by Adrian, Lara
She used the excuse of a rolling wave to extricate herself from his loose embrace. “How long has it been since you were at the colony?”
He gave a vague shrug. “A handful of years. But time is measured differently by my people. Years pass as days after you’ve lived for many centuries. Or longer.”
“How long for you?”
“My age? I was there when Atlantis fell.” Some of his wry humor returned to his deep voice now. “Suffice it to say I stopped counting the centuries a long time ago.”
“So old,” she said, returning his grin. “You don’t seem a day over a thousand.”
He gave her a sensual smirk that sent a lick of heat through her veins. “Don’t tempt me, or I might change course just so I can make you eat those words.”
She nearly begged him to make good on that threat. But as they spoke, she noticed how the sunshine that had followed them the entirety of their sail had started to become lost amid the curtain of thickening mist they were passing through now.
No, not quite a mist, Brynne realized.
It was the bank of clouds that had seemed perpetually floating just beyond the bow of the boat. They had finally reached it. Sailed directly into the heart of it, in fact.
And now that she was paying attention, she saw that the waves had begun to gentle beneath them. Instead of slicing through the water, the boat had slowed to nearly a stall.
Zael let go of the wheel and stepped out of the cockpit. Brynne followed warily, mesmerized by the stillness of the sea as it lapped gently against the hull. The cloud that enveloped them was cool against her face as she walked carefully to where Zael now stood at the bow of the boat.
“What’s happening?”
He didn’t answer. He glanced at her, no trace of levity or flirtation in his eyes anymore.
Only sober purpose.
Raising his hand—the one bearing the silvery Atlantean amulet at his wrist—Zael closed his eyes and went very still for a moment. As he did, the small crystal on the leather thong on his wrist began to glow.
The foggy mist hanging in the air began to swirl and dissipate before Brynne’s face.
When it cleared, she found herself looking at a gleaming, sun-spangled island paradise.
A pristine stretch of pearly white beach ribboned the perimeter of the land, which was resplendent with soaring, lush green hillsides dotted with flowering bushes, vineyards, and citrus orchards. Staggered rows of snow-white stucco cottages with sunbaked, terra cotta tile roofs overlooked the water as they followed the land’s incline and flanked the narrow passages of meandering footpaths and cobbled streets.
It was breathtaking.
Magical.
The most beautiful place she’d ever seen.
When she tore her gaze away to look at Zael, she found him studying her unabashed awe.
“Welcome to the colony, Brynne.”
CHAPTER 27
“Zael,” Brynne murmured warily, nodding toward the highest hill. “Up there.”
“Yes. I see them.”
He’d spotted the four Atlantean sentries the instant the sailboat had cleared the mist. He’d felt their energy even before he and Brynne approached the colony’s veil—as his fellow Atlanteans had most surely felt his. The three males and one female stood on the promontory of the hillside scouting the water, observing as the sailboat entered the protected domain.
Beside him, Brynne drew in a sharp breath. “Zael, their palms.”
Light glowed from the scouts’ hands, the combined power holding the boat suspended in the water. Because they knew him—two of the sentries having served with him in Selene’s legion before the fall of the realm—his vessel was merely stopped on the water, not immediately driven back… Or worse.
“It’s all right,” he told Brynne. “They don’t mean us harm. Not unless they decide we pose an immediate threat.”
He lifted his hand to them, his own palm glowing dimly in greeting. Inside the protective veil provided by the colony’s crystal, Atlanteans could use their light freely, without the threat of betraying themselves to anyone on the outside.
As he held his hand up to the lookouts, the sea started to churn and bubble between the boat and the beach. Brynne gripped the railing, a look of astonishment on her face as a platform of smooth stone rose up from the surface of the water to meet them, forming a temporary dock that led to the shore.
“That’s amazing,” she gasped, her eyes filled with wonderment.
Zael dimmed his light and gestured for her to follow him. “Here we go. Let me do the talking when we reach the shore.”
