Destiny Redeemed (34 page)

Tears
began to stream down her cheeks as she sobbed. “No.”

Behind
them appeared Naomi Cooper, and they turned to face her and whatever verdict
she had to deliver.

“My
heart is heavy because of these proceedings. What my fellow councilman did to
endanger your destined one and to contribute to Gethen’s death weighs on my conscience.
You can be sure his actions will not go unpunished.”

Sure
this may be her last chance to plead Amon’s case, Thea reached out to touch the
councilwoman’s hand and began to speak in ancient Etruscan.

“Please,
for our shared heritage, have mercy. Destiny has finally blessed me with a
destined one to love and care for. For the first time in forty-five lifetimes,
I have true love. Please don’t take that away from me. Is there nothing I can
do to change this?”

Naomi
Cooper cupped Thea’s cheek with her hand. “There are few choices available,
child.”

“I’ll
do anything.”

 “She’s
not the one on trial. Whatever the verdict is, deal with me.”

“Thea,
someone must give two lifetimes for your destined one’s crimes,” the
councilwoman said in their ancient language.

“Done.
I willingly give two of my lifetimes for his freedom.”

Naomi
Cooper turned to Amon. “Your destined one has given two of her lifetimes in
exchange for your freedom. The final lifetime sentence is commuted due to your
part in helping this council see the true nature of Councilman Adams.”

He
shook his head in disbelief. “No. I won’t let her do that. I refuse.”

The
councilwoman smiled. “I’ve accepted her gift. It’s done.”

Before
Thea’s eyes, his wrist shackles and ankle restraints disappeared. Amon turned
to Thea and in his joy, lifted her into his arms and kissed her.

“How
could you do that? How could you give up two lives for me?”

Cradling
his face in her hands, she explained, “Amon, I would give up anything—my
life—for your freedom. Two lifetimes is a small price to pay for the three
lifetimes we’ll have together now.”

When
Amon put Thea back on her feet, Naomi Cooper took her hand. “I need you to know
the hardest decision I ever made was to hand you over to the authorities to
take you away all those lifetimes ago. Your father and I would’ve traded
everything we had to keep you with us, but your gift made that impossible. We
never stopped loving you and prayed every day that you found happiness and
could forgive us.”

Instantly,
Thea was a child again in the hills of Italy all those lifetimes ago watching
her mother cry as authorities took her away from her home. Memories she’d
thought were buried came flooding back, and she began to cry more out of
happiness than sorrow.

As
she hugged her first mother, she said, “I never blamed you or papa. I was born
with a gift that’s meant to help people. You couldn’t change that any more than
I could.”

“Well,
I’m happy to know you’ve finally been given a destined one. I just wish he
didn’t have such a ....colorful past.”

Thea
backed away from her and took Amon’s hand in hers. “I know you know him as many
things, but all I know is that he’s the man who’s meant for me.”

Naomi
turned to face Amon. “Please promise you’ll be that man and not the man you’ve
been for lifetimes, Amon.”

“Councilwoman,
I have no interest in being that man anymore. Thea’s happiness is my only
concern.”

“Then
this council will have no reason to bother you again. I wish for nothing more
than happiness for both of you.”

The
councilwoman turned to leave and Thea asked, “Will I ever see you again?”

Naomi
Cooper shook her head. “Not as your mother. I’ve already broken the laws by
speaking with you like this. But perhaps we’ll see each other again.”

After
she’d gone, Amon tipped Thea’s head up toward him. “You’re lucky my powers
don’t work here. If I had known what you were thinking, I wouldn’t have let you
go through with it.”

Thea’s
formed her lips into a pout. “I told you what I thought of your reading my
mind, Amon.”

*

Amon
looked out at the isle of Paxos below and the crystal blue Ionian Sea as Markku
fidgeted next to him and complained about the heat.

“Why
is it that people always get married in the hottest places?” he asked as he
tugged at his tuxedo. “I’m dying in this heat here. Don’t you have a house in Germany? Why couldn’t you get married there? I bet it’s nice there.”

