Gabriel's Hope

He said nothing, even as the last finger of light faded from the horizon and starlight replaced the sun. She didn't expect him to sit with her for hours; she definitely didn't expect him to stay solely for her comfort without trying to force anymore Immortal bullshit down her throat. He made it clear he didn't have to curry her favor, not with the Immortal Code on his side and the arrangement he proposed.

What did it mean that he didn't have to be there but chose to?

"Can you be away from your … underworld this long?" she asked at last.

"The dead aren't going anywhere."

Deidre snorted but forbade herself from laughing.

"You wanna know something?"

"No more secrets that make me cry," she warned.

"Trust me, it won't. I'm doing such a shitty job as Death, I got locked out of the underworld," he said, amused. "That's the other issue I've been dealing with, when not hunting you down to make you cry."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"So you're a lost soul, too, like the rest of the lake and me."

"Pretty much," he replied.

She shivered at the memory of her interaction with a single soul. What was it like to have the duty to protect billions of them?

"Why did you choose today for me to learn about Wynn?" she whispered.

He was quiet for a moment before responding. "I didn't realize things were bad enough between you and me that you'd trust the man who hurt you over someone trying to help you."

"Now I don't trust either of you."

"I can recover. He can't."

She wasn't going to admit out loud he was right. There was nothing Wynn could ever do to make things right. She'd always known there were deep, dangerous levels of potential with Gabriel, if he ever figured out whether he wanted her or not.

"I feel lost," she murmured.

"You're not." He squeezed her. "Think of me as your anchor. Something you want badly to shove overboard."

"You're so not funny!" she said, unable to stop the laugh that slipped free.

"We have a similar sense of humor, I think."

"You're locked out of the underworld, herding lost souls into a lake and yet you're here trying to win over the woman destined to be your mate by divine laws but who doesn't trust you," she summarized.

"Is it working?"

"You've taken the first step on a very long path. At this rate, I'll be dead long before you succeed."

"I'm one step ahead of where I was this morning."

"You took that as encouragement, didn't you?" She twisted to meet his gaze, frowning.