"Seeing the relative lack of consequence your life has in the grand scheming of deities and Immortals kind of makes you view things differently, Gabe."
"Sometimes when you look at a grain of sand in your hand, you forget that there couldn't be a beach without every one of them."
"That's sweet." She smiled. "I guess what made the biggest impression was watching you and her over the course of thousands of years. There was never a day when you didn't love each other. There were days when you hated the fact you did love her, and there were days when she almost walked away from you for good, because she hated that she couldn't control how she felt," Deidre continued. "But there was never a day when you didn't love her and she didn't love you."
The words were hard for him to hear. There was too much truth in them for his comfort. He wanted to condemn the horrible things past-Death had done that resulted in an innocent human being thrown to the Dark One. Her actions disgusted him, but he was angrier with himself for not being able to make himself feel less towards her.
His gaze lingered on human-Deidre, and he was troubled by the memories of the time they spent together. Time he might have enjoyed, if he hadn't pushed her away. Could he have prevented this outcome? How could he ever forgive his mate for what happened? He'd only learned the woman he fell for last week was still alive and now he had to let her go.
Again.
"I'm sorry, Deidre," he whispered. "You gave me hope when I was numb to the world. You don't deserve any of this."
"Silver lining," she said softly. "I helped Rhyn protect kids. I can help others. Darkyn is not an easy person to understand or live with, and I'm still not certain at all what to think of him at times. He's been fair and brutally honest, and he can't hurt me because of our blood bond. I kind of like him, even if he scares me."
"Kind of like him." Gabriel smiled. "Only someone as sweet as you would say that about the Dark One."
"Don't get me wrong. He's not normal. But it makes me think that maybe things happen for a reason."
"What reason is there behind falling for a woman and watching her get shipped off to live with the Dark One?" he asked bitterly.
"You did love me," she said, smiling.
"Yeah."
"I've got news for you, Death," she said in a lighter tone. "What you loved about me is present in your current mate. You just have to give it a chance."