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“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.