She nodded and stepped in behind him as they disembarked and headed across the wet stones toward the beach. The four sentries materialized on the sand, forming a physical barrier at the end of the path.
“They aren’t carrying weapons,” Brynne remarked quietly. “That must be a good sign, right?”
Zael didn’t reply. He kept his gaze trained straight ahead, knowing all too well that his comrades wouldn’t need weapons to disable Brynne and him if they felt they posed a threat.
Hard stares greeted Zael as he strode up onto the beach with Brynne at his side.
One of the two former legion soldiers gaped at him in outrage. “What the fuck is this?”
“Elyon.” Zael acknowledged the sentry with a nod. “I’m here to see the council of elders.”
“Bringing an outsider with you?” The sentry scoffed. His brows shot up, his blue gaze incredulous under the crown of his golden curls. “Have you lost your mind, Zael?”
The other of his former comrades, a craggy-faced, dark-haired behemoth named Vaenor, stared at Brynne. “What’s the meaning of this, Zael? Does this human understand you may have just sealed her death warrant by bringing her through the veil?”
Zael didn’t correct the error, nor did Brynne. She stood silent, didn’t as much as flinch under the harsh glower that used to make seasoned Atlantean soldiers quiver in their boots, nor the grimly issued warning.
Pride swelled in Zael’s chest, along with a dark, vibrating current of protectiveness that made him fully ready to take down all four of these guards if any one of them dared an untoward move against her. For all of the many reasons he should have been reluctant to bring Brynne to the colony, this was the one that settled upon him most heavily now.
He would destroy anyone who sought to harm her, even his own people.
Even if it meant losing his place with the only home he still had.
After a long moment, Vaenor’s scowl slid to Zael. “I knew sooner or later you’d wear out your welcome here. This move is ballsy, even for you, captain.”
The male leaned heavily on Zael’s old title, his disapproval more than evident in his tone.
Indara, the sole female of the group, nodded as Vaenor spoke. “He’s right, Zael. The elders will have no choice but to banish you.”
“If they don’t order us to take both of your heads first,” added Rasaphael, the fourth member of the guard detail.
A booming, deep voice rose above the others. “That decision will be the elders’ and no one else’s.”
Zael knew the Atlantean who had materialized on the beach behind the sentries. Nethilos, one of six individuals who comprised the council of the elders, now strode up to confront Zael.
The tall male’s shoulder-length, walnut-brown hair was brushed back from his dark olive face, making his golden-brown eyes seem even more arresting than usual. His brows furrowed as he glanced from Brynne to Zael.
“We’ve known each other too long for games, so I’ll assume this breach of colony law is with good reason.”
“It is,” Zael said, inclining his head in deference to the elder who was also a long-respected friend. “I’m here on a matter that concerns everyone within and outside the veil.”
Nethilos considered him in a prolonged, measured silence. “Do you come here with a pure heart and good intent?”
It was a vow Zael was asked to make each time he returned to the colon
y from outside. And one he gave freely now. “Yes, my friend.”
“And you?” Nethilos demanded of Brynne.
She glanced anxiously at Zael, then answered when he acknowledged with a subtle nod. “Yes. You have my word.”
“Then that is good enough for me,” Nethilos announced. “Whether it will be good enough for the rest of the council remains to be seen.”
The elder glanced grimly at Zael, a silent command to follow him as he waved off the sentries and began walking back up the beach. Zael and Brynne fell in alongside him, heading for the cobbled street across the sand.
Nethilos strode in silence for a long while, leading them up one of the island’s twisting paths that would eventually bring them to the heart of the colony’s settlement.
He cast a sidelong look at Zael. “Despite the…unusual circumstances, Diandra will be pleased to know you’re here. As will Neriah. They both spoke of you for weeks after your last visit.”
