"I didn't touch her, Harbinger," Mjorn growled at him.

Ragnar felt himself grinning. He'd heard of dead men walking before, but it was the first time someone said something that stupid.

Mjorn couldn't possibly think he'd escape his wrath on a technicality, could he?

The harbinger didn't know. He didn't much care either.

The anger flowing in his blood was like hot lava, burning him up from the inside. He'd just spent the most terrifying moments in his life, running to the Hall of Earth, Piper screaming into the comm link. Ragnar didn't need to ask what was wrong. It was clear that Selena was in danger and he didn't ask any questions about that.

"Harbinger –" Mjorn began.

They met with a clash of blades. The giant swords crashed together so hard Ragnar could feel it vibrate through his bones.

Mjorn stopped complaining and faced him. That was good. It showed he was still a Nayanor warrior, not some coward enemy who didn't deserve his attention.

Ragnar landed blow after blow on Mjorn's armor guards, but the captain wasn't a bad fighter. He would not fall within seconds, but Ragnar was gladly prepared to spend the minutes needed. He was taking hits too. There was no beauty or carefulness with the massive swords. They were hard to parry. Most of the time, fighting with them came down to battering the enemy to death before they could do the same to him.

On his better days, Ragnar could count on himself to move around like the sword weighed nothing, but the rage inside him kept all finesse from his movements. He only wished to see Mjorn dead before him, dead for daring to even think about hurting Selena.

The image was still before his eyes. His fated kneeling on the ground, her mouth opened in a scream.

Mjorn seemed to realize that he wasn't going to survive that fight.

That was when the true brutality began. Blow after blow, the warrior struggled against him, grunting deeply every time he had to take a punishing hit to score one in return. Ragnar was merciless, but Mjorn gave back as good as he got. The tears in their armor were visible now, blood trickling to the floor, but the harbinger was done playing.

He put all his strength into a sweeping blow. Mjorn saw it coming, Ragnar witnessed the way his eyes went wide in shock, but the strike came in too low to be blocked or avoided. The warrior crashed onto his back.

It didn't take Ragnar more than a second to disarm him with a twist of his sword and the tip of his blade was at Mjorn's throat again. Apparently the captain had a death wish after all.

That was a pity.

"Any last words before I send you to the gods?" Ragnar asked, his deep voice shaking with rage.

Mjorn stared at him, panting heavily.

"I didn't touch her," he repeated.

"You raised a blade against my fated," Ragnar roared. "Do you think I didn't see you?"

"I was trying to scare her," Mjorn shot back through gritted teeth. "The females were already corrupting her, turning her against us. I wasn't going to kill your fated without bringing the matter to you, but I couldn't let her insults slide either.

"Kill me if you must, but I don't show favor to anyone. Your fated had to learn her lesson just like all the others."

Ragnar glared.

Every word Mjorn said angered him even further, but the warrior was right. Not about Selena herself, but the females on Luminos. He considered Mjorn's word against the sight that had greeted him. It was true that so far, Mjorn had never slain someone before he'd given them a chance to repent. That in itself was merciful for a Nayanor.

And if he was perfectly honest, Ragnar liked the fact that Mjorn didn't let him intimidate him. That was the sign of a good warrior and in the state that Luminos was in, good warriors weren't a commodity he could waste.

A smile tugged at Mjorn's lips as he began to realize he wasn't going to die after all. It died when Ragnar buried the blade of his sword into his gut. The harbinger could hear the metal hitting the stone walkway, knowing it had gone straight through.

Mjorn let out a gargled breath, but he didn't scream. Dark eyes stared at him, daring Ragnar to finish the job, but it was that stubbornness that won Mjorn his life. For now.

Ragnar pulled the blade out, sheathing it on his back. Blood pooled next to Mjorn and the harbinger knew that the diadon in his chest had to be working overtime to bring the warrior back from that wound.

That was fine. He'd made sure it wasn't fatal if Mjorn was worthy of living.

"Consider this your final warning," Ragnar said quietly, certain that everyone in the hall heard him. "My female is off-limits to you from now on."

Mjorn didn't reply. He was too busy trying to cool his breathing before he hyperventilated and passed out from the blood loss.

Ragnar turned to Selena.

The three females looked like they'd been turned to stone, staring at him. The troublemaker Kathleen had a vicious-looking wound on her mouth, which Ragnar quickly assumed was the cause of all of it. Piper, his aide, looked horrified.

