“Maybe. Or maybe this will work.”
“Negotiating with Death? Even Andre couldn’t manage that.”
“Have you met her?”
“Of course,” Kris said. “Before we left, she talked to me about some dream I didn’t have then started to talk about philosophy.”
“Sounds about right. Everyone’s got a weakness that can be leveraged, Kris.”
“What is hers?”
“I’m still working on that, but I think it’s Gabe.”
“Dammit, Rhyn, I’m serious. What if you bring down both worlds just by forcing us all to come here?”
“You chose to be here, Kris,” Rhyn said. “You chose to leave Kiki. You chose to let Jade go and turn a blind eye to him being a traitor. You chose not to see Hannah was a shapeshifter.”
“I put my duty first.” Even as he said the words, Kris couldn’t ignore the part of him that pointed out where he’d failed. “I can’t say your choices have been any better.”
“We both tried and fucked up. At least I have the backbone to admit it.”
Kris said nothing. Rhyn’s assurances that Hannah was safe in Hell didn’t sit well with him. Kris followed the half-demon without knowing where they might be headed, instead thinking of just how bad of a situation he’d left Kiki in.
Death was right. Kris didn’t have what it took to keep the Council together. He may have just lost one of his brothers, because he lost focus of what he should’ve done. Maybe he should’ve known Jade was a traitor or Hannah was a demon. He hadn’t known of Andre’s danger or been able to bring the Council together to fight the demons that threatened them all. He hadn’t been able to keep Hannah safe or Toby or Katie.
His eyes went to Rhyn’s back as his half-brother hacked through a few branches in their way. The sense that the exiled half-demon could do what he couldn’t returned. Kris touched his collarbone, the one Jade had broken. If not for Rhyn, Jade might’ve killed him a few days ago.
He didn’t believe Rhyn would’ve made the right decisions all along, but he couldn’t deny that the half-demon wasn’t the creature he remembered Andre sending to Hell.