“Selene, the ship wasn’t empty. There was an Ancient on board. He’d been injured, but kept alive in stasis. The Order sent a team in to kill him and take the crystals, but we failed. The Ancient escaped with them, but not before attempting to annihilate our team along with his ship.”
She stared up at him in dread. “Why are you only telling me this now?”
“Why didn’t you tell me you sent a search party to the Deadlands?”
Some of the fear and horror in her face dissolved, replaced by shock and quiet regret. “General Taebris, his team of soldiers . . . I may have sent them to their deaths.”
She didn’t draw away when he gently stroked her cheek. “Seems like we both could benefit from some mutual trust.”
His touch seemed to soothe her, but worry remained sharp in her eyes. “Do you realize the power he has? One crystal can provide light and protection. So can two, but if used together as a weapon they can create darkness and wreak unimaginable destruction. That’s what your forebears did to my Atlantis.”
Darion nodded soberly. “I’m sorry for what they did.”
“So am I. It cannot happen again. And if the Ancient were to obtain all five crystals? Darion, he could turn this whole planet into a lightless, blood-drenched hell for all eternity. He would be a king--a god--and there would be nothing anyone could do to stop him.”
It wasn’t mere hyperbole. As much as Darion wanted to hope it might be, Selene’s grave expression left no room for doubt.
A fierce determination filled him as he cupped her face in his palms. “Then we’ll have to do whatever it takes to make sure he never gets close to the remaining three.”
She nodded, swallowing hard.
As he struggled to resist kissing her, there was a short burst of light in the throne room behind them. The air shuddered, lifting the hairs on Darion’s arms and the back of his neck.
Instinctively, he pushed Selene behind him for protection.
At the same moment, an immense Atlantean male materialized in the center of the large court. His clothing was torn and covered in blood and gore. He dropped to one knee on the marble floor, breath heaving.
Selene gasped. “Taebris.”
CHAPTER 33
Selene ran to the throne room with her heart in her throat.
She waited to see the rest of the legion soldiers teleport back with their general . . . but no one else came. And Taebris looked like he’d emerged from the mouth of hell.
“Taebris, are you all right? What happened to everyone?”
He lifted his head, breath heaving. “They’re all gone, Your Grace. I barely made it out alive.”
Sebathiel rushed into the throne room now too. His face sagged when he saw only Taebris, and the mighty general’s haggard condition. “The other men?”
Selene shook her head, grief thick in her throat. “Tell us what happened, Taebris.”
“We were attacked within moments of our arrival in the Deadlands. Your Grace, our worst fears are true. The enemy ship had been hidden in those woods. All that’s left of it is a scar in the earth, but it was there. And one of our enemies is still alive.”
She closed her eyes as she absorbed the awful news, even though Darion had prepared her to hear it. “Did you locate the crystals?”
Taebris shook his head. “No, Your Grace. And we weren’t the only ones looking for them. There were more Atlanteans who’d been slaughtered in that wasteland before we were attacked. The colony must have sent them ahead of us.”
“Oh, no.” Selene pressed a hand to her breast, but it didn’t ease the ache of the horror she was imagining.
Her people were strong, all of them gifted with their own light. They were more than capable warriors and defenders, but their enemy was brutal. Her men and the group from the colony had gone in unaware of the predator who lurked in the Deadlands, poised to strike.
Sebathiel exhaled a curse. “What about the rest of the men? Did any of them survive?”
“I don’t know. The bloodbath went on for so long. I got separated from my team. I lost my amulet in the scuffle and was on the run for days. Finally, I was able to circle back and take another off one of the fallen to teleport back just now.”
At Selene’s back, Darion grunted. The sound was caustic, edged with skepticism.