Although Brynne said nothing, Zael felt her unease at the mention of the two colony females. “If I’m so fortunate,” he told the elder, “I shall look forward to some of your mate’s fine cooking and your daughter’s lively music.”
Nethilos grunted, and while Zael had been careful not to glance Brynne’s way as he indirectly explained who the women were, he figured he’d be a fool to expect the unspoken exchange to go unnoticed by his wise old friend.
They had known each other for ages, although Nethilos had been a teacher during his tenure in the realm and Zael a soldier. Following the ruin of Atlantis and the defections that followed, Nethilos had helped to establish the colony. He was the first elder to agree to give asylum to Zael and the other legion warriors who had fled Selene’s rule. Over the centuries, their friendship and mutual trust had remained strong.
But Nethilos was only one of six elders on the council. There were five others they would need to win over, more than one of whom would find great satisfaction in holding Zael’s fate in their hands.
Not to mention Brynne’s.
As the three of them continued to walk the cobbled road, a few curious heads popped out of open cottage windows and doorways to peer at the newcomers. Zael knew almost everyone in the population of a few hundred Atlantean exiles. He was always a bit of a curiosity on those rare times he returned to the island, but it wasn’t him drawing the most attention now.
“We’ve never had a human on the island,” Nethilos remarked discreetly, glancing at Brynne. “Then again, I don’t imagine we do now either.”
Zael uttered a quiet curse as he paused to face the elder. “Brynne is Breed.”
Nethilos’s brows arched over widened eyes. “Daywalker?”
She gave him a slight nod.
“Remarkable. And utterly reckless on your part, Zael.”
“I brought Brynne out of necessity,” he hastened to explain. “She’s here as an emissary for her people. And for the Order.”
“The Order?” Nethilos’s expression went from surprise to darkening suspicion. “This is no breach of colony law, Zael. What you’ve done is something much more dangerous.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “And I never would’ve risked it without damned good cause. We need to discuss an alliance between the Order and the colony. The elders need to understand the Order’s position and the goals they share with the colony.”
“Our shared goals? What could we possibly have in common with Lucan Thorne and his warriors?”
“Selene,” Zael stated grimly. “She’s threatening war with the outside world, and the Order specifically.”
“And that’s our concern, why?”
Brynne spoke up now. “Because for her to start a war with the Breed—for her to be certain she will win—she needs to have a second crystal.”
“The Order has one,” Zael confessed to his friend. “Cassianus left it hidden where only Jordana would find it.”
Nethilos scrubbed a hand over his firm jaw. “The rumors were true. The bastard really did steal one.”
Zael gave a sober nod. “Good for all of us, or Selene would already have everything she needs to be unstoppable.”
“And the other crystal is here in the colony,” Brynne added.
“I know I don’t need to convince you that neither of our crystals can end up in Selene’s hands,” Zael said.
“The colony will never surrender our crystal. It would be the beginning of our end if we lose the only thing that’s kept us safe all this time.”
Zael agreed completely. “Don’t think Selene hasn’t thought of that every day since you and I and all of the others escaped the realm. She’s growing restless…reckless. I saw it myself, Nethilos.”
His friend’s scowl deepened. “What do you mean you saw it?”
“Before Brynne and I left to come here, Selene had intercepted communications at the Order’s headquarters to issue a personal threat to them, and to me.” Zael held the elder’s wary gaze. “Losing Jordana to the Order may have been the final blow. You and I both know how deep her fury runs—and her vengeance. She’s been licking her wounds for a very long time, but now I fear she’s ready to fight.”
Nethilos stared, absorbing the weight of what he was hearing. “Come then, both of you. I will summon the other elders to the council chamber at once.”
CHAPTER 28
If the Atlantean elder, Nethilos, had seemed less than eager to entertain the notion of working with the Order, it was nothing compared to the resistance Brynne and Zael received from the five other members of the council. The fact that Brynne was Breed hadn’t helped.
