by Lizzy Ford
The words registered slowly. Rhyn sagged to the ground and watched Gabriel walk away and then disappear. Sorrow and rage pierced him to the core. He could think of nothing but Katie and his ultimate failure.
“Not looking so good, half-breed.” Another form knelt beside him, this one with blond hair. “I had no idea you were that half-breed, the brother of the Ancients.” The demon righted him and tried to heft him but stopped.
Rhyn blinked himself out of his stupor enough to steady himself. Jared squatted in front of him, looking more bruised than the last time he saw him.
“Now that we’re friends, I thought you might let me have a taste of your monkey.”
“She’s dead,” Rhyn whispered. He felt as if he stood outside his body, watching the world around him.
“And the body …”
Rhyn grabbed him and smashed him to the ground. He staggered back, unable to control the power within him. Jared lay still for a moment before sitting up.
“That’s some serious power,” he said. His eyes began to glow again. “We make a good team, don’t you think? We could do a lot together.”
“Leave me be.”
“For now, I will, but I’ll be back to talk. I still owe you a favor. I overheard something you might want to know.”
Rhyn flopped onto his back and covered his eyes with one arm. He was alone, roasting in the sun for a long moment before he sensed Kris approach. He lowered his arm enough to see his determined brother, unsteady on his feet with one arm in a sling.
“What happened, Rhyn?” Kris asked, sitting heavily on the ground beside him.
“You’re alive.”
“I owe you one.”
“Kill me,” Rhyn said.
“What?”
“You owe me. Kill me!” Rhyn snapped.
“I can hardly walk let alone lift a weapon. At one time, I would’ve probably agreed,” Kris admitted. “What happened here? Where’s Gabriel?”
“Took Katie to Death.”
Kris was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “Not sure how to break it to Hannah. That would explain why the walls around the Sanctuary are in ruins.”
Rhyn saw enough to see that what his brother said was true. He could look straight into the courtyard of the men’s wing, and the furious Daniela standing in the middle staring at him.
“I can’t control it, Kris. Stuff just happens.”
“I see. And Gabriel won’t come back.”
“Better not.” Even as he spoke the words, he knew he’d never completely disregard his friend. He had one, now that Katie was gone. Even thinking of her made him feel as though his insides were burning and dying.
“Come to the Sanctuary. I’ll figure something out,” Kris said. He struggled to rise.
“I’m staying here.”
“Fine. I’ll send Toby out to check on you. He’s yours now, Rhyn.”
“I don’t want a fucking angel dogging me everywhere.”
“No choice. You were her mate, and Toby was hers.”
Rhyn said nothing more, aware it was all he might ever have to remind him of the mortal intended to be his mate. If he had it to do over again, he never would’ve un-bound her. He would’ve taken her and run away somewhere safe where no one would ever find them, as he initially wanted to do. In all his years in Hell, he’d never known this kind of pain.
It was too late. He’d failed. He’d lost the only thing that’d ever mattered, and the only person who ever truly loved him. He threw his head back and roared with fury and pain until his throat was raw.
The waves had pulled her under before darkness took her. She awoke with a jerk and looked around at the tiny cottage, lit only by a candle. The bookshelf was empty and weapons lined the opposite wall. Her heart beat like a hummingbird’s wings as she took in the one-room cabin. The windows were open and the sky beyond the trees dark. She didn’t notice Gabriel in the corner until he spoke.
“Took you long enough.”
She jumped at the sound of his voice.
“What happened?” she asked. “I don’t think I like this place.”
“Welcome to my home.”
“Your home? I’m in … Deathland or whatever you call it?”
“Sort of.”
“Is Rhyn okay?” she ventured and braced herself for the answer.
“He is.”
“Oh, thank God!” she said with a deep sigh.
“Are you well enough to travel?”
“Travel where?”
“At any time, I expect a furious Death to knock on my door. I told you about the loophole, and she won’t like that.”
“What loophole?” she asked uneasily.
“When someone sacrifices himself for someone else, the assassination contract is void.”
“But I’m still dead, aren’t I?”
“Eh, tough to say,” he said.
“What the hell does that mean, Gabriel?”
“It means, if Death finds you, probably. But if I can get you to the mortal world and back to a Sanctuary, then she’ll have to reissue the contract,” he explained.
“And then you come to kill me again?” she asked with a frown.
“Nope. Consider not killing you my resignation.”
She gazed at him, sensing the importance of what he’d done. Gabriel rose and began pulling weapons from the wall and planting them on his body.
“You sacrificed your soul for Rhyn and your life for me,” she said. “You’re incredible, Gabriel.”
“No offense, but I did both for Rhyn. I barely know you, but he’s all I’ve got.”
“Me, too.”
“She’s okay, too,” he said. “Rhyn’s gonna flip out when he finds out it’s a girl.” He glanced at her, his face softening. His eyes went to her stomach.
“Does he know we’re okay?”
