Destiny Redeemed Read Free Page B

her.
    “Althea
Forester?”
    “Yes.
Who are you?”
    “I
need you to come with me.”
    Before
she could slam the door and call 911, he grabbed her and took her into the
house, holding her arms tightly. Seconds later, she’d been taken from her
home—kidnapped by a strange man.
    *
     “Are
you okay, my friend?” Amon hoarsely whispered to Gethen who sat watching him.
    The
sound of his voice made the servant’s face light up. Leaning forward in his
chair, he smiled warmly.
    “Yes,
I’m fine. I was never the concern. I can travel between worlds with ease,
remember?” Reaching out to touch Amon’s arm, Gethen continued. “How are you
feeling?”
    Amon
considered the question and struggled to put how he felt into words. The
gratitude he felt toward the soul sitting next to him threatened to overwhelm
him. He knew Gethen spoke the truth about his ability to travel between worlds,
but the risk he’d taken in rescuing him from Nil was so profound that even as
he lay there he found it difficult to believe he’d risked so much for him.
Physically, his wounds made him ache all over, but emotionally, he felt so full
from the love his servant had shown him he struggled to keep his emotions in
check.
    He
looked into the deep green eyes that watched him carefully. “We’re even,
Gethen. Your debt is paid to me. If anything, I owe you.”
    Gethen
shook his head and closed his eyes as tears began to well up in them. “Nothing
I could ever do would be repayment enough for saving my life and giving me the
one I’ve had with you.”
    Amon
shook his head and smiled.
    “No,
master,” he said sadly. “For all you’ve done for me, I could do nothing less
than rescue you from that...” Gethen’s voice caught and he cleared his throat.
“I’m so sorry it took me so long,” he said quietly, looking down at his hands
resting on the bed.
    “Don’t
do this to yourself, Gethen. You’ve given me the greatest gift of my
forty-seven lifetimes.”
    Amon
closed his eyes and prepared to say what he knew he should’ve said lifetimes
ago. Opening his eyes, he met Gethen’s gaze and smiled. “I should’ve done this
so long ago, but I was selfish. You’re free, my friend.”
    Amon
watched a look of sadness cross his friend’s face. Gethen had been away from
his people as his servant for so many years. Almost as if he read the
uncertainty in his mind, Amon smiled and said, “But I hope you’ll stay now as
my friend instead of my servant.”
    When
he was rewarded with Gethen’s smile, he knew he’d understood his friend’s
concern and was pleased he’d allayed his fears. Hoping to change the
conversation to something far less maudlin, Amon asked, “Did I see Markku
earlier?”
    “Yes.
He was necessary to cast a protection spell for your safety on the trip back,”
Gethen answered, his voice a mixture of appreciation and irritation. “I sent
him to find a healer.”
    Amon
closed his eyes as the pain in his right leg came raging back. Grunting through
it, he said, “It’s the least he could do since he was one of the reasons I was
sent there.”
    Gethen’s
look of confusion told Amon that Markku had been less than candid with him. As
the pain in his leg settled in to a dull ache, he continued, “You thought it
was just Varek? No, but I’m not done with him either.”
    Callia
flashed through his mind and the realization that he was alone, except for
Gethen, bit at his heart. Loneliness seeped back into him, and he shut his eyes
in sadness.
    Callia
was a source of regret and loss for him, even a year after seeing her for the
last time just before he’d been taken from her to Nil. The betrayal in her eyes
still stayed in his memory, and it made him wince. He’d truly loved her—maybe
still loved her—but as he lay there now, he knew for certain she’d only cared
for him because she hadn’t known about her destined one and no matter of
manipulating time would ever have changed that.
    And
what of his own destined one,