Darion had brought reinforcements--dozens of them.
As Selene watched in astonishment, Order warriors in full combat gear dropped from overhead, some rappelling down on cables, others leaping to the ground to battle side-by-side with Atlanteans.
Another combat-ready warrior leapt out from the circling aircraft, landing with catlike stealth on the garden promontory. Not an Order warrior, even though he was dressed like one.
Zael swiped off the black helmet that covered his golden hair and strode toward Selene and Darion. He pulled something out of a zippered pocket in his black combat vest. The object glowed from within his closed hand.
A crystal.
“Jordana and Phaedra and a few other Order women are on their way inside from one of the tower roofs where they’ve been let off,” he said, nodding at Darion. Zael held the crystal out to Selene. “We all felt this will do the best good here with you, Your Grace.”
Selene shook her head, incredulous as Zael put the crystal in her hand.
“It’s yours,” Darion said. “Not just for today, but forever. It belongs to you.”
She couldn’t speak. All her words of gratitude and affection clogged in her throat as she stared into Darion’s handsome, earnest face.
She hadn’t dared trust him when he said he would return with the Order and their crystal. She hadn’t dared believe him when he’d said he cared about her, that he loved her.
Yet here he was.
Darion had come back. He had made good on all his promises, despite the fact that she didn’t deserve them. Not the way she’d rejected him, shut him out with cold words she hadn’t truly meant.
“Thank you,” she whispered. Feeble words for all she was feeling. “I’m sorry I doubted you, Darion. I’m sorry for so many things. Can you ever forgive me?”
He smiled, reaching out to cup her cheek in his strong hand. “I think I can be persuaded, but we’ll have to negotiate those terms later. Right now, we’ve got a war to win.”
She returned his smile, drawing courage from his confidence--and strength from the pair of crystals now glowing with combined power in her hands.
Selene gathered that strength and power together, letting it build. Then she sent the bolt of pure white light across the battlefield and harbor, driving it into the side of the enemy’s boat.
The vessel’s hull exploded, leaving a gaping hole. The boat listed to the side and back again, taking on water fast.
The Ancient retaliated with a punishing blast of his own. The bomb of dark energy spun toward the palace. Selene threw her light into its path, blocking what would have been a catastrophic strike.
He sent another, then another, and still more.
She deflected them all.
The volley went back and forth, both of them neutralizing each other’s strikes but failing to gain any ground. Selene couldn’t hope for much more. With her two crystals against his three, it was impossible for her to overpower him.
To her alarm, she realized that down below the garden promontory the fallen tower had become a hill of rubble at the base of the palace. Rogues began rushing for it, a few of them breaking through the battle lines in a race to breach the palace walls.
Darion and Zael shot them from above with titanium rounds that ashed the Rogues in seconds.
“Fuck,” Darion cursed, pointing to a skirmish on the ground near the base of the rubble.
Selene’s heart clenched. Sebathiel was outnumbered by Rogues, battling hard with his long sword.
Without hesitation, Darion vaulted over the garden’s ledge and sped toward the fight. He shot three Rogues one after the other, then tossed his weapon to Seb to finish the rest.
Selene watched in a mix of admiration and bone-deep fear as Darion ran straight for the center of the worst fighting.
Across the beach and sloping terrain, the Order was a wave of death on the Rogues. Titanium blades and bullets took down countless attackers. The Atlantean legion was right at their sides, taking Rogue heads and forming a phalanx to guard the backs and sides of their Breed comrades.
As brutal as the scene was, Selene had never seen anything so miraculous.
Atlanteans and the Breed united as one.
