Brynne stood motionless as they left. Utterly silent. He wasn’t even certain she was breathing.

“Are you okay?” he asked her, his concern focused wholly on her despite the endless ramifications of what had just occurred. “Brynne, talk to me…”

“This is all my fault.” Her words were toneless, but the sob she choked back was ragged with emotion. “Zael, I’m so sorry. I told you what we did yesterday was a mistake. Now, I’ve ruined everything.”

“No. Not you. Don’t think that. We both were in that bed together.”

He wanted to reach out and stroke his thumb over her quivering lips. His fingers itched to sweep away the lone tear that slid down the side of her lovely, guilt-stricken face. But he didn’t know if she would want his comfort now.

And until he found a way to fix everything that had just gone wrong, he had no assurances or promises to give her.

As for the council, he didn’t need to delay another moment.

He had his answer for them.

He only had to convince them to accept it.

“Stay here,” he told Brynne. “I need to find Nethilos and talk to him privately.”

At her nod, Zael dashed out of the chamber. He ran to his friend’s personal office in the council building, but the elder was nowhere to be seen.

As Zael stepped out, Tamisia nearly crashed into him in the passageway.

He could barely contain his rage. “Get out of my way, Sia. If you know what’s good for you, get as far away from me as you can right now.”

“Zael, I’m sorry.” Her face collapsed in what appeared to be a damned good imitation of remorse. “I didn’t know.”

He halted, too suspicious to ignore her, no matter how viciously he vibrated with the need to explode. To rage. To punish.

But he couldn’t blame anyone for how he felt about Brynne.

He couldn’t condemn the council for their decision to disapprove of what he felt for her—even if that decision held the power to destroy his life.

“What didn’t you know, Sia?”

She shook her head, misery in her eyes. “Elyon. He came to me last night, outraged after spying on you and Brynne down at the cottage.”

Anger boiled through Zael. “He was there? That son of a bitch was there on that beach?” A curse erupted off his tongue. “You’re telling me that Elyon was skulking around, peering in windows while Brynne and I made love?”

And while she drank from him.

The most intimate moments they had ever shared together, and Elyon had invaded their sanctity like a goddamned thief. He’d cheapened a private, sacred experience and wielded it as a weapon.

“He’s crazy, Zael.” Tamisia shivered as she said it. “He’s been talking about the two of us returning to the realm together, but I never wanted that. He wouldn’t let it go. That’s why I asked you to help me leave.”

Zael cursed. “You should have told me why, Sia. You should have told someone, damn it.”

“I know.” Her regret was obvious. As was her fear. “He was furious to see you arrive here with talk of an alliance with the Order. I think he’ll do anything to prevent that from happening.”

Zael’s mind was churning. He reflected back on the sentry who had once been among Selene’s most loyal soldiers. Elyon had been an Atlantean patriot before the fall of the realm. Had his loyalty remained secretly intact all this time?

Worse, could that loyalty now turn him against the colony as a whole?

From what Tamisia was saying, the answer seemed obvious.

A cold foreboding settled on Zael as he considered Elyon’s betrayal of him. If the sentry was willing to do anything to stop the alliance, then he wouldn’t be willing to stand by and let the council thwart him by giving Zael a chance to repair the damage.

“Where’s Nethilos?”

Tamisia shook her head. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since the council adjourned.”

“Damn it.” Zael started walking again. “If you see him, tell him he could be in danger. Tell him I need to speak to him at once.”

She nodded. “I will.”

As he strode through the council building, Zael slowed his thoughts down, centering his focus on the energy that lived in every Atlantean. He searched for his friend using his mind and his senses.

He couldn’t locate him.

Holy hell.

If his old friend was in possible danger from Elyon, what about the crystal?

The colony kept their power source in the top floor of the building he was in now. Zael teleported there, disappearing in a burst of light, then materializing in the chamber that held the colony’s Atlantean crystal.

He got there just in time to find Nethilos lying in a pool of blood on the floor of the chamber. His head was severed from his body, having come to rest next to a gore-streaked, long Atlantean blade. The kind Zael and the rest of his legion comrades used to carry.

Ah, fuck. He recoiled at the grisly sight of his peace-minded friend. The savagery of Nethilos’s killing rocked Zael, but he pushed down his horror and pain so he didn’t lose his grasp on the lethal fury that boiled up on him.

Because there was Elyon, standing in front of the crystal. The bastard had removed the protective glass cover and was just about to lift the egg-sized, silvery object from its marble pedestal when Zael’s booming voice startled him.

“You cowardly fuck. Get away from the crystal.”

Elyon wheeled around at the unexpected intrusion. His gaze flicked to the blade he’d so carelessly dropped after he committed his crime.

The razor-sharp blade Zael now held in his hand, ready to strike.

He advanced judiciously on Elyon, forcing him to forfeit his position near the crystal in order to avoid the striking range of Zael’s lightning fast sword arm.

Elyon chuckled. “Been a long time since you wielded Atlantean steel, captain.”

“Not so long,” Zael returned, demonstrating with a jab that nicked the other male’s shoulder. “How long have you been planning to take the crystal back to Selene?”

Elyon’s blond brows rose. “You knew?”

“Not until I spoke to Tamisia a moment ago.”

“Tamisia.” Elyon sneered as he said her name. “I’ve been trying to convince her to come with me, back to the realm. She wouldn’t do it. Beautiful, that one, but she has no sense.”