Read Online The Underworld (Rhyn Eternal) by Lizzy Ford - Free Book Online Page B

of the Dark One, and a demon. For a split second, she’d found a place at his side, only to end up here.
    My life was a waste.
    “Please let me die!” she begged again, body seizing uncontrollably from pain and sorrow.
    “Almost done,” the woman replied.
    Deidre clenched her hand. The wall between her mind and the pain slipped away, and she started to slide into dark agony. Just when she thought she was about to lose herself for good, the pain stopped. Broken bones grew together and the tears and bruises in her skin healed themselves. The inhuman movement of her body fixing itself scared her as much as the pain.
    The woman released her.
    Deidre lay still, terrified to move in case the pain returned.
    “It is not your time to die,” the woman said.
    The scent of blood was on her clothing still, and she was weak. She examined the forearm that had been broken in the light. It was healed, along with every other part of her. She gazed at herself, unable to recall fully what happened to her. She’d been taken out of the cell with past-Death, wandered up to discover Gabriel’s soul and then … blank.
    Without the memories, she no longer had the urge to jump off a cliff and end it all.
    Deidre pushed herself up, beyond relieved when the movement caused no pain whatsoever. “This is amazing. How did you do that?” Deidre asked.
    The woman had crept back into the shadowy corner of the cell. She settled, the rattling of her chains quieting.
    “ You did that,” came the quiet response.
    “Pretty sure I would’ve killed myself, if I had the ability,” Deidre said. She wiped tears from her face. “How can I heal without my mate?”
    “The Dark One.” It was a scoff. “The Great Imbalance!”
    Deidre shifted to sit comfortably, exhausted. Her stomach was hurting again, and she gritted her teeth until the discomfort was gone.
    “You had the ability to heal but slowly. I sped it up,” the goddess said, calming.
    “You’re a deity, aren’t you?” Deidre asked. “Fate has eyes like yours.”
    “I know. My brother comes to visit me sometimes.”
    “He’s your brother and won’t help you out?”
    “Long story,” the deity in the corner sighed.
    I guess I shouldn’t be surprised , Deidre thought. If Fate was one thing, it was unpredictable. “Why are you locked up down here in the first place?”
    “Deity business is messy.”
    Deidre smiled faintly. “I know.”
    “You are the first demon she hasn’t killed.”
    “She?” Deidre’s brow furrowed. “You mean you?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’m not a … well … I wasn’t born a demon.”
    “They’re hatched. You were born,” the woman corrected absently. “She saw that, though. You were turned.”
    “Saw?” Deidre waited.
    “When you are balanced, all is revealed, from the moment you entered the world until the moment you take her hand. The content of your soul is hers to examine.”
    Deidre shivered at the explanation. “Who are you?”
    “The Great Balancer, the scales of justice in a world that does not like it.”
    “Do you have a name?”
    “Karma.” The word was a grunt.
    Oh, shit. Deidre didn’t speak for a long moment. She’d met the devil, Death, and Fate. Never in her imagination did she believe Karma was real, too.
    “Your scales are severely off balance. You have experience such evil and so little joy.” Karma’s voice grew soft. “Karma cannot let that injustice stand.”
    “So you didn’t kill me because I’ve been tortured and killed a couple times over?” Deidre asked, recovering herself. “Kinda seems like ending it all would be a better alternative.”
    “Not the way it works.”
    Deities and their bizarre rules. “I never thought I’d like … I mean, meet … um, like to meet Karma.”
    “No one likes Karma, but everyone is supposed to meet her.”
    Deidre felt a little bad at the quiet note in the deity’s voice. “They can’t if you’re here. Why are you in prison?”
    “Immortals and deities don’t like