"Really? Why?"
"That is not a concern of this deal."
This … deal sounded too good to be true. He wanted the soul in her head badly. Why not kill her and take it? Would it be hurt if she died before they removed it? Was that what no one was willing to risk doing? Was that why Gabriel promised her the world if she survived the operation? Because they wanted to keep her alive long enough to extract it then walk away?
No, not Gabriel. Sometimes, she heard longing in his voice, the same yearning she experience for him. Perhaps he feared getting close to her if she was going to die in a few months, seeing as how past-Deidre crushed his heart, too.
Deidre needed that chance with him. Darkyn alone was able to give it to her.
"Okay," she said slowly. "One more thing. I'm sick of pain. I don't want any of this to hurt."
"Not even a little?"
"Everything completely painless from here on out."
"You drive a hard bargain, but I agree." He reached out to her. "Take my hand, and the deal is official."
Deidre approached but hesitated again to take his hand. It was too easy. Nothing yet in the Immortal world had been as easy as this bargain. Reluctantly, she took his hand. Cold fire shot through her. She shivered.
"The deal is done." Darkyn dropped her hand.
"How can you do what Gabriel and the Immortals can't?" she asked.
"My magic is that of the forbidden," he said. "Every deity has a different nature and source for their magic."
"What does that mean?"
"I will show you." He strode towards a dark wall of the in-between place. Deidre followed, barely able to make out the shape of a doorway that pulsed darker than night. "We must remove it in my domain in order for my magic to work properly. It will take a great deal of power to preserve you, remove the tumor and heal the damage."
Dread filled her. He paused at the doorway. As if sensing her fear, Darkyn held out his hand once more.
"Come," he said.
The deal was done. Deidre accepted his hand and let him take her into a new part of the Immortal world. The moment the shadow world cleared from her sight, she wanted to run. She stood on a covered landing of a fortress made of black stones overlooking a parched desert beneath dual suns too faded to provide anything other than indirect light.
"Welcome to Hell," Darkyn said, releasing her.
"Oh, god," she breathed.
"There are a couple of things we must establish up front."