“No one does or can until I get you back. Death and Darkyn will have every assassin they own roaming the shadow world. We’ll take the back way.”
“I hope you’re good at what you do,” she said with some discomfort as he continued to load his body with weapons. She doubted the back way was more dangerous than a short cut.
“The best.”
“What happens to you after we get to the Sanctuary?”
“Don’t know and don’t care.”
She rose and tested her legs. She felt weak, but she was alive. Sorta. Her heart ached for Rhyn. Even though she stood in Death’s realm with a slim chance of ever seeing the blue sky again, her life had never seemed so clear to her. She’d faced Hell, and now Death. There was nothing else to fear.
“C’mon,” Gabriel said and whipped the door open. “This won’t be easy.”
“I’m ready, Gabriel,” she said, in awe of his determination and dedication. At the quiet resolution in her voice, he turned to face her. “Take me back to Rhyn.”
“I will. I swear it.”
I’m coming, Rhyn.
Rhyn’s Redemption
Book III
Author’s Note
“Rhyn’s Redemption” – end of the Trilogy, beginning of the Rhyn Eternal Series
When I started the Rhyn Trilogy, it was with the intention of ending it after three books. I figured I’d detail Katie and Rhyn’s relationship and how they eventually became a couple. However, this past fall, after seeing the overwhelming reader support and feedback for the series to continue beyond the three books, I developed a different plan.
I now consider the Rhyn Trilogy to be a prequel to the Rhyn Eternal series and more of a history of how all the players got to where they are when the Rhyn Eternal series launches this September. The Rhyn Eternal series will include more books on Katie and Rhyn as they grow into their roles, and books on other popular characters, such as Gabriel, Rhyn’s brothers, Hannah, Rhyn’s daughter, etc., and the ongoing struggle with the Dark One.
With that in mind, I feel I need to warn my readers: “Rhyn’s Redemption” doesn’t end with all the loose ends tied up. It doesn’t resolve a
ll the issues, win the war with demons and it doesn’t end happily for every character. What it does is bring Katie and Rhyn together – and set the stage for the Rhyn Eternal series, because Rhyn and Katie will need each other for the upcoming books.
Thank you all for your overwhelming support for Rhyn and Katie! This series is very dear to me, because it’s brought so many wonderful people into Lizzyland, and I will be forever grateful for the friends I’ve made and the readers who keep me going!
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Chapter One
Death was waiting for Gabriel when he dozed off. He’d planned on staying awake and moving so she wouldn’t catch up to them, but even he needed a short nap after three straight days of grueling travel in the underworld.
He found himself on the Caribbean Sanctuary, in the small chamber with the Oracle book. Sea breeze swept through the small windows of the room, and he took a step towards the lectern on which the open book rested. The pages displayed had a few words written on them rather than the constantly shifting writing that normally scrawled itself across the pages. He felt himself compelled towards the book even as his fight-or-flight instinct reared up.
You know what they say about the inner ring of Hell, Gabe. Death’s words were written on both pages of the Oracle’s book.
“Why did you bring me here?” he asked the air around him.
I can’t talk to you directly, or I am obligated to take you with me, Death’s words appeared in the book.
“This isn’t the time for your games,” Gabriel said. “I know what happens if you catch us. What I don’t know is why you’d try to talk to me. You know where we are?”
I’d know if I wanted to. The underworld is mine.
“As I thought,” he said with a frown. “No matter. I’m taking her out of the underworld.”
You know I can’t let you.
“But you’re not here to stop me.”
If she escapes, it won’t be with your help.
The words chilled him from the inside out. There was one way he’d leave Katie, and that was if he was dead-dead. Gabriel looked around the small room, irritated with Death.
“Come out,” he ordered her. “I’ve known you longer than any creature still in existence. This is a dream. You can talk to me here.”
“There was a time when you feared me then a time when I thought you almost loved me,” Death said, materializing from the shadows. “Is this what happens when your weak human emotions fade? You betray me?”
“I have to do this. If you have to stop me … it won’t change how I felt about you.”
“You could’ve ruled the underworld at my side, Gabriel.”
“What we are – were – is of no concern now,” he said slowly. The words were harder to say than he expected. He’d gone from Death’s favorite – and the only death-dealer serving voluntarily – to just another of her assassins obligated to serve her, after he traded his soul for his best friend’s life. Death had done her best over the years to force his human emotions out of him. But she was right. He had loved her for so long, until he realized even he was a pawn in her games.
“Very well, Gabriel,” she said. “Then I must warn you. If I find either of you, I am obligated by rules much older than the Immortal Code to do what I must.”
“I understand. Is that all you came to tell me?”
“No. I came to tell you that you saw something I didn’t.”
He said nothing, aware the creature before him wasn’t capable of communicating a truth in a way most others could understand. Death was from a time before time. He would never understand what she saw when she looked out over humanity and saw its Past, Present, Future, and the soul of each human that ever lived. The size of her vision rendered her unique interpretations puzzling, even to him.
