"I imagine you already know what to do?" Andre asked curiously.
"Stay out of my head, Immortal. I raised you but can render you dead-dead just as fast," Gabriel growled in warning.
"It was a guess only." Andre sounded entertained. "Whatever it is, I suggest you find a way to knock it out before things get worse."
Gabriel's thoughts went first to his estranged mate and then to the door he was supposed to walk through in order to become a true deity. Of the two of them, he'd rather take a chance on the door. It was much harder for him to determine how to handle his anger and hurt, let alone cut that emotional baggage out of his life completely.
Putting aside his emotions, he refocused on what they needed to be doing. "You alone or is Tamer with you?"
"He'll be along shortly, I believe."
"Wait here." Gabriel strode to the edge of the forest and paused, not about to smack into another wall of branches, if the Lake wasn't done with him yet. "The only way I can fix things is if you let me through," he whispered to the forest.
He waited. The forest sounded normal. Taking one step then a second forward, he almost sighed. Nothing moved to block his path. It was one thing to know what was wrong, quite another to understand how to fix it.
Human emotions weren't that easy to manipulate. The resentment he felt towards his mate seemed too much to overcome, and yet, he knew he'd never stopped loving her, either, no matter what she'd done to him over the course of tens of thousands of years. No matter how many other men she fucked in the bed she shared with him or how she constantly manipulated him.
The problem was human Deidre. Sacrificing an innocent woman, one Gabriel had started to fall for, only to have her ripped away and the greatest lie in the universe revealed. He was able to forgive almost anything his mate did to him, but to forgive Past-Death for hurting Deidre …
His feelings became a jumbled mess whenever he tried to process it. Deidre had found a home with the Dark One, but that didn't alleviate the guilt and responsibility Gabriel felt.
How do you let go of the past that easily?
How did he accept his fate when it meant being okay with what past-Death had done?
Because the goddess who did those things is not the same as the human that replaced her. The thought wasn't new, but it was getting easier to swallow.
As if hearing the thought, a path cleared before him, leading towards the palace.