Maybe Nathan hadn’t simply seduced her as a means of closing in on her father.
Maybe she had actually meant something more to him.
Maybe he really did want her, love her, even just a little.
And maybe the only dreaming or wishing she was doing was in trying to shape Nathan into someone he would never be.
He’d warned her away from him, but fool that she was, she hadn’t listened. He’d been the wild, dangerous storm she feared—the one she’d leapt into from atop her high ledge, knowing full well she might get tossed onto the rocks below.
Now, with her heart lying in broken pieces on the ground, she could only blame herself for jumping off.
Zael was staring at her. Studying her in thoughtful silence. “Who is he?” She glanced down, shook her head. “I’m not sure it matters anymore. Not to him, anyway.” But thinking about Nathan and the way things had ended renewed her concern for her father. “I need to get back home now. It’s very important. Last night the Order arrested my father, and I—” She paused to think, suddenly unsure. “Was it last night? How long have we been gone? And exactly how did we get here?”
“I took you from Boston last night, around nine in the evening,” he said. “You’ve been gone from there not quite fifteen hours now.” As she worked to make sense of how that could possibly be, considering travel distance and time zone differences, Zael gently cleared his throat. “As for how we got here …”
He held up his wrist, the one with the leather thong and the silver emblem dangling from it. Jordana saw now that the emblem was in the shape of the Breedmate—or, rather, the Atlantean—symbol.
And the charm wasn’t made of silver at all but an unusual crystal that somewhat resembled mercury glass.
She blinked at him. “I don’t understand.”
“The crystal this is made from is an energy source belonging to our people. It generates power, provides protection … it’s useful for many things, both good and bad. It also allows our kind to travel great distances, or small ones, in the blink of an eye.”
Jordana gaped. “Are you saying this bracelet brought us here?”
“It will take us anywhere, so long as the place can be imagined accurately in the traveler’s mind.” Zael’s voice became more serious now. “It can take you to asylum, Jordana. Somewhere Selene and her soldiers will never find you. There are others living in exile from the realm, some for many hundreds of years. Cass wanted me to offer that choice to you, should the worst occur and the legion finally caught up to him. That’s why he summoned me. He wanted me to give you the option to escape to a protected colony with those of your own kind.”
“Leave Boston?” she asked. “You mean here and now. You mean forever.”
He gave a grim nod. “For obvious reasons, you could tell no one about this. For the safety of all, no one in the colony is permitted to leave. No outsiders are allowed in, except in the most extreme of circumstances, like my mission to contact you. This would be a permanent decision. And one you don’t have much time to make. With your powers manifesting already, every minute we spend here risks your being located by the queen’s guards.”
It was tempting to think there was somewhere she could go. It was a relief to think there was a place for her to get away from the kind of enemies who had killed Cass and were now on the hunt for her.
A place where she could be with others of her kind—her true kind. Somewhere she wouldn’t have to hide who and what she was. Where her very existence wouldn’t jeopardize the lives of the people who loved her and wanted to protect her.
Selfishly, there was a part of her that craved the asylum Zael described.
But could she really go without even a word of good-bye?
Could she leave her father? Could she leave Carys or her other friends? Could she abandon the job she adored and the colleagues and community she’d worked with for years?
And what about Nathan? Could she imagine any kind of life that didn’t somehow include him in it?
Of all the people she loved and would miss so terribly, it was this last thought that twisted her heart the most.
And she had to face the fact that whatever she thought she had with Nathan might already be gone.
But could she really walk away without knowing for certain?
“I realize this is an impossible choice, Jordana.”
She slowly shook her head. “No, you can’t know that. You’re asking me to walk away from the only home I’ve ever known. To never see the people I love most in this world ever again. Is my safety worth that? Is anything worth all of that?”
Zael’s handsome face was solemn, a dark, private pain swirling in the depths of his Caribbean blue eyes. “I will need your answer soon. If we mean to leave before you’re discovered, we must do it tonight. Make no mistake, Selene’s soldiers will come for you here. It’s not a question of if, Jordana, but when.”
26
NATHAN SAT BEHIND A PANE OF UV-BLOCKING GLASS IN THE BACKSEAT of a dark sedan that idled in the dusk on a narrow street in the coastal village of Amalfi. The driver, Salvatore, was human, a discreet, proven ally, hired to meet Nathan’s flight earlier that afternoon by the Order’s district commander in Rome, Lazaro Archer.