She was too distraught to respond. Darion got up, grabbed a blanket off the bed and wrapped it around her as he assisted her to her feet. She was still crying as he walked her over to sit on the edge of the mattress while he then went to answer the door.
Sebathiel’s typically disapproving look held a lethal edge when he saw Darion inside. “Where is she?”
He didn’t bother to wait for an answer. Darion stalked ahead of the Atlantean into the bedroom where Selene was still sitting shell-shocked and trembling on the bed.
She looked up at her adviser, her eyes full of tears. “Seb, it’s the colony . . .” Mutely, she shook her head, as if the words refused to leave her tongue. “They’re all dead.”
He staggered back, visibly shaken. “Are you sure?”
Her head wobbled in confirmation. “The colony’s veil is down.” She glanced from her adviser to Darion, looking so helplessly lost and broken it was all he could do to resist wrapping his arms around her regardless of their audience. “The crystal . . . it’s gone.”
Darion hissed a low curse. It couldn’t be possible. If it was true, that the colony had been killed and their crystal seized, it was too awful to contemplate.
Sebathiel swung an accusing look at Darion.
“Is this the Order’s doing?” he demanded. “Was this all part of your plan--to seduce our queen before you steal our crystal while your comrades are taking the colony by force?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Darion recoiled at the very thought. “There is no such plan. The Order would never attack the colony. I’d stake my life on that.”
“I’ll personally hold you to that vow,” Seb snarled. “Although, Her Majesty may want that satisfaction for herself after she hears the truth about how you’ve been deceiving her.”
Darion met Selene’s questioning look. “He’s lying. I haven’t deceived you about a thing. I never will.”
“Oh, really?” Seb asked. “Care to explain this?”
He’d been holding something behind his back when he came in. Darion hadn’t realized it until Seb threw the titanium box at him. Darion caught it in his hand, his heart sinking with regret.
“I found it in the east tower tonight, Your Grace. He clearly wanted to hide it where he thought no one would look. Particularly you.”
Darion cursed under his breath. “Selene . . .”
She turned her bleak, confused gaze on him. “That box was here in my private chambers.”
“He obviously stole it, then squirreled it away until he could use it to hold the realm’s crystal once he was ready to make his escape.”
Selene swallowed. “Darion, is it true?”
“No.”
She tilted her head, her expression pained. “No, you didn’t take the box? Or no, you weren’t planning to use it to steal the crystal from me?”
He could hardly bear to hold her wounded gaze. As if her pain over the colony and its lost crystal wasn’t enough, his stupid mistake was going to break her heart. But he couldn’t lie to her, not even to lessen her hurt.
He tossed the box onto the bed.
“Yes, I did take it.”
Seb scoffed. “At least you’re man enough to admit it to her face.”
Darion ignored the jab. Hell, he had it coming after all. The only thing that mattered to him in that moment was Selene, and the broken look on her face. “Everything’s different now. I would never take the crystal, no matter what. And I would never allow any harm to come to you, the realm, or the colony. I promise you, Selene.”
Her face slowly lost all expression, closing up before his eyes. Her gaze dulled as she looked at him in her awful, mistrusting silence.
“When?” she asked woodenly. “When did you take the box from my chambers?”
He swallowed, feeling the noose of his own actions tightening around his throat. “That day in your garden. After--”
She held up her hand to silence him. A faint glow was building in the center of her palm, the one reaction she couldn’t seem to shutter from his view.
