Brynne stood motionless as they left. Utterly silent. He wasn’t even certain she was breathing.
“Are you okay?” he asked her, his concern focused wholly on her despite the endless ramifications of what had just occurred. “Brynne, talk to me…”
“This is all my fault.” Her words were toneless, but the sob she choked back was ragged with emotion. “Zael, I’m so sorry. I told you what we did yesterday was a mistake. Now, I’ve ruined everything.”
“No. Not you. Don’t think that. We both were in that bed together.”
He wanted to reach out and stroke his thumb over her quivering lips. His fingers itched to sweep away the lone tear that slid down the side of her lovely, guilt-stricken face. But he didn’t know if she would want his comfort now.
And until he found a way to fix everything that had just gone wrong, he had no assurances or promises to give her.
As for the council, he didn’t need to delay another moment.
He had his answer for them.
He only had to convince them to accept it.
“Stay here,” he told Brynne. “I need to find Nethilos and talk to him privately.”
At her nod, Zael dashed out of the chamber. He ran to his friend’s personal office in the council building, but the elder was nowhere to be seen.
As Zael stepped out, Tamisia nearly crashed into him in the passageway.
He could barely contain his rage. “Get out of my way, Sia. If you know what’s good for you, get as far away from me as you can right now.”
“Zael, I’m sorry.” Her face collapsed in what appeared to be a damned good imitation of remorse. “I didn’t know.”
He halted, too suspicious to ignore her, no matter how viciously he vibrated with the need to explode. To rage. To punish.
But he couldn’t blame anyone for how he felt about Brynne.
He couldn’t condemn the council for their decision to disapprove of what he felt for her—even if that decision held the power to destroy his life.
“What didn’t you know, Sia?”
She shook her head, misery in her eyes. “Elyon. He came to me last night, outraged after spying on you and Brynne down at the cottage.”
Anger boiled through Zael. “He was there? That son of a bitch was there on that beach?” A curse erupted off his tongue. “You’re telling me that Elyon was skulking around, peering in windows while Brynne and I made love?”
And while she drank from him.
The most intimate moments they had ever shared together, and Elyon had invaded their sanctity like a goddamned thief. He’d cheapened a private, sacred experience and wielded it as a weapon.
“He’s crazy, Zael.” Tamisia shivered as she said it. “He’s been talking about the two of us returning to the realm together, but I never wanted that. He wouldn’t let it go. That’s why I asked you to help me leave.”
Zael cursed. “You should have told me why, Sia. You should have told someone, damn it.”
“I know.” Her regret was obvious. As was her fear. “He was furious to see you arrive here with talk of an alliance with the Order. I think he’ll do anything to prevent that from happening.”
Zael’s mind was churning. He reflected back on the sentry who had once been among Selene’s most loyal soldiers. Elyon had been an Atlantean patriot before the fall of the realm. Had his loyalty remained secretly intact all this time?
Worse, could that loyalty now turn him against the colony as a whole?
From what Tamisia was saying, the answer seemed obvious.
A cold foreboding settled on Zael as he considered Elyon’s betrayal of him. If the sentry was willing to do anything to stop the alliance, then he wouldn’t be willing to stand by and let the council thwart him by giving Zael a chance to repair the damage.
“Where’s Nethilos?”