“Damn it, Sia.” Zael’s sharp utterance sent her brows high on her forehead. “This is about peace. It’s about the future of this colony.”

“Is it?” she replied airlessly. “I wonder.”

Brynne’s chest tightened at the unexpected familiarity that crackled between Zael and the woman. Animosity flared in Tamisia’s tight expression in the long moment that she held Zael’s hard stare. And from beside her, Brynne felt an angry heat radiating off his tense body.

“This will suffice for now,” Nethilos announced. “We have enough information to consider and make our decision. We’ll convene again in tomorrow at daybreak.”

He rose, and four of the elders did too. Tamisia was last, defiant as she lifted fluidly from her seat and then glided off the dais in smooth, long-legged strides.

“Come on,” Zael said, placing his palm against the small of Brynne’s back to show her out of the chamber.

All the breath leaked out of her lungs on a relieved sigh as soon as they exited to the open courtyard outside. “What was that about?”

Zael shook his head. “Nothing important. Tamisia will come around, I’m sure. Nethilos is on our side. As is Anaphiel, and possibly even Baramael.”

“How could you possibly tell that?” She couldn’t hide her surprise, recalling the dark-haired Atlantean’s indecipherable bicolored gaze.

“Didn’t you see his smile?”

She laughed. “I most certainly did not.”

Zael was obviously trying to lighten the mood, set her at ease. For the most part, it was working. Although how they would get through the rest of the day and night without knowing the elders’ decision, she had no idea.

“Zael!”

A light, female voice called to him from across the sun-filled courtyard.

Brynne swiveled her head in the direction that the excited shriek and giggle had come from and spotted a pretty young woman running toward them. Or, rather, toward Zael.

Coltish and cheerful, the Atlantean female beamed at him with unabashed glee, the spiral curls of her burnished copper hair dancing around her shoulders as she raced to greet him.

“I was so excited to hear you were back on the island!” she gushed, throwing her arms around him.

Maybe it shouldn’t shock Brynne to learn that the charming, golden male who evidently had no shortage of women outside the colony should also have his fair share of admirers within it too.

That didn’t mean she had to like it.

As if he just recalled Brynne was standing there, Zael extricated himself from the female’s arms. “Neriah, this is Brynne Kirkland.”

Recalling the name now, she smiled at Nethilos’s daughter. “How nice to meet you, Neriah.”

This close, she realized the young woman was likely no more than a teen. Eyes of a similar golden-brown shade as her father’s studied Brynne in avid interest.

“Brynne is my…colleague from the outside,” Zael said.

He glanced at Brynne as he spoke, his gaze reminding her of their agreement to maintain a platonic facade in front of his people. After the uncomfortable way the meeting with the elders had ended—with Tamisia in particular—Brynne couldn’t fault him for wanting to maintain an air of professionalism while they were there.

“Are you really a daywalker?”

Brynne smiled at the girl. “I really am.”

“And you really drink blood?”

Zael cleared his throat. “Neriah.”

“Sorry.” She grimaced and gave an apologetic shrug. “Maybe we can talk more later?”

“I’d like that,” Brynne replied.

As they spoke, she noticed Zael’s head was turned toward the council chamber, to where Tamisia was now standing. Her arms were folded over her chest, her expression coldly assessing.

If there had been room for doubt before, when the Atlantean female had been staring daggers at Brynne and doing her best to undermine the discussion of an alliance, there was no denying it now. Tamisia’s problem with her was jealousy.

The jealousy of a lover.

“I’ll be right back,” Zael murmured. “Brynne, will you be all right?”

“Of course.” Her answer was a lot more confident than she felt in that moment. “I’ll be fine. Go do what you have to do.”

“I’m going to take Brynne to the guest cottage,” Neriah announced helpfully.

He nodded. “I’ll catch up with you as soon as I can.”

Brynne stood there, refusing to watch as he strode back to meet Tamisia. She didn’t want to see the other woman’s smug reaction, nor wonder what Zael might be saying to soothe her ruffled feathers.

Unfortunately, not even her pride was strong enough to deny her foolish heart.

She turned her head to look for Zael, but he and Tamisia were already gone.

 

 

CHAPTER 29

 

Zael hated abandoning Brynne so abruptly, but he could tell from the look on Tamisia’s face that the female had something on her mind. Something more than just the seething jealousy she had made no effort to conceal as she watched him with Brynne in the courtyard.

And while Brynne had given him permission to go, without as much as a backward glance as he approached the other woman, he didn’t believe for a moment that she wasn’t at least a little suspicious about his relationship with the Atlantean female.

With good reason.

Tamisia’s chilly stare warmed considerably as he approached. “I didn’t mean to lure you away from your companion.”

“Of course, you did.” Zael side-stepped her attempt to kiss his cheek in greeting, earning him a frown. “What do you want, Sia?”

She lifted a slender shoulder, although her expression was anything but nonchalant. “It’s been so long since I saw you last. I hoped we might have a chance to talk for a while…privately.”

Ever the confident one, she pivoted and began walking toward the halls of the council chamber. Zael’s jaw clenched with a hundred shades of misgivings, but he fell in behind her. She led him into an empty library and closed the door. He stayed put only a couple of paces inside the room while she dropped elegantly onto a silk-covered sofa beneath a sparkling stained-glass window.

“She’s pretty,” Tamisia remarked idly. “For one of her kind, that is.”