"Will you tell me what the chances are for the option you're looking at?" Deidre asked him, troubled.
Gabriel hugged her more tightly out of instinct. Her small body cradled in his arms, he wasn't able to remember the last time he felt so relaxed. Or aware that what he did was mostly wrong. He didn't have a solution to her tumor. He was endangering her life by giving her hope and risking his emotions by remaining with her. Fate's lesson was a good one. Past-Death was beaten only by acting out of something other than duty.
He wanted to throw duty out the window when it came to his mate.
"Under ten percent," he replied.
"Wow. How far under?"
He hesitated. "Closer to one percent."
"That bad? And you're a deity?"
"A baby one," he said with a snort.
"Didn't I leave you an instruction manual?"
"Fuck," he muttered. "You would've burnt the place down on your way out the door if you could."
She laughed. "I am so sorry for what I was, Gabriel."
"No. You aren't apologizing for her."
"If I knew three years ago, I might not have trusted Wynn."
"Deidre," he said. "I can't fix that. But I might be able to help you."
She didn't ask how. She either didn't believe him or didn't want to know. From what he'd read in her mind, it was both. His plan took Wynn, Andre, the oldest of the Healers he knew and his own magic, and the best he was able to come up with was given a one percent chance by Wynn, whose mind Gabriel stripped to the core to ensure the Immortal didn't deceive him.
"Will you let me try?" he asked, heart pounding hard.
"I don't know, Gabriel. I'm kinda tired of having my brain cut open. If you fail, I get a shitty quality of life my last few months. If I succeed, I get to …" she stopped herself.
"Deal with this Immortal bullshit?" he finished for her.
"Pretty much."
"What if I made you a new deal?"
"Oh, god. Another attempt at an arrangement?"
"Relationship," he corrected with a smile.
"What do I get this time? Your left arm, two teeth and the trench coat?"
"No way in hell on the trench coat."
She gasped. His arms tightened around her as she tried to squirm away. Gabriel hugged her tight, entertained and enjoying the feel of her in his arms.
"Easy," he murmured. "I'm joking."
She growled but settled, her head dropping back against his shoulder. His eyes went to her shapely legs. The knit dress she wore fell to mid-thigh when she was standing. With her knees pulled closer to her chest to guard against the sea breeze, the dress crumbled to the creases of her thighs and hip. A little higher, and he'd be able to tell what color underwear she wore.