Deidre's Death (#2, Rhyn Eternal) by Lizzy Ford

the underworld?” he
asked.
    “Bad. Those who support you are few and are
being driven into the Everdark forest,” Tymkyn replied. “But, you
have to take the information in stride. It’s one source only. He
might’ve been bluffing to keep me off guard.”
    “Where is he?” Gabriel demanded. “I can
determine that.”
    Tymkyn pulled a soul from his pocket.
Gabriel sighed in frustration. He took it.
    “Find me another one,” he ordered. “Keep
them alive until I can go through their minds.”
    “Will do, boss.”
    “Let me get this over with. Landon, my mate
is here. Keep that quiet, though. I want Cora assigned to her
fulltime.”
    Landon nodded. Tymkyn waited for more.
Gabriel lifted his chin in dismissal. His second-in-command
signaled Cora over while Tymkyn disappeared into a portal. Gabriel
checked Cora’s thoughts, relieved to find her clean and started
down the line.
    He found the five who reported the demon
interactions with ease. Demons – especially those personally
trained by Darkyn – knew how to sense weakness. They’d done their
jobs well. All five of the death dealers were borderline about
abandoning Gabriel. He pretended not to notice, though, and thought
hard as he checked the minds of the remaining assassins.
    What did he do to those who hadn’t taken
that final step but probably would soon?
    The responsibility of Death weighed heavily
on his shoulders. There was no room for traitors in his ranks, not
with his critical mission on the human world and his own mate
within striking distance. The underworld would open for him, when
he’d conquered his challenges here in the human realm. The deity
Fate had told him as much, after shutting down Gabriel’s access to
the underworld.
    A mate lying to him and death dealers
deserting right and left.
    Gabriel reached the end of the assassins and
turned to gaze at the lake with its souls. His duty was beyond
question the most important there was: protecting the souls of the
dead mortals and dead-dead Immortals. There was no room for
mistakes or hesitation.
    He drew a deep breath then turned to the
waiting death-dealers. He walked down the line to the nearest of
the five the demons had approached with offers and paused before
the Immortal with icy blue eyes. Reading their minds confirmed they
were considering the demons’ offers.
    “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you
now,” Gabriel said calmly.
    The death dealer stared at him. Those around
them were silent, still. Instead of responding, the assassin
knelt.
    “Granted.” Gabriel acknowledged the request
for a quick death. He placed his hand on the assassin’s head. A
small pulse of power, and the man dropped.
    Gabriel called the soul to him silently and
watched the green fog form around his hand before it crystallized
into an emerald. Gabriel tossed it into the lake. He moved onto the
next death dealer whose loyalty was swaying and paused before the
slender woman.
    “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you
now,” he repeated.
    She knelt.
    Gabriel went down the line. None of the five
fought him or made excuses. All obediently requested quick deaths,
and he granted them, tossing their souls into the lake instead of
crushing them to send them to Hell, which was the usual fate for
the souls of traitors.
    “Dismissed!” he called to those
remaining.
    Landon waited for him a short distance away.
Gabriel took a moment to breathe deeply, unsettled by how quickly
his assassins were falling. He thought them all loyal and
supportive when he took over. At the first sign of real trouble,
those who weren’t had begun to show their true allegiances.
    He never expected there to be so many. It
was a blow to him, considering he’d worked with many of them for
thousands of years. No matter what they thought of his human
origins, he was still the deity in charge of the underworld. More
importantly, the underworld accepted his appointment. He was
starting out doing a shitty job, but he was slowly