CHAPTER 26
From the moment Tavia suggested it, Brynne had her doubts about acting as the Order’s liaison with the Atlantean colony.
Those doubts hadn’t left her, even after she and Zael had departed on the Order’s jet out of D.C., headed for Athens, Greece, where a private car had picked them up and taken them to a small Mediterranean port and a fully equipped sailing yacht that waited at the dock for their arrival.
Zael hadn’t told anyone precisely where the colony was located. That was a secret he intended to keep, even from her. And since he couldn’t teleport with a non-Atlantean accompanying him, they had to travel there by more mundane means.
Although mundane was hardly how she would describe the billowing white sails and the endless, impossibly blue water that surrounded them on every side of the boat as it cut through the waves with Zael standing at the helm.
For what seemed like endless hours, they had sailed straight into the open sea. By Brynne’s estimation, at the clip they were going, they should have been able to spot the shoreline of the African continent any minute now.
Should have…but didn’t.
She ventured out from beneath the shade of the bimini where she sat near Zael and peered at the horizon ahead of them.
No land in sight.
Nothing but turquoise water as far as she could see. And a thick, fluffy cloud bank that clung to the horizon. One they seemed to have been chasing for a good part of the day.
Finding no landmarks to gauge their progress, she ducked back under the canopy, glad for the shelter from the sun’s rays. Even though she was a daywalker, the idea of lingering in open sunlight for long periods of time went against her nature.
She glanced at Zael, who was looking far too enticing as he stood behind the ship’s wheel in his white tunic and linen pants. When they’d arrived on the sailboat, Brynne had found similar clothing in her size pressed and waiting for her. She toyed idly with the string that laced the front of her top.
“We must be getting close…to somewhere?”
The trace of a smile edged Zael’s sensual mouth. “We are.”
“You don’t need a map or anything to stay on course?”
“There’s no map that will take us where we need to go.” He slid a wry glance at her, blue eyes the same brilliant hue as the sea now glimmering with droll humor. “You’ll just have to trust me not to lead you astray.”
She met his look with an arch of her brows. “Seems to me you’ve been trying to lead me astray from the first moment we met. I’m surprised you didn’t blindfold me as soon as we landed in Athens.”
He grunted, his gaze heating. “An interesting option. I wish I’d thought of that.”
She laughed, even as her veins throbbed in answer to his playful suggestion. It was good to see some of his tension ease. Since they’d left to begin this journey, he’d been uncharacteristically quiet—more contemplative than she’d ever seen him. No doubt his thoughts were distant, his worries more onerous than she could ever comprehend.
Compounded by the fact that he was saddled with unwanted company on this journey, which might mean neither one of them would be welcome at their mysterious destination.
“I shouldn’t be here, Zael.”
She had seen his reaction when Tavia first suggested the idea. He hadn’t like it any more than Brynne had. If not for being pressured by his alliance with Lucan and the Order, she had no doubt that Zael would have returned to his people alone. Possibly for good.
Instead, he was taking an enormous risk with the bond he had to his own kind by bringing a member of their enemy’s race into their midst. Especially after he’d personally witnessed her at her monstrous worst.
“It’s my fault any of this is happening in the first place,” she added. “If you hadn’t used your power to help me, Selene never would’ve known where you were.”
His brows drew together. “None of this is your fault. I knew what I was doing. I’d do again, if it meant the difference between my safety and yours. As for Selene, she put a target on my back a long time ago. If I let fear of that fact dictate how I choose to live, I may as well lie down and let her finish me now.”
Brynne couldn’t help but admire his courage. She liked to think that she was brave too—a survivor—but her fears had colored every aspect of her life. Fear had kept her isolated and shut off from the people around her. Fear had kept her alone…lonely.
Until Zael.
“Thank you,” she murmured, emotion swelling in her breast as she looked at him, this man who had drawn her out of the shadows of her existence and into the light.
His light.
She swallowed against the affection that clogged her throat as she held his unwavering gaze. “Thank you for helping me, Zael. And I don’t mean just last night in that alley.”
His mouth curved as he reached out to her and brought her under the shelter of his strong arm. He kissed the top of her head, his heartbeat thundering against her ear as she rested her cheek against him.
He held there for a long while, one arm on the wheel of the sailboat, the other wrapped comfortingly around her shoulders. Brynne couldn’t deny her contentment, the perfect moments of bliss, as they stood together at the helm while the boat rocked over the waves, still chasing that frothy white mass of clouds near the horizon.
But for all of his warmth with her, there was an undercurrent of tension in the sinew of his body. Something troubled him. She felt it even before he spoke.
“When we get to the colony, Brynne, it will be better if no one knows that we’re involved.” When she drew back to look at him, she found his expression grave with warning. “They will not understand.”
“You mean they won’t approve.”
He acknowledged with a slight nod. “Bringing you in as an envoy of the Order is asking much of them to begin with. If they think I’m motivated by my feelings for you, they may be less apt to hear us out.”
“Of course,” she answered, nodding as if she didn’t feel the pang of hurt inside. Perhaps she needed the reminder that he was only bringing her to his people in an official capacity, and nothing more. Better she understand that now, before her heart flitted off any further into fantasies of what it would be like to feel this man at her side for always, not just a few pleasurable hours.
She and Zael came from different worlds; she knew that. Selene’s personally delivered threat had driven that point home with stark clarity.
But hearing him remind her that she didn’t belong with his people—that she shouldn’t expect them to accept her, and particularly not if she arrived there on the arm of one of their own—made all of the contentment she’d felt moments ago dry up and scatter on the warm breeze that blew in off the water.
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 colony 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 ha
d 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.”