Darkyn's Mate (#3, Rhyn Eternal) (19 page)

“Obligation,” he replied. “She is mine. You
are mine. Hell is mine.”

“But you went to great lengths to help her.
Isn’t there some part of you that can care?” she asked, troubled
again.

“Not the way humans do.”

His quiet statement was difficult to
swallow.

“Demons show affection. We are not capable
of more,” he added.

She shifted to see his face, surprised by
his confession. Days before, he’d claimed nothing existed beyond
physical pleasure for a demon.

“I can live with that,” she said. “You show
me affection in your own way, don’t you?”

He nuzzled her neck in response.

“Did you … can I ask if you sent Wynn
home?”

“I keep my terms,” Darkyn replied. “He went
home.”

“I don’t know how to feel about that,” she
said, chewing on her lip. She was almost angry enough with Wynn to
wish he’d stayed here just a little longer.

“A man like that will find his way back
here,” Darkyn said.

“Probably. Speaking of difficult Immortals …
what was Past-Death looking for?” she asked, puzzled. “I know there
was more to why she sought me out but I don’t understand what.”

“Weakness. Willingness to negotiate. She
knows she’s lost and is desperate. It’s common among those who
deal. Another reason you won’t deal without me. Your heart is too
soft.”

“I wasn’t too soft on Wynn!” she
exclaimed.

“You offered him a deal when none was
needed, love. You could’ve waited a day for him to fail then cured
Selyn.”

“The thought occurred to me.”

“Yet you offered him a deal. Lesson five:
when you have the advantage already, don’t deal. You will never
deal outside of those we make in private. Your nature is too …
pure.”

“Like I couldn’t …” she placed a hand over
his heart “…even the first day, when I thought I had a chance to
leave. You knew that though, didn’t you?”

He tipped her chin up. His dark gaze
gleamed.

“Without a doubt,” he said with a cold
smile. “I know what you are.”

“It’s not fair. It’s way too easy for you to
read me,” she complained. “Don’t you like a challenge?”

“You fight me where it counts. I look
forward to great battles with you over the fate of the humans and
fucking you into submission afterwards.”

She blushed. Her breath caught at the idea
of what he did to her, her blood quickening. He kissed her before
pressing his bloody thumb to her mouth. Her body calmed
instantly.

“You take no satisfaction out of seeing your
enemies defeated?” he asked.

“Wynn and Deidre are not my enemies,” Deidre
replied. “But no, I take no satisfaction out of seeing someone
hurting.”

“They went to great lengths to hurt
you.”

“I know,” Deidre whispered, frowning. “You
and I are very different.”

“We are,” he agreed. “I do not understand
how you feel as you do.”

“Sometimes I don’t either,” she said,
mentally evaluating the discussions she’d recently had with Wynn,
Gabriel and Past-Death. “Everyone has something to say about you
turning me into a sex-demon. I wish you hadn’t done that.”

“For my pleasure, not theirs,” he replied,
unconcerned.

“So you turn me into a seductress who isn’t
allowed to seduce anyone,” she said.

If his sudden stillness wasn’t a warning,
his purr turned to a low, lethal growl.

“Only mine.”

Deidre jumped. The sudden shift of power
around him made her uneasy. She nudged his chin, partially to keep
him from seeing her smile. He really did feel affection for her, if
he was jealous. He lifted his head in blatant rejection.

“Don’t be angry,” she murmured. “I meant to
tease.” She nuzzled his neck the way he did to her when she was
upset. He didn’t move away this time, and she nipped him.

“Not about that,” he said after a tense
moment. His hands moved down her body, and he nudged her head
aside.

“Okay,” she said, relieved the danger was
passed. He was irked. She wondered if it was because of the thought
of her seducing someone else or because of her triumph at winning
his affection, even if he beat her at every other thing. “That
makes me happy.”

Darkyn was silent. She assessed that – for
the first time – he wasn’t entirely certain how to react. His
features were emotionless, his body not yet relaxed completely
again. She took his face in her hands and traced his cheekbones and
jawline with her fingers.

He kissed her then rolled away.