“Thea
wanted to get married here. Just relax. All you have to do is witness. Nobody
cares if you sweat while you do it.”

“I
thought I was your best man,” Markku sulked.

Seeing
how unhappy his comment had made Markku, Amon relented. “Technically, you are.”

As
the smile returned to his face, Markku said, “Oh, okay.  That’s better.”

Amon
squeezed the bridge of his nose and smiled as he remembered everything Gethen
had said about Markku. He hadn’t seen him in six months, but the headache and
heartburn he often brought with him had joined him in Paxos.

He’d
questioned Thea about inviting Markku to the wedding, but she’d insisted saying
he’d been the reason they’d met in the first place. Even though Sevine’s spell
had worn off, he liked to make her happy, so Markku made it onto the guest list
and through his own wheedling, made it into the best man spot.

*

Thea
stared into the full length mirror as Kat and Suzanne fussed over her train and
veil. The woman who looked back at her looked like every fantasy she’d ever had
about her wedding day to her destined one.

“Oh,
Thea,” Suzanne cooed as she pressed her head up to Thea’s. “You look so
beautiful!  And I saw Amon. He looks so handsome!”

Kat,
who stood behind her fluffing up her train, agreed. “Sweetie, when you finally
decide to do it, you sure do it right. House in Greece, a man who looks like he
could be a Greek god, and a wedding that’s more beautiful than any I’ve ever
seen.”

Thea
couldn’t argue with that. Her life with Amon was everything she’d ever wished
for. She’d even gotten a special dispensation from the Aeveren Council
leaders—because of Naomi, she guessed—to relocate to Greece as a healer.

After
all those lifetimes alone, destiny had finally smiled on her.

*

Naomi
tugged on Amon’s coat sleeve. “It’s time.”

As
he straightened himself and waited to see Thea walk toward him to exchange
vows, he thought about how right those who had claimed he was favored by fate
were. When Thea appeared in her white wedding gown and veil, she took his
breath away. Her long blond hair fell in soft waves toward her waist, just as
it had the first time he saw her standing in his bedroom.

“Amon,
are you okay?” she whispered as she took her place next to him to begin the
ceremony. “You look a million miles away.”

“No,
just a couple months, angel.”

When
the reception had ended and all the guests had left, Thea sat on his lap on the
balcony of their home and they looked out at the boats coming in at dusk. She
played with his blond hair, fully grown in since his release from Nil, and his
hand slowly moved back and forth on her thigh.

“Did
I tell you how gorgeous you looked in that black tux? I couldn’t take my eyes
off you as I walked toward the minister.”

Smiling,
he kissed her softly on the lips. “It’s the tux. It makes any man look good.
Even Markku.”

Thea
shook her head. When Amon jokingly tried to defend Markku, she placed her
finger on his lips. “I don’t want to talk about Markku, Mr. Kalins.”

Amon
ran his hand along her side and pulled her close to him. “What do you have in
mind, Mrs. Kalins?”

Kissing
her, he knew exactly what she had in mind. And he loved her way of thinking.

THE END

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gabrielle
Bisset's first book was released in June 2011, and since then readers have
fallen in love with her paranormal stories with just the right amount of
history thrown in. From her own creations, the Aeveren, to her vampires of the
Sons of Navarus series, Gabrielle blends the genres of urban fantasy and
paranormal romance in her own unique way. Her stories are sexy and smart,
transporting the reader to another world.  She lives with her family in Pennsylvania and loves to hear from readers. She can be reached at
[email protected]

To
learn more about Gabrielle and her writing, you can visit her at her website
http://www.gabriellebisset.com/
and
follow her blog at
http://gbisset.blogspot.com/

Also by Gabrielle Bisset:
Stolen
Destiny
 

Vampire
Dreams Revamped (A Sons of Navarus Prequel)

Blood
Avenged (Sons of Navarus #1)

Blood
Betrayed (Sons of Navarus #2)

Longing
(A Sons of Navarus Short Story)

Blood
Spirit (Sons of Navarus #3)

The
Deepest Cut (A Sons of Navarus Short Story)

Love’s
Master
Masquerade

BLOOD AVENGED EXCERPT

Vasilije
looked around the room he’d just appeared in, his body alert to any danger.
He’d followed the sense he’d gotten before Teagan’s spirit had been
extinguished and knew he was in his home in New Orleans. Everything about the
place was Teagan—from the Turkish cigarettes he smoked, to the bottle of Guinness
that sat on the coffee table, to the spicy, musky scent that identified him as
one of Vasilije’s vampires.

