“Rhyn, will you promise me something?” she asked, propping her chin on his chest to look up at him. “Will you promise to protect Hannah, Toby and everyone else, even if it means losing me?”
“No.” His grip tightened instinctively around her.
“You’re a good man, Rhyn. You’ve done so much to help me and your brothers. You must do this one last thing for me.”
“It won’t come to that,” he said hoarsely. “I’d destroy everything to get you back.”
“I know you would, and I’m asking you not to. I’m asking you to protect what’s left of good in the world.”
Her words fell heavily, as if she knew she was already doomed to her fate in the underworld. Rhyn said nothing for a long moment.
“I chose to sacrifice my life so that you’d have the chance to do this, Rhyn. Don’t make my choice a bad one,” she told him.
“It was a bad one,” he said with a snort.
“Sometimes all we have are shitty choices,” Katie said. “Promise me!”
“If it’ll shut you up, fine.”
“Thank you.” She took his hand. They walked towards the beach that had formed his prison for three days in the real world. She faced him. “I want to kiss you one last time, but I’m not ready for you to disappear again.”
Heat surged through his body, but he hesitated. She really believed this was the last time they’d be together.
“Is this place even real?” he asked.
“Does it matter?”
Rhyn smiled faintly, admiring the woman before him. She was foolishly stubborn and lippy – and he loved that about her. She was the first creature ever to see beyond his half-demon curse. She’d stayed strong in Hell, through confrontations with demons and Immortals alike, through his own failures. She hadn’t just survived; she’d found some part of him to believe in.
The idea of caring for her overwhelmed him again. He’d never had a reason to try to control his power or to focus on anything other than surviving. That a simple little mortal could show him just how little his Immortal and demon powers really meant humbled him. If he found his way, it would be because of her.