Gabriel studied her, sensing her resolve while also experiencing a tremor of fear. He wasn't able to read her mind to know exactly what she was thinking, but he suspected she'd reached close to rock bottom. It made him want to take her in his arms and hug her, to assure her everything would be okay.
But that wasn't the right approach with past-Death. She was far too independent and obstinate enough to prove whatever point she felt needed to be proven, at any cost. Whatever amends she wanted to make, she wasn't going to be dissuaded. This much he knew.
"If you're doing this to prove to me that you can be trusted, please reconsider," he said.
"The world doesn't revolve around you, Gabe," she said with a faint smile. "I'm doing this for me. I already lost my soul and your love. I have to prove to me that I'm worthy of being with you." The words were spoken with her normal calm confidence, but he heard the effort that went into them. "I want to be the person I know I can be. I just need this chance, Gabe."
Familiar unease went through him, a combination of frustration and resentment. Gabriel debated silently, aware the former goddess was hurting as much as he once had. His pain and anger had lessened, and he suspected it was because of the same reason she appeared distraught every time she looked at him.
She'd learned her lesson the hardest way possible, and at the cost of her soul. Any anger he felt towards her melted knowing she was in the kind of pain he went through at her hands when she took his soul months ago. No part of him was able to feel satisfied at the tables turning.
If anything, he had the urgent need to help her, to soothe away her suffering. No one deserved that kind of suffering, even someone who hurt him the way she did.
Since discovering her deal with human-Deidre, he'd been trying to figure out a way to barter with the Dark One to regain her soul and come to one conclusion: Darkyn knew how much Gabriel wanted it and would put a price tag on it that Gabriel wasn't able to pay.
But with Darkyn gone … Gabriel ached for Deidre, hearing her heartbreak in the memories shown him by Darkyn's soul. Yet the Dark One's demise might give him the opportunity he sought to get his mate's soul back.
The answer was somewhere within the knowledge pouring into his thoughts. He just had to isolate it. In the meantime, past-Death stood a better chance of surviving with him at her side than alone.