And
the beautiful woman staring at him.

“Who
did this?”

Big
brown eyes stared back at him. “I don’t know. It happened so fast. I left to
grab another six pack and when I got back, someone had a stake...”

 Vasilije
stood watching the stranger as she cried, needing more information but forced
to wait until there was a break in her tears.

“Who
are you?”

The
woman dried her eyes and sniffled. “Sasa. I was his girlfriend.”

At
the use of the past tense, she began tearing up again, but Vasilije didn’t have
time for it. Whoever had staked Teagan couldn’t have gone too far and any more
time wasted with Sasa’s crying may mean he’d lose the fucker.

He
moved to leave and her hand caught his arm.

“Please
don’t go.”

She
looked up at him with such a sad expression for a moment he didn’t want to go.
But he couldn’t let Teagan’s murderer escape. Vasilije touched his hand to hers
to remove it from his arm, but all this did was make her squeeze tighter.

“Please,”
she begged in a voice that matched the pathetic look in her eyes. “Don’t leave
me alone now.”

The
urge to tear his arm from her hold and leave her to her misery spiked in him,
but it was overruled by that small part of him that understood her sadness.

“Fine.
Follow me. And keep up. And if I tell you to do something, do it. Do you
understand?”

For
a second, she looked surprised and Vasilije thought he was going to hear a
string of irritating questions. None came, though, and when he turned to head
out the door, she followed silently.

At
the street, he stopped and inhaled deeply, hoping to sense something that would
help him find Teagan’s killer. Nothing came. But there’d been something in the
apartment...something that he was sure he recognized from long ago.

Eyes
closed, he let his other senses take over, but he got nothing. “What did he
look like?”

“I
don’t know. It was so quick. Blond, I think.”

Vasilije
snapped his head to the left to look at her. “Man or woman?”

Instantly,
Tatiana’s threat repeated in his head.
Now I take something you cherish.
Had she staked one of his vampires in retaliation over Alex? Vasilije doubted
even Tatiana would stake a vampire herself, but she wasn’t above having someone
else do it.

“Man.”

That
didn’t mean Tatiana wasn’t behind Teagan’s murder. And who was this woman who
claimed to be Teagan’s girlfriend?

“Did
you see which direction he ran?”

Sasa
shook her head sadly. “No, I’m sorry. Are you his sire?”

“How
do you know about that?” he asked, more suspicious than just a minute earlier.

“Teagan
was a vampire, and you just look like a sire would. That’s what you call them,
right?”

As
she spoke, Vasilije studied her under the streetlight’s glow, still unsure she
was who she claimed to be. Not bad looking, she seemed like someone Teagan
could like. He’d always preferred brunettes with big eyes and bigger tits, and
although she didn’t measure up to porn star level, she still had a nice body.
He could see her as Teagan’s girlfriend.

“Yeah,
I’m his sire and right now I need to find the fuck who killed one of my
vampires,” he said looking down the street.

“What’s
your name?”

Turning
to look at her, he raised one eyebrow. “You’re a curious one, aren’t you, pet?”

“Well,
I think I should know your name if we’re going to work together to find
Teagan’s killer.”

Vasilije
continued to work on getting any sense of who he was looking for, but nothing
came to him. Frustrated, he’d need time to think and find his way around this
new place before he could search for the killer, and the last thing he needed
was a weepy woman tagging along.

“Uh,
no. We’re not going to be working together to find anything. Just point me to
the nearest place I can get something to eat and I’ll be on my way.”