“He’s Atlantean,” she murmured, as if that should be cause enough to doubt him. To her mind, it was at least worth questioning. “What do we really know about him?”
Gabrielle glanced at Tavia, indecision in her soft brown eyes. “We know enough to assume Zael’s alliance with the Order is worth any risk.”
“Because of something to do with the Atlanteans’ queen?” When both women looked at her in question, she added, “I realize I haven’t been formally included in the conversation, but Lucan’s comment to Zael downstairs didn’t exactly sound reassuring.”
That was putting it mildly. Brynne’s instincts had gone on high alert at the ominous mention of the immortal race and their apparent ruler.
“Yes, because of her,” Tavia said, after Gabrielle’s permitting nod. “We learned we had an enemy in Selene a few weeks ago, when the Global Nations Council peace summit was compromised by Opus Nostrum—”
“Attacked,” Gabrielle corrected. “They would’ve slaughtered every Breed dignitary in the place if their ultraviolet weapon had gone off before the Order was able to stop it.”
“I remember,” Brynne said. “There were hundreds of diplomats and world leaders at that gathering.”
The news of the attempted assault had made panicked headlines around the world. As for the Order’s heroic actions, it had done little to endear them to a population of humans who mostly despised the Breed as a whole, or to the Darkhavens who considered the warriors to be a volatile force among their kind with an over-reaching grasp on the law. Even JUSTIS was guilty of eyeing the Order with more suspicion than due respect.
“But what does Opus’s attack on the GNC summit have to do with the Atlanteans or their queen?”
“The Opus member who masterminded the whole thing was Atlantean,” Gabrielle explained.
“Reginald Crowe?” Brynne asked. She’d been shocked enough to learn one of the world’s richest, most powerful business magnates was part of the deadly terror group. But this? “Are you saying Crowe was one of Zael’s people?”
“No one knew,” Tavia said. “Just before he was killed, he boasted to some of the warriors about how Opus was only a game compared to what his queen was plotting. He said we should expect a war like we’ve never seen.”
“My God.” Brynne swallowed against the cold knot of dread in her throat. “As if dealing with Opus isn’t bad enough, now there’s this too?”
Gabrielle nodded. “We may have some advantages in our favor, though. We’ve been looking for ways to get ahead of Selene. Zael may be able to help us.”
“He may be the only one,” Tavia added. “But we’re putting him in a hard place.”
“Yes, but he’s got reasons of his own to ally with the Order now,” Gabrielle said. “Jordana, for one.”
Tavia had told Brynne about the young woman during her visit to her sister in Boston recently. Jordana worked with Carys Chase at an art museum and had been recently mated to one of Sterling Chase’s senior warriors. “What does Zael have to do with her?”
Instead of Tavia or Gabrielle answering the question, it was Carys who replied. She stood in the open doorway with another young woman. “What does Zael have to do with who?”
“Jordana,” Tavia said, though whether in answer to her daughter or in greeting to the ethereal, willowy blonde who strode in with fiery Carys, Brynne wasn’t quite sure.
Without pausing for greetings, Carys walked up to Brynne and pulled her into a fierce hug. “I’m so relieved that you’re okay,” she said, drawing back after a long moment. “When I heard what happened in London last night, I was so scared that you might’ve been injured—or worse.”
Brynne smiled at the younger daywalker, equally pleased to see her.
“I’m fine. And thankfully, so are you.”
The two of them had a special bond even before their shared mission together at Fielding’s house party. Brynne had been beside herself with fear and horror when she’d discovered Carys had been abducted right under her nose by one of Opus’s most sadistic members.
“I wouldn’t be here if not for you,” Carys said. “The Order came just in the nick of time, all thanks to you.”
“That’s not quite the way I would explain it,” Brynne demurred. “And from what your mother told me, you handled things rather impressively on your own. Maybe that talk we had about you joining the Order wasn’t all that crazy, eh?”
Carys grinned, her pride beaming from her sharp blue gaze. “As much as I love working at the museum with Jordana here, I actually have been considering a career change.”
Jordana snorted, shattering the illusion of the unearthly goddess. “You won’t if Rune has anything to say about that.”
“We’re negotiating,” Carys said with a waggle of her brows. “He knew what he was getting into when he blood bonded to me.”
Her friend laughed and shook her head. “Hello,” she said to Brynne. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Jordana.”
“We were just talking about you,” Tavia said gently. “We were about to explain to Brynne that Zael knew your father.”