“Along with the crystal Cass took at the same time,” Lucan added.
“Yes, along with the crystal.” Which was now in the Order’s hands. Not that Zael had actually seen the treasure to verify that fact.
As crucial as their newfound alliance was, Lucan Thorne had been reluctant to let Zael anywhere near the crystal Jordana had received from her father and entrusted to the Order. For that, Zael had to respect the Breed male.
The crystal was one of five that the realm once possessed. They were each a source of immense power and versatile uses. Put into the wrong hands—the hands of an Atlantean whose motives were less honorable than Zael’s, for instance—and the outcome could be catastrophic.
Lucan paused in the corridor and faced him. “When we met here a few days ago, I asked if the Order could count on you as an ally.”
Zael nodded. “And I told you that as long as I was confident we both wanted to achieve the same thing—lasting peace for all—that you would always have my trust and confidence.”
“So you did.” After a moment, Lucan motioned him forward.
Zael instantly recognized the huge chamber he was brought to. He’d been there on his first visit to Order headquarters just a few days ago, and he would never forget the vast archive room. Or the remarkable woman responsible for it.
“Hi, Zael.”
“Jenna. Hello.” He smiled as the lean, short-haired brunette set aside a journal she was recording and came over to greet him.
“Have you had a chance to see Dylan yet since you arrived?” Jenna asked. “She’s come by here a couple of times already, hoping she might find you.”
“I haven’t seen her yet, no,” Zael answered, feeling a pang of regret—and affection—at the mention of the other Breedmate. “I’ll make sure that I do.”
Lucan cleared his throat. “We’ll all have plenty of time for reunions, but right now, I wanted Zael to understand where things are progressing with your visions, Jenna.”
Even knowing her history and the astonishing cause of the Breed dermaglyphs that tracked all over Jenna’s human skin, it was hard not to stare. But her outward appearance wasn’t even half as interesting as the other thing that made Jenna unique.
After surviving a horrific attack by the last living Ancient—the savage fathers of the Breed race—Jenna was now gifted, or cursed, some might say, with the dreamlike memories of her attacker. The journals she’d been filling for the past two decades were a staggering chronicle of the Breed’s history, as seen through the eyes of that now-dead predator.
She glanced at Lucan. “Did you tell him I’ve been seeing more details of the attack on Atlantis?”
“We were just getting to that,” Lucan said. “I’ve decided it’s time to show him.”
Zael was about to ask for an explanation, but since he’d entered the room his temples had begun to fill with a persistent and distracting buzzing. His chest and limbs felt increasingly warm…as if a furnace had been turned on inside him.
“The crystal.” He swung an incredulous look on Lucan. “It’s here in this room.”
He wasn’t asking for confirmation. He didn’t need to ask. Every cell in his body was responding to the close proximity of the otherworldly power source belonging to his people.
Lucan nodded to Jenna. “Show him.”
She walked to a large safe that stood open on the other side of the chamber. Retrieving an object from within the sturdy vault, she returned carrying it in her hands. It was a small, unremarkable metal box with a broken seal.
Zael didn’t have to look inside the titanium container to know it held the egg-sized, silvery crystal. Had the box been sealed, the metal’s properties would have prevented any of his kind from feeling the crystal’s power, even at close range. According to what Jordana had told him, that’s how Cass kept this particular crystal hidden in the human world for so long.
But with the power source exposed to him now, Zael felt its heat and vibration as if it were a part of him. In many ways, the crystal was a part of him. He and all of his kind shared a unique connection to all five of the crystals that once belonged to Atlantis.
Jenna paused in front of Zael and Lucan, holding the box carefully in her palms. “The first time I touched this thing, it really kicked my butt.”
Lucan grunted. “That’s an understatement if I ever heard one. Her glyphs went crazy, rioting with color, and that crystal glowed as bright as the sun inside her hands.”
Zael listened, marveling that she dared touch the crystal without knowing what it might do to her. But from what he’d seen of all the women who were part of the Order and their extended family, Jenna had a rare courage.
“The visions I saw after touching the crystal were the strongest I’ve ever had,” Jenna explained. “Since then, I’ve been working a bit more with it, conditioning myself to hold on longer each time because it seems to make the memories stronger, more vivid in my mind. I’ve almost collected a full account now of the day Atlantis was destroyed.”
Zael couldn’t hide his amazement. “Remarkable work. I know it can’t be easy, seeing the things you do when you look through the Ancient’s eyes. The Order is fortunate to have you.”
She laughed. “Do me a favor and tell that to my mate. Brock thinks I’ve lost my mind to be doing this.”