed over?”

“Yes. Didn’t say why. Didn’t say anything at all, except welcome back,” Wynn said. “I figured it out when I rediscovered her in the human world a few years ago. I assume she knew she’d need something from me, except she had no idea who I was when we met again.”

“You can thank Fate for that one. Pretty sure he’s the only one among us who was able to out-manipulate her.”

“I like this Deidre. Sweet, gentle, trusting.”

Gabe bristled, aware of the quiet lethality of the Immortal before him. Wynn hadn’t been much better than Darkyn in his pursuit for power. The disaster that remained of the Immortal society and its Council was evidence.

“You always were a good pair.”

“Your involvement with her?” Gabe asked.

“Friendship.”

“Men like you don’t have friends.”

Wynn shrugged. “We don’t put all our cards on the table at once, either.”

Gabe assessed him. The same gleam was in Wynn’s eye that he remembered. The Immortal was planning something and intended to use Deidre to get it. Otherwise, he would’ve killed her after stumbling upon her years ago.

“It’s to your benefit to stay away from her,” Gabe said.

“I’m not the one you have to worry about. Of the two of us, she trusts me.”

“She also thinks I came to kill you.”

“We wouldn’t be talking, if my name was on your list,” Wynn said. “Very honorable of you to give her a choice of being with you after how she treated you all those years.”

Gabe was silent, emotionless. He’d been baited by many Immortals in his time and understood Wynn wanted to push his buttons. Deidre trusted Wynn enough to tell him everything. She’d likely never speak to Gabe again after this night. It burned him, but he had to put her safety over whatever he felt. The high road was his curse.

“But, she’s not the same person,” Wynn said when the attempt to provoke him failed. “Fate is not the only one you can thank for that. She’s learned to appreciate life and those around her, following a diagnosis of a terminal illness.”