Defy the Dawn
Page 12“But what does Opus’s attack on the GNC summit have to do with the Atlanteans or their queen?”
“The Opus member who masterminded the whole thing was Atlantean,” Gabrielle explained.
“Reginald Crowe?” Brynne asked. She’d been shocked enough to learn one of the world’s richest, most powerful business magnates was part of the deadly terror group. But this? “Are you saying Crowe was one of Zael’s people?”
“No one knew,” Tavia said. “Just before he was killed, he boasted to some of the warriors about how Opus was only a game compared to what his queen was plotting. He said we should expect a war like we’ve never seen.”
“My God.” Brynne swallowed against the cold knot of dread in her throat. “As if dealing with Opus isn’t bad enough, now there’s this too?”
Gabrielle nodded. “We may have some advantages in our favor, though. We’ve been looking for ways to get ahead of Selene. Zael may be able to help us.”
“He may be the only one,” Tavia added. “But we’re putting him in a hard place.”
“Yes, but he’s got reasons of his own to ally with the Order now,” Gabrielle said. “Jordana, for one.”
Tavia had told Brynne about the young woman during her visit to her sister in Boston recently. Jordana worked with Carys Chase at an art museum and had been recently mated to one of Sterling Chase’s senior warriors. “What does Zael have to do with her?”
Instead of Tavia or Gabrielle answering the question, it was Carys who replied. She stood in the open doorway with another young woman. “What does Zael have to do with who?”
Without pausing for greetings, Carys walked up to Brynne and pulled her into a fierce hug. “I’m so relieved that you’re okay,” she said, drawing back after a long moment. “When I heard what happened in London last night, I was so scared that you might’ve been injured—or worse.”
Brynne smiled at the younger daywalker, equally pleased to see her.
“I’m fine. And thankfully, so are you.”
The two of them had a special bond even before their shared mission together at Fielding’s house party. Brynne had been beside herself with fear and horror when she’d discovered Carys had been abducted right under her nose by one of Opus’s most sadistic members.
“I wouldn’t be here if not for you,” Carys said. “The Order came just in the nick of time, all thanks to you.”
“That’s not quite the way I would explain it,” Brynne demurred. “And from what your mother told me, you handled things rather impressively on your own. Maybe that talk we had about you joining the Order wasn’t all that crazy, eh?”
Carys grinned, her pride beaming from her sharp blue gaze. “As much as I love working at the museum with Jordana here, I actually have been considering a career change.”Jordana snorted, shattering the illusion of the unearthly goddess. “You won’t if Rune has anything to say about that.”
“We’re negotiating,” Carys said with a waggle of her brows. “He knew what he was getting into when he blood bonded to me.”
“We were just talking about you,” Tavia said gently. “We were about to explain to Brynne that Zael knew your father.”
“Oh.” Her face lit up, but there was a trace of sadness in her eyes. “They were best friends. They served together as soldiers.”
“In Selene’s legion,” Tavia added. “They both fled the realm years ago.”
Brynne couldn’t pretend the news didn’t shock her. “He was a soldier?”
“One of the best,” Jordana said. “After my father was killed recently in Boston, Zael kept me safe from the queen’s guards who came to find me and bring back me to her. He protected me with his life.”
Zael, the smooth-talking player, was not only a warrior of note to the Atlanteans but a savior to his fallen comrade’s child as well? It wasn’t easy to reconcile the two conflicting views of him, but Brynne’s mind was struggling to process something else Jordana had said as well.
“I’m sorry about your father, Jordana. But… I’m not sure I follow. Why would the queen’s guards be looking for you?”
Carys wrapped her arm around her friend. “Because Jordana is her granddaughter. Her sole heir.”
“Oh, my.” Brynne’s mouth went slack. “Heir to the Atlantean queen. As in, the royal line?”
“My mother was Selene’s only child,” Jordana explained. “She and my father fell in love, even though it was forbidden. My father broke the law when he made her his mate.”
“There is no law strong enough to forbid love,” Gabrielle said.
“No, there isn’t.” Jordana smiled ruefully and shook her head. “After I was born, there were problems…consequences to be paid. Selene separated my parents. My mother grew despondent, then eventually, she took her own life. And so my father stole me away. He hid me with people he trusted on the outside, then he stepped out of my life to protect me and to give me freedoms I’d never have inside the realm. My grandmother put a price on his head. It took her guards twenty-five years to find him, but they did.”
Brynne didn’t know what to say. Torn between amazement and abhorrence for what she’d just heard, she stood mutely, aching for what Jordana—and her doomed parents—had gone through. “And Zael helped, you say?”
Jordana nodded. “When Selene’s guards came to Boston and killed my father, Zael took me someplace safe. He even battled some of his former comrades to protect me. Without him, I wouldn’t be standing here today.”
Jordana’s fondness for Zael was obvious. Given what he’d apparently done on the young woman’s behalf, her affection was understandable. But Jordana seemed to be describing a different man than the one Zael presented to the outside world.