“Am I the only one who hears me?” Rhyn demanded. “Take. Mine. Be done with this nonsense. Leave my mate and my hatchling alone!”
“Not yours!” Death snapped. “You’re making me second guess myself, Rhyn. Don’t be so stupid.”
“There isno one else!”
“Mine.”
Rhyn turned, surprised. He’d forgotten Kris’s presence. The Council leader stepped forward.
“No,” Rhyn said. “You’ll take mine, Death, if you take anyone’s.”
“It’s my choice, Rhyn,” Kris said. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“The Council needs you.”
“The Council needs you.”
“As you and everyone else like to remind me, I’m the brawn, not the brains,” Rhyn said.
“I issued the contract to Gabe.”
Rhyn stared.
“It was for Katie and someone else, someone you killed. I didn’t know about your child. I didn’t know Katie would end up your mate. In truth, it might not have altered my decision, but it’s a little late for holding millennia-old grudges,” Kris explained. “You chose your duty over your mate. You are more fit to lead the Immortals than I’ll ever be.”
“Done,” Death said, pleased.
“Wait, it’s not done,” Rhyn said and approached Kris. “You can’t be serious, Kris. I’m the last person you want in charge of something important.”
“Andre always saw something in you that I never saw, until now,” Kris said with some difficulty. “You made a selfless choice, one I’ve failed to make more than once. Besides, I ordered Katie killed. I alone can make this right.”
“Kris – “
“I thought about what you said in the forest, about Lilith. Kiki said something before he left that makes me think you’re not lying. If what you said is true, you do deserve a second chance, Rhyn,” Kris continued. “Swear to me you’ll keep the Council together. Father and Andre always said we were stronger together than apart. I was unwilling to do whatever it took to keep them together. But you will.”
Rhyn saw the resolution on Kris’s face.
“I swear it,” Rhyn said.