After the initial apprehension over having one of their enemy’s kind standing in front of them was soothed, the three women and two men who sat with Zael’s friend on a dais at the front of the immense chamber had listened silently as Brynne and Zael laid out the case for an alliance to protect the two crystals and ensure that neither of the power sources found their way back into Selene’s possession.
They had questions, of course. And understandable reservations. Brynne and Zael had fielded them as best they could, working together to allay concerns and persuade the council to the Order’s side.
Standing with Zael as his diplomatic partner felt oddly natural in this otherwise very unnatural setting. More than once they had finished each other’s sentences or offered answers to a question at the same time. They were an effortless team, and it took all of her focus to keep from smiling at him or beaming with pride as he tackled the elders’ questions with a diplomatic aplomb she hadn’t realized he possessed. Zael was a tangle of contradictions, each one more fascinating—and attractive—than the last.
“I can assure the council that the Order will act as our friend in all ways,” he told the elders now. “I have spent time among the warriors and with Lucan Thorne personally. They are not always gentle in their methods, but they are just.”
Nethilos steepled his fingers and leaned forward in his seat. “And you can assure this council that under no circumstances will we be exchanging one volatile ruler for another?”
“I am prepared to promise it on my life,” Zael replied.
“As am I,” Brynne added, feeling Zael’s fingers subtly brush hers as the elders looked at each other and murmured among themselves.
Although Brynne’s JUSTIS training in diplomacy and negotiations served her well in the talks with the council today, she never would have imagined she’d end up using those skills here, standing beside Zael under the scrutiny of five high-ranking members of his kind. And try as she might to be professional, it was nearly impossible to keep from staring at the unearthly, ageless beauty of the assembled elders.
Nethilos was the tallest and most distinguished with his rich, olive skin and intelligent, contemplative golden-brown eyes. The two other males, Haroth and Baramael, were also imposing figures on the dais.
Haroth, a handsome black male with dark brown skin and sage-green eyes, looked as much a warrior as a diplomat with his muscled body and ebony hair shaved close o
n the sides and rising into a short mohawk.
Baramael’s dual-colored eyes were what set him apart—one pure blue, the other as gold as a coin. Beneath his jet-black crown of silky, spiked hair, his stare was unsettling, utterly unreadable.
As for the women, the three of them were beyond beautiful too. They had also been the most resistant of the council, firing one question after another. Blonde-haired Nathiri’s silvery gray eyes were as gentle as her interrogation was shrewd. Fortunately, she’d seemed satisfied with the answers she received, as did soft-spoken Anaphiel, a female with creamy, mocha-colored skin and a coil of delicate black braids seated on her head like a crown.
Anaphiel’s fathomless, sapphire-blue eyes had been a comfort during most of the meeting—as they were now, when the last of the council elders, Tamisia, pinned Brynne with a challenging stare from her seat on the dais.
“You say the Order will only ask us to consider sharing our crystal with them under the worst of circumstances.”
The gorgeous Atlantean female had long, platinum blonde hair with a single streak of bright gold running down the left side. Her sky-blue gaze had slid between Brynne and Zael for the duration of the meeting, her slender form perched at the edge of her chair like a viper waiting to strike.
Brynne hadn’t missed the oddly combative posture, but she hadn’t let it intimidate her either. Nor would she now.
“That’s right,” she answered solemnly. “The Order is fully aware that the colony depends on its crystal for many things, including protection. They will never ask it of you unless they feel the crystal is in jeopardy, or if they deem it necessary to combine the power of two in order to prevent a war—or, in the worst case, stop one.”
“Hmm.” Tamisia’s mouth pursed. “And if we agree to this alliance, then one day find ourselves asking the Order to surrender their crystal to us for these same reasons, how will they answer?”
“The Order is prepared to never let it come to that,” Brynne assured her, confident in that fact. “The Order will ensure the colony’s protection from all enemies and will assist with anything the colony should require to maintain its autonomy.”