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 fuck, but not good enough to be heard. Not good enough to obey. Well, no more.”
Light exploded from Elyon’s hands. Even though Zael braced for the impact, the sudden blast of power crashed into him like a freight train. The other warrior had always been strong, but this immense force was something different.
Bloody hell.
The crystal, Zael realized.
Elyon hadn’t had the chance to remove it before Zael interrupted him, but he had been close enough to touch it.
And the power he’d siphoned off that brief contact now gave him the strength of ten Atlantean warriors.
The force of Elyon’s light blew Zael off his feet, sent him hurtling across the chamber. He lost his grasp on the blade as he slammed into the stone wall of the chamber, bones shattering on impact. White-hot pain exploded all through him.
Elyon’s laughter was madness as he raised his hands in front of him and prepared to unleash another punishing blast on Zael.
CHAPTER 35
He was in agony.
Brynne felt Zael’s sudden, unbearable burst of pain echo through her blood as if it were her own bones breaking, her own skull ringing from a sudden, savage assault.
“Oh, no.” A jolt of panic—of marrow-deep terror—gripped her. “Zael.”