Defy the Dawn (Midnight Breed 14)

“Because he loves you,” Lucan said soberly. “He doesn’t like seeing you suffer, even if it’s only through hideous visions like the ones you’ve been chronicling. If you were Gabrielle, I’d rather smash this chunk of Atlantean rock to dust than let you anywhere near it.”

Zael understood the sentiment, but what Lucan suggested was impossible. “The crystals can’t be destroyed. Not through any means you or I might have.”

He glanced down into the titanium box in Jenna’s hands, awed to be seeing one of the five crystals up close. It drew him like a beacon, like the living source of power it truly was.

Beneath its glimmering, silvery surface, facets of sparkling light glowed deep in the crystal’s core. The hum of cosmic power reached into him, waking his cells as it would any of his kind.

He heard Lucan’s wary growl beside him as the energy within the crystal responded to Zael’s nearness and began to pulse. And inside Zael’s body, he felt the warmth of the crystal’s power building in him too.

“The crystal,” Jenna whispered, her eyes widening. “Something’s happening to it.”

“What the fuck is going on, Zael?”

“You’ll understand best if I show you.”

The answering look on the massive Breed male’s face was anything but certain.

“Trust,” Zael said. “Do I have yours?”

At Lucan’s hesitant nod, Zael reached into the box and collected the crystal into his palms. “In close proximity of a crystal, an Atlantean’s life force increases exponentially. As does our power.”

To demonstrate, Zael pivoted toward the large safe across the room. Lifting one finger, he sent the hulking block of metal gliding across the marble floor as if it were nothing. He stopped it a split second before it crashed into the opposite wall.

Jenna gasped. “That safe weighs more than a ton.”

“With this crystal,” Zael said, “if I wanted to right now, I could break down the walls of this chamber with a sweep of my hand.”

Lucan’s stare was hard and flat with understanding.

Zael glanced at him solemnly. “Now imagine an entire Atlantean army with a crystal in its possession. They would be unstoppable.”

“Why hasn’t Selene unleashed this power on us already?” The Order’s leader demanded. “Why not retaliate against the Ancients immediately after they destroyed Atlantis and drove her into exile?”

“Because to use a crystal for war, she would need to remove it from its other purpose.”

“Which is?”

“Protection,” Zael said. “The crystals have many uses. When there were five of them in realm, they provided energy for all our needs. If we required it, the crystals could’ve been used to power defensive weaponry as well, although that was never something our people hoped for. And, as you just witnessed, they can also enhance an Atlantean’s own individual power.”

“You said Selene uses them for protection,” Lucan prompted.

“Yes. They’re what kept Atlantis safe for thousands of years after my people arrived here. The crystals cloaked Atlantis beneath an impenetrable shield that concealed the island from the outside world. The shield kept the realm safe from any curious visitor or attack.”

Jenna’s brows rose. “You’re talking about an actual force field around Atlantis?”

“To simplify the concept, yes.”

“And then Atlantis lost two of the crystals,” she replied. “It weakened the shield.”

Zael nodded. “Selene was betrayed by her consort—a human. He stole two of the crystals and gave them to your ancestors,” he said, looking at Lucan. “For a population of Atlantis’s size at that time, the three remaining crystals weren’t enough to hold the shield in place.”

Lucan studied the crystal that still glowed and pulsed in Zael’s hands. “That’s how the Ancients were able to launch their attack.”

“And then they used them to power their bombs,” Jenna added. “I’ve seen it in the Ancient’s memories. They created a beam of light that ignited the explosion in the ocean off Atlantis’s shore. Then the tsunami swept in and destroyed everything in its path.”

Zael hadn’t know the specifics of the Ancients’ assault on the realm, but he had guessed at something like Jenna described.

nodded to Jenna. “Show him.”