As allies.
As friends.
As brothers.
Selene did her best to cover them all, keeping the Ancient occupied with fighting her light while her soldiers and Darion’s teammates took on the army of Rogues.
It wasn’t easy for her. Each time she used her power, she felt some of her inner light fade. The crystals rejuvenated her, but she couldn’t be certain how long she could last.
The Ancient sent another massive ball of darkness hurtling for the palace. It ripped across the distance, coming directly at the garden where she stood.
She prepared to block it--but at the same time, a sudden canopy of light went up over her like a dome.
The darkness collided with the glittering shield instead, disintegrating on impact.
She whirled around to find Phaedra and Jordana standing behind her. Phaedra’s hands were uplifted, holding her own unique light.
“Hello,” Jordana said, offering a small smile. “You remember Phaedra?”
“Of course, I do,” Selene said. “My dear cousin Sindarah’s daughter.”
Jordana glanced from her friend to Selene. “We’ve come to help defend our people.”
Selene nodded, emotion rising inside her like a warm wave. “Thank you. Both of you.”
Jordana pivoted abruptly, just as a Rogue began to scrabble up onto the garden ledge. White energy pulsed from her palms, repelling the invader. He tumbled down on a roar.
The three women stood together under Phaedra’s shield, Selene holding off the Ancient’s dark assault, and Jordana using her unique power to protect the promontory from being breached.
But victory was not yet theirs.
Out on the disabled boat, the Ancient was far from beaten. He shouted a command, and the deck began to fill with even more Rogues from below. Scores of them, all fresh for the fight.
They poured over the sides and swarmed for the beach.
CHAPTER 46
Lucan sat in the cargo hold of the transport helicopter he’d been loaded into in Rome.
His skull throbbed with hunger and madness, but after a brief feeding from Gabrielle’s vein, his half-starved body was electric with feral strength and the craving for violence.
Her blood surged through his cells, giving him a jolt of power that allowed him to get a hold of his worst Rogue impulses, albeit temporarily.
Even so, he didn’t trust himself around anyone he cared for, so while he was in the rear cargo area of the helicopter, Gabrielle was seated inside the locked cockpit with Andreas Reichen behind the aircraft’s controls.
The German Order commander’s voice crackled over the audio system. “About two minutes before we’re in position.”
Lucan’s impatience was already more than he could control.
He pulled open the cargo hold door and stared out at the unnatural darkness cloaking the storm-tossed sea below. A large boat listed in the water up ahead. Beyond it lay an island crowned with a palace compound of gleaming stone towers, the top of one having crumbled to the ground.
The battle appeared to have been going on for long hours. A blood-stained white beach was littered with dead Rogues and Atlanteans, and the broad hill below the palace was currently under heavy siege, with dozens of Order warriors defending it alongside Atlantean soldiers.
Lucan spotted Darion in the thick of the fray.
Pride swelled in him as he stared down at his son leading the charge against a wave of Rogues. Darion’s blade flashed as it swung, cutting down enemy combatants and coming to the defense of his comrades. The rest of the Order warriors fought with all they had too. They were a symphony of lethal skill and honor, and Lucan had never felt so proud of each and every one of his brethren.
If this was to be his last battle beside those fine warriors, he intended to make it count.
