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"How do you know my name?" Her panic climbed "Where are we? What is this place? How the hell did you get me here? What did you do to my friend Carys?"

"So many questions," he murmured "It’s understandable Your friend is fine, I didn’t harm her I won’t harm you either I only wish to help That’s why your father calledher the truth, but it was all she had "When did you talk to hiht now Please You olden entle silence "I wish there had been an easier way to explain all of this to you There wasn’t tiotten to you first They were already closing in on you, Jordana"

"What are you talking about? Who was after me?"

"Your father’s enemies The soldiers who once served under his coo I was your father’s friend My nauy el, but he was obviously very disturbed "Look, Eh-kee-zayel--"

"Zael," he said, offering her a courtly bow of his head

She stared at him "Whoever you are, you don’t know my father His name is Martin Gates He’s a businessman A Darkhaven leader He was never a soldier and he doesn’t have any enemies"

"No, Jordana," he said quietly "I’ about the Breed uard He was once the ion"

"The queen’s legion? Oh, right, of course" She couldn’t bite back the sh that bubbled up froland or the Queen of Sheba?" The golden man--Zael, she mentally amended--remained sober, utterly serious "Her name is Selene She’s been my people’s queen for many thousands of years Your people, Jordana"

She wanted to scoff at this insane statean to eo

Even lowed a synized all too well: the teardrop-and-crescent-moon mark she bore on the underside of her left wrist

"You have the Breedmate mark," she murmured "I don’t understand How can you--"

"It is our symbol, Jordana The symbol of the Atlantean race The one on your wrist was put there as a decoy Your father hoped the tattoo would help you fit in ahters of our kind born outside our realued "The sa different froly rational as he spoke "You’re no halfling, not even close You are full immortal A pureblood Atlantean"

She looked at her syht not be a birthmark after all, but crimson ink embedded meticulously under her skin

Confusion swirled inside her She wanted to deny what she was seeing--she wanted to deny everything she was hearing--but the evidence was too co to dismiss

She already lived in a world where vampires and humans coexisted Why did it terrify her so deeply to think sheother too?

Because it wouldthe fact that her entire life had been a lie

"Did he know all of this? Martin Gates, I reed to raise you and keep you safe as his child, as a Breedmate For your protection, you were never to be told that you were different Cass trusted him with that secret i up in her lungs "Cassian Gray"

She closed her eyes as the realization sank in, a wave of shock washing over her Then sorrohen she recalled Cass’s strange visit to the museu with him And the unthinkable way he died, just a short while later

"His true name was Cassianus," Zael said "He adopted a simpler one--an entirely new identity as well--to help him blend in with the mortal world after he left the Atlantean real over her, she glanced out at the breathtaking coastal paradise beyond the open French doors and couldn’t help but wonder … "Is this Atlantis?"

"No" Chuckling quietly, Zael lowered his head "Atlantis was destroyed long ago by our oldest enemies, the Ancient fathers of the Breed There are some similarities between this place and Atlantis, but this is Amalfi, on the coast of Italy This villa was a private sanctuary of Cass’s for a long tih it’s been many years since he was last here"

Jordana could hardly speak She glanced around at the sophisticated villa with its priceless antiques and s At least that part e of art He had apparently loved it as much as she did

Cassian Gray was her father

The news staggered her, perhaps even more so than any of Zael’s other incredible revelations To say nothing of the fact that she was hearing all of this not in the comfort of her home in Boston but evidently a continent away, and froh uess at

Her head spun with a hundred questions--so many, she wasn’t sure where to start

"You said Cass had eneion who are also after me You mean Atlantean soldiers That’s who killed hiri hiled to keep thein her h to want him killed?"

"For starters, he fell in love with a ion soldier of Cassianus’s renown But Soraya loved him too," Zael explained "For a while, they carried on in secret, ether outside the real here, to this villa"

It didn’t takesomeone in defiance of what anyone else wished or expected When it caave itself freely, openly, completely

Sometimes foolishly

Sheher would not end well for the forbidden lovers

"So, Cassianus and Soraya … they were rave nod, she had to ask the other question that sat like a jagged pill on her tongue "What happened to my mother?"

"She died," Zael said "Soraya had you in secret, here in this villa Cass thought the three of you could be a fao back to the realm But Raya missed the Atlantean way of life She missed her home To please her, Cass returned with Raya and you Selene was furious She called for his iranted it, but at a price"

Jordana listened, rapt yet heartsick for what her parents had endured "What did the queen ask in exchange for Cass’s life?"