“Do you think something’s wrong?”
He shrugged. “It probably took some extra time for all of the elders to reach an agreement.”
As they waited a few minutes in awkward, uncomfortable silence, she couldn’t keep from recalling Tamisia’s hard stare in the courtyard, or the skepticism she had expressed toward the prospect of the alliance.
That concern only deepened as the council of elders appeared from an adjacent room and began to file into the chamber to take their seats. None of the six revealed anything in their expressions, but Tamisia would not even look at Zael or Brynne.
Nethilos called the meeting to order.
“I apologize for the delay,” he announced. “The council has been discussing your proposal for the past couple of hours. I’m sure you realize there is much at stake in this decision.”
Zael nodded soberly. “I do, my friend. Brynne and I both realize that.”
Nethilos’s brow drew together. “This council had been prepared to give you our agreement today. However, we received new information just moments ago. Troubling information that we cannot ignore.”
Brynne felt Zael’s blood run a bit colder in his veins. Hers did, too, her veins freezing over in dread as she glanced at Tamisia and saw her drop her gaze to her lap as Nethilos continued to speak.
“You lied to me, Zael. You lied to this council when you neglected to tell us that you and this Breed female are lovers.”
Oh, God. Brynne briefly closed her eyes, her heart sinking.
“We have a witness who reported seeing you together at the cottage,” Nethilos went on. “This witness saw her drinking your blood, Zael.”
Brynne felt sick. Guilt and alarm flooded her, along with Zael’s sharp stab of shock. She felt the clawing sharpness of his dread…and the bite of his rising fury.
“Was it you, Sia?” His demand rumbled with outrage. “Damn it, did you do this?”
She glanced up now, her beautiful face stark as she shook her head. “No. I swear it.”
Nethilos rose from his seat. “There will be no alliance. There cannot be, not under the terms you’ve proposed, Zael. Not while your loyalty appears to be swayed toward the Breed and the Order.”
“What are you saying?”
Another of the elders, Baramael, the male with the bicolored eyes, fixed a disapproving look on Zael. “The colony needs insurance that you will act on our behalf—in our best interests—should the Order one day come to us for our help in standing against Selene.”
“And especially if they come to us for our crystal,” added Anaphiel. She had seemed the most amenable to the alliance during the first meeting, but now the soft-spoken black Atlantean female looked at Brynne and Zael in obvious mistrust.
“You say insurance,” Zael murmured. “What does that mean?”
Nethilos glanced to his colleagues before he spoke. “The council has decided that the only way we can enter this alliance with the Order is under one condition. That is if you agree to remain behind at the colony.”
“For how long?”
Zael’s question hung in the sudden quiet of the chamber. He looked at Brynne, and she had never felt so anguished or alone. She had pushed him away yesterday, but she hadn’t really felt she’d lost him forever until right now.
He knew it too.
His blood hammered with the understanding of what he was being asked to do.
“You mean indefinitely,” he replied woodenly. “Stay here at the colony for the rest of my life.”
Nethilos inclined his head in a grave nod. “That is this council’s decision, Zael. There will be no alliance without your commitment to our terms.”
CHAPTER 34