Deidre watched him, brow furrowed. He wasn’t
angry, but he wasn’t himself either. She heard the rustling of
clothing as he dressed. The light of the black fire was too dim for
her to see much more than the outline of his form. Her eyes fell to
the shape of the hourglass on her nightstand. With a glance at the
demon lord, she stretched to grab it and rose.

He started to the door.

“Darkyn,” she called softly.

He paused. Deidre approached him until close
enough to feel his body heat. She held out the hourglass. Her heart
beat rapidly at what it meant to surrender what had been her one
hope to leave Hell.

“I don’t need this,” she voiced quietly.

He accepted it. It dissipated into black
smoke in his hands. Her breathing quickened as she realized what
she’d done. She felt his gaze on her but couldn’t see him in the
dim lighting of the room.

The demon lord gripped her neck. The action
that once terrified her now made desire bloom in anticipation of
what he’d do. Deidre waited.

The fire flared brighter, lighting up his
body. When she looked up, he was watching her. He made no move to
bite her or kiss her, simply studied her, his thumb stroking the
pulse in her neck.

“You’re not changing your mind, are you?”
she asked uncertainly.

His slow, cunning smile was not what she
wanted to see. His hand dropped. He peeled off his shirt.
Instinctively, she reached out to feel his warm skin and trace the
ridges of his abdomen. Darkyn turned his other side to her, and
Deidre stared.

The familiar demon blood
bond script ran down one arm from his shoulder to his elbow. Except
that, on his body, it was
her
name written in black.

D

E

I

D

R

E

Speechless, she traced her fingers down the
letters then looked into his eyes. She had been over every inch of
his body numerous times without seeing the marking. He held her
gaze without speaking.

“How long has it been there?” she
managed.

“Under a day.”

“So at any point up until then, you could’ve
…” She swallowed hard.

“You were mine the night I let you drink
from me. This is a formality of unwritten terms only,” he said.

Stunned, she was silent, trying to digest
what he was saying. He was serious when he claimed to want her. She
was more than an obligation, if he chose to keep her when he didn’t
have to. She didn’t exactly feel grateful to him, though, not with
the emotional trauma he put her through. But the idea he did want
her was almost a relief, another sign he was capable of providing
at least some form of affection. She wasn’t going to spend her
eternity with someone who didn’t care for her.

Darkyn replaced his shirt. When he was
finished, he pulled her into his body and bit her hard.

Deidre winced. The pain soon turned to
pleasure, and she melted against him. He didn’t drink long, and she
nuzzled his neck then found his lips with her own. This time, there
was more than insatiable lust and need in his kiss. There was
passion and a deep longing she innately understood only she was
able to fill. Deidre felt tears on her cheeks once more. Incapable
of human emotion, Darkyn was nonetheless expressing what demon
emotions he had. His hands ran down her naked body
possessively.

He withdrew and pressed his cheek to
hers.

“Will you stay?” she asked, touched by the
change in him.

“I cannot now. Later,” he promised. “You can
run for me.”

She smiled. “Alright. I will.”

He sidled away. Deidre watched him leave.
She wiped her face then dressed, too distracted to feel the warmth
of a certain deity as he appeared.

“How is my little fruit bat doing?”

She turned. Fate lit up the corner in which
he stood brighter than the black fire could her room. He wore jeans
and a t-shirt that outlined his lean frame.

“I don’t know,” she said,
a familiar tremor of uncertainty fluttering through her. “I’m
trying to figure out how I can want to be with
him
but not stomach what he does as
the Dark One. Why are these Immortals and deities so messed
up?”

“Imagine all the baggage a human has after
one lifetime and multiply that by a few thousand,” Fate replied.
His multi-colored eyes swept over her. “You wouldn’t believe the
amount of repressed anger most Immortals have.”

“I suppose. Why am I stuck in the
middle?”

Fate glanced at her, amused. “Do you really
want to be elsewhere?”

No.
As much as it didn’t make sense, as much as his day job
terrified her … She wanted Darkyn, more so now that she knew he had
a side – however tiny – that was capable of caring for her and only
her.

