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.”
“She had sense enough to turn you down.”
He scoffed. “I would’ve made her come around. I could have persuaded her. But then here you come, back to the island after years away. Talking about defying Selene. Talking about allying with the Order, for fuck’s sake. I can’t let that happen, Zael.”
“It’s happening,” Zael assured him. “I won’t rest until it does.”
Elyon shook his head. “We never should’ve defected from the realm. Living in hiding on this rock, all of us isolated from the rest of world and forbidden to come or go.” He chuckled brittly. “Well, all of us except for you, Zael. And now here you are, asking us to put our fate in Breed hands? Never. We should go back to Selene before we trust any of the Breed. We’re better off with the devil we know.”
The male was getting agitated, and that meant he would soon be unpredictable. Zael edged him farther away from the pedestal that held the crystal, keeping him distracted with short bites of the blade. Finally, he had Elyon pushed toward the center of the chamber, Zael standing between his opponent and the crystal.
But Elyon wasn’t finished berating him. He glanced briefly down at Nethilos. “I tried to convince him, but he refused to listen. Why would he? I’m a lowly soldier, only fit for guarding the gates, not breathing the rarefied air of the council chamber. Again, unlike you.” Now he grinned, his gaze too avid to be fully sane. “What makes you so damned special? Nothing. Tamisia was no better than Nethilos. With her, I was good enough to