"Can I ask what you won?"
"I told her to walk through the portals, and where she ended up, was up to me."
Gabriel studied Fate. "You were kind to her."
"No, I was kind to you and to the human Deidre. I'm a deity, not a monster, Gabriel, and I happen to see the Future. Sometimes I favor an outcome and nudge the chain of events to fulfill it. I restored the path she forsook so long ago, as I was obligated to do," Fate said then added. "I am also the only deity, Immortal or human alive who ever crossed that bitch and won."
"By losing."
"Exactly."
Gabriel found himself laughing.
"What are the lessons here?" Fate asked.
Gabriel's smile faded as he thought. He saw first of all that he'd chosen the right mentor. Or maybe, the right mentor had chosen him. Fate was both vengeful and impassioned in his treatment of past-Deidre, and Gabe sorted through the tangled web that marked the tumultuous relationship between Fate and past-Death.
"Aside from not pissing you off," Gabriel started. "Sometimes you make love to the Code and sometimes you fuck it."
"Well-put. What else?"
"You've been much more …clear-sighted in how you dealt with her," Gabe said regretfully. "You broke the Code out of duty and pushed her to do so out of emotion, which ultimately screwed her. I'm guessing if I break the rules, to do so out of duty."
"Good. Get the point?"
"I had no idea she cared enough about me to break so many rules. This touchy-feely shit is giving me hives."
"Me, too. You will have to cause me some trouble, so I have a reason to begrudge you," Fate said.
"That can be arranged." Gabriel chuckled. "Doesn't explain why your apartment is next to hers."
"Rarely do I get to see the Future unfold in person. I can see everywhere but cannot be everywhere. I chose to be here," Fate replied. "I will not need to interfere, unless you reject all we've discussed when you leave."
"No chance."
"Go forth, and use your resources."
Gabriel rose. He liked Fate, though after the story of how the deity took out past-Deidre, he knew better than to trust the godling completely. He didn't expect his portal to the underworld to be waiting and wasn't disappointed. No, it wasn't going to be that easy. He still had the challenge of the mortal world to knock out.
This time, he knew the secret to succeeding in the human realm.
The Code was no longer his master. Neither, he decided, was his past. What past-Death and the Code had been to him - the one-way relationship they'd forced upon him - would not survive the day. Fate hadn't answered the question he wanted, but he provided the response Gabriel needed to hear. Death didn't live in the shadows as Gabriel had for the majority of his life.