Brynne looked at him in question. They had only talked briefly about the condition the council had imposed on the alliance, neither one of them seeming ready to discuss the potential of a future spent apart when they had come so close to losing each other for good earlier today.
He gazed at her, and the affection she saw there helped to ease some of her anxiety.
Some, but not all.
She could feel how deeply he cared for her, but she couldn’t read his mind.
She pressed her lips flat, afraid to ask the question. “What will you do, Zael?”
“The council has determined that the alliance depends on my remaining here at the colony,” he replied solemnly. “So, that is what I’m prepared to do.”
Brynne couldn’t breathe for a moment. She didn’t know what to hope for. After all, the council had put him in an untenable position. But hearing that he would remain behind at the colony with his people opened up an empty spot in her breast that ached with the loss already.
Zael glanced back to the elders. “I’m not about to let the alliance fall apart now. Not after my friend has lost his life because of it. And not after Elyon’s long-festering duplicity only drives home the fact that the colony must be vigilant—within and without the veil that shields us.”
He was right and Brynne knew it. She could feel how committed he was to his people and their security.
And to this magical place.
Baramael’s narrow stare studied him. “So, you fully intend to accept our terms?”
“Yes. I will make the colony my permanent home, just as you’ve insisted. But I have a condition of my own.”
As he spoke, his gaze caught hers again. She saw the tender look in those cerulean blue depths. She felt the expanding warmth of his affection… His love.
“Tell me,” he asked the elders, although his eyes never left Brynne’s. “Has the colony ever denied sanctuary to a mated couple?”
For a long moment, there was only silence. But then Baramael slowly shook his head. “No, we have never.”
Zael’s smile tugged at the corner of his shrewd and sensual mouth. “Then can I expect that you won’t start now?”
Happiness and hope climbed up the back of Brynne’s throat as the four elders spoke quietly among themselves. But there was a trace of doubt too. None of this changed the fact that she was an outsider in this place. More than an outsider, she was made from the worst enemy these people had ever known.
And yet Zael was suggesting he would take her as his mate.
He was actually pressing these four elders to accept her as one of their own, and allow Zael and her to live together here, at the colony.
“Zael… We can’t. Do I really have to tell you all of the reasons why this is impossib—”
He silenced her with a kiss. “Do you love me, Brynne?”
“God, yes. More than anything.”
“And I love you,” he told her intently. “I love all of you, Brynne. Every last cell. And I’m not about to live a single day—on this island or anywhere else—if I can’t do it with you at my side.”
His vow tore something loose in her chest. It was her heart, she realized. It sailed skyward as he drew her to him and kissed her deeply, without a care for the several pairs of Atlantean eyes that watched them.
Finally, someone cleared their throat.
He and Brynne turned to face the sober gazes of the elders.
Baramael spoke for the group. “This is a most unusual request, Ekizael. However, these are most unusual times.” Over the male’s one blue eye, his black brow arched. “And you have fallen in love with a most unusual woman.”
Zael grinned, drawing her close. “Yes, I have.”
A smile tugged at Baramael’s mouth as well. “We owe you a debt for what you did today, Brynne. Not only the four of us, but the entire colony. So, it’s the agreement of this council that it would be our privilege to have you a part of this community.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, humbled by their acceptance. She’d never dreamed she would find that here.