“You saw something I almost missed,” she added. “Maybe I was more interested in detailing your human weakness than in understanding what your instincts told you. Deities don’t need instincts. We simply know. But even I cannot know all.”
“You’re not pursuing us, because I was right about something,” he said. “What was I right about? We’ve spent millennia arguing. Not once have you uttered those words.”
“I didn’t utter them now,” she pointed out. “Let’s just say, I may have misjudged more than your affection for me.”
“Rhyn.”
“Perhaps. Though I will say, I haven’t yet made my final determination. He has a test he must pass. I didn’t expect him to get so far, and he may not pass at all. In any case, I have a much larger problem. I interfered when I shouldn’t have,” she said. “And now, it might be too late to make things right.”
“You did take an unusual interest in Rhyn,” Gabe said. “His soul should’ve been just one more jewel for your collection, considering how many souls you deal with and relationships you break a part.” Including ours. These words he kept to himself.
“It was not Rhyn that drew my attention, Gabriel. It was your interest in him.”
“You’re blaming me.” He looked away, at the blue sky visible through the window.
“I interfered. You have until he passes or fails the final trial.”
Gabriel cursed under his breath. He had no way of knowing what kind of test a deity like Death could create, but it wasn’t likely to be good. While he had full faith in Rhyn, he also knew better than to trust the petite woman in white standing in his dream.
“If he fails, we’re dead-dead,” he guessed. “If he passes …”
“We’ll see.”
“You can’t check the Oracle?” He motioned to the book.
“I cannot. My Sight has been stunted, no doubt as punishment for my tampering in Fate’s court.”
“I know I’m doomed. What about Katie?”
Death shrugged with a knowing smile that told him more than if she spoke. Gabriel gazed out the window of the small room, thinking.
“How long do I have?” he asked at last.
“Until the seventh day after she drowned herself, assuming Darkyn doesn’t catch you first.”
“Four days left. I take it you won’t come to my rescue if he does.”
Another smile.
“Why seven days?” he asked.
“There are some rules older than time. I’ve broken several already, but this one is entirely out of my ability to influence.”
From their years together, he knew the cryptic response was the best he’d get. Gabriel’s gaze swept around the room again, and he looked out at the blue sky. He’d never again visit this room or see the mortal world. This much he knew the moment he chose to help Rhyn and Katie over his promise to Death. The dream sky wasn’t even real, and he missed it already.
“It’s too late for either of us to turn back,” Death said.
“I wasn’t considering it. I’ll keep her alive until Rhyn passes his test.” Gabriel approached her until he towered over her. Memories of their nights together made him sensitive to the warmth of her skin, the tension between them. “This will all be worth it to hear you say you were wrong about something, and I was right.”
“You may not get that chance, even if I was wrong,” she said. “Watch yourself, Gabriel.”
The resignation in her tone sounded like a farewell. Gabe studied her, uncertain what could stop Death from doing anything she pleased. She was not only letting him go when she shouldn’t, but she was telling him just how much time he had to get Katie out of the underworld. Gabriel knew something was wrong if Death was turning her back on the duty of collecting souls, a duty she normally took such joy in. She’d been unwilling to do that for him when their relationship had
been at its peak.
“Send me back,” he said.
Gabriel snapped awake. It was still dark, and the moons of the underworld hadn’t moved far across the sky. He sat, uneasy with the dream exchange with Death. A small fire burned between him and Katie, whose pale features and shadowed eyes were showing the effects of both her pregnancy and the toll the underworld took on mortals.
“You need to sleep,” he told her.
“I was guarding you while you dozed.”
He snorted.
“I don’t feel so hot, Gabe.”
“I know. Just a few more days. Get some rest.”
“This place is creepy. I don’t think I can sleep with bugs the size of my hand just waiting for me to fall asleep so they can crawl all over me.”
“If you’re asleep, you won’t feel them,” he said.
“That’s not the point, Gabe.”
As much as he respected the tough little human, he found that she was driving him crazy. He’d spent his life relatively alone, crossing between the underworld and human world as needed. Death had been far from co-dependent, and he’d had free rein. Until two days ago, when he crossed into the underworld with Katie slung across his shoulder. He’d forgotten what it was to have someone completely dependent on him. He didn’t feel up to the task, not when failure meant breaking the man he viewed as his brother.
“I’m never doing this again,” he said.
“You’ve told me that twice. It’s not like I want to be here, either.”
“Sleep, Katie,” he said in a kinder voice. “I’m going to scout around for a bit.”
“Do you think we’ll make it out of here?”
“I hope you do. I have no faith I will.”
“I’m sorry for snapping at you about the bugs, Gabe. I’m just exhausted.”
“I’m normally much more patient.” Gabe looked her over then offered what smile he could muster. “Too much on my mind.”
“You’re afraid, too,” she said, studying him. “Gabe, if we don’t make it for some reason, I want you to know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done.”