She shook her head.

“By the way, I’m mad at
you,” she warned him. “You tricked me! Completely, totally,
irrevocably
tricked
me into staying here to further your agenda and then lied
about how I was safe when I had the demon marking.”

“No, I tricked you into
staying
alive
to
further my agenda,” he corrected her. “If Darkyn didn’t want you,
he never would’ve let that mark form on you. His mark is
inconsequential.”

“Then why not tell me that?” she asked.

He shrugged.

“You play with people’s
lives every day. But this is
my
life, and I’m sick of it!” Her face felt hot at
his nonchalance. She approached him, glaring up at him.

“You can hit me.” Fate gazed down at her,
smiling. He opened his arms wide. “I don’t mind. It’s impossible to
be angry at a seductress.”

She planted her hands on her hips, tempted
but not about to do it, now the she knew he wanted her to.

Fate laughed.

“You are the soul to a creature who had
none,” he said. “It’s the only deal I ever lost that I didn’t mind
losing.”

Deidre’s anger deflated at the confirmation
of Darkyn’s thaw.

“You people have such a warped sense of …
everything,” she said.

“You’re one of us now.”

“Physically, maybe, but that’s it. Are you
here for any reason?” she asked suspiciously. “You always appear
when something bad is about to happen.”

“Keep that in mind,” he said wisely. “I
brought you something.” He reached into his pocket and held out his
hand. In it was a green soul, glowing faintly like an emerald under
a jeweler’s lamp.

“Omigod. Whose is that?” she asked, stepping
back.

“Let’s just say, you’re going to need this,”
he replied. “When the time is right, you’ll know what to do with
it.”

She almost refused but something about the
look on his face made her hesitate. Cringing, she held out her
hand. The only other soul she’d touched had told her its life story
in a blink of the eye, terrifying her.

Fate deposited it into her hand. Nothing
happened. She released her breath and placed it in the small pocket
of her dress.

“I’m still waiting for my love tap. Or a
bite,” Fate said, winking. “Darkyn’s not the only one who likes it
rough.”

Deidre shook her head and spun away, fed up
with deities for the day. She didn’t wait to see if he stayed or
went but walked out of her room. Darkyn had mentioned Selyn.
Curious to see how the girl was, Deidre walked three doors down and
paused.

Her palms were sweaty at the thought of
seeing Darkyn’s daughter, but she wasn’t certain why. Maybe because
it made her stay here feel more permanent. Selyn was now a part of
her world, her warped family.

She knocked. After a moment, the door
cracked open. Selyn peeked out from the two inches she’d opened the
door, her dark eyes identical to her father’s.

“Hi,” Deidre said awkwardly. “I, um, just
came to –“

The teen’s face lit up. Selyn wrenched the
door open fast enough to startle Deidre. She motioned for Deidre to
enter then closed the door and locked it as soon as she did.

Deidre stayed by the door, uncertain. Selyn
hurried across the room to a pad of paper and pen that Wynn had
clearly left behind, if his tight writing on the back cover was any
indication. Carefully, Selyn wrote out something then passed it to
Deidre.

“I can’t really read … demon,” Deidre said,
staring blankly at the geometric writing.

Selyn’s face fell.

“Is this how you talk to your father?”
Deidre asked curiously.

The teen shook her head then tapped her
temple.

“He reads your mind. I should’ve known.”
Deidre smiled. “Can you do that?”

Another shake of her head.

“Did Wynn say if you’ll be able to talk
again?”

Selyn nodded then blew out a breath. She
pressed her hands together then pulled them apart about a foot.

“Um, after a while?” Deidre guessed.

Selyn nodded once more. She lowered the pen
and paper, thoughtful gaze on Deidre. She nibbled on her lower lip
with her tiny fangs. She was still too pale and her frame slender
enough to indicate she needed some food to bring her back to a
healthy weight. Deidre’s gaze fell to the table in the corner. She
didn’t feel able to handle knowing what kind of food sat under a
domed tray or what half-demons like Selyn did for blood.

Just the thought made Deidre feel ill.