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No, Nathan thought, grave with understanding They were Atlanteans
"Any idea what they were looking for?"
"Yeah," Rune replied "When I found the fuckers ha that he tell thehter was"
Nathan cursed and drew up short in the corridor
"Syn kept telling them Cass didn’t have any family, but they wouldn’t believe hi to process everything he was hearing "This just happened, you say? These men--they were there just now?"
"Aye," Rune said "The corpse of the one I killed is still war in question "What is it?"
"You’re certain they were looking for Cass’s daughter?"
"Dead certain" The fighter was quiet for a h the comm "Carys just told o Goddamn it, Nathan I’one But these fucks--whoever, whatever, they are--put their hands on ot personal"
"Tell rimly
With a murmured end to the conversation, he handed the co to her lover in hushed, private tones
Outside the war roo Chase and Tavia, their expressions indicating they knew the weight of the information he’d just received
Martin Gates drifted over too "What is it? Has there been news about Jordana?"
Nathan glanced griht father "Three men just broke into Cass’s office at La Notte They killed one of the fighters Rune said they’re looking for Jordana"
"Atlanteans," Gates ave a sober nod but turned a look on Chase and the other warriors "So, if Cass’s enemies don’t already have Jordana …"
"Then who took her?" Tavia asked
Nathan glanced back at Gates "Was there anyone else Cassin Boston? One of his own kind?"
Martin Gates considered for a ave a shaky nod "Yes, there is one other person who knew Oh, ot," Chase replied
Gatesstare "If she’s been taken somewhere safe, I believe I knohere you’ll find her"
Jordana wiped soe mirror in the villa’s master bathroo to understand how the pale blue eyes and faer now
It had been only a few hours since her conversation that ht she knew about herself had been peeled away
Noith the sun soon to set outside the villa where she’d been born, Jordana was looking at a new face A new reality
She was Atlantean
Ieful queen
It all felt so foreign to her, so incredible And yet it also see pieces of a puzzle had finally dropped into place Her restlessness, her sense that she’d been sleepwalking through her own existence, living someone else’s vision for what her life was supposed to be
Because she hadn’t been living her own life She’d been living a fantasy conjured for her protection by parents she would never know and by a beloved adoptive father who’d sacrificed the past twenty-five years to the promise he’d made to keep her safe To keep her hidden from enemies she’d never even realized had existed
Ene her out even now
After the initial shock of it all had worn off a bit, Zael had done his best to explain to her about his people--their people--and about Cassianus and Soraya and the Atlantean real she wanted to know But she still had so et back home to Boston and resu shower, and dressed in comfortable, soft white linen palazzo pants and a sleeveless tank of the sa plait fall down the center of her back
She heard Zael in the villa’s kitchen, the aro h the place The dinner smelled wonderful, but her sto each step a delicate, careful effort
Her veins seeed with a low-level current Her palain, the way they so love with Nathan, only
"How do you feel?" Zael asked as she entered the open-concept gourmet kitchen
"The rest and the shoere just what I needed, but now I’m kind of woozy" Her knees started to buckle beneath her, as wobbly as a nen’s
In an instant, Zael came around and helped her to one of the tall counter stools at the center island "Better?"
She gave a weak nod, then crossed her arms on the snowy marble countertop and laid her head down No doubt she had to look ills "Some immortal princess I o through this--call the pains Your system will mature and stabilize after you turn twenty-five"
"That’s next week" Zael nodded and she took the glass of water he handed her "What’s going to happen to me then?"
She sat up and sipped the water while he went back to chopping and sautéing a pan of fresh vegetables "Your body stops aging coer, your senses keener You’ll be able to tap into an energy that connects all of our people--you’ve already experienced that when I frightened you earlier and you used your power to push lanced down at her pallowed too, but I could also see the teardrop-and-crescent-moon symbol in them"
"Yes," he said "Your symbol will manifest eventually too As a member of the royal bloodline, it will happen sooner for you than most Others of our kind have to be much older before the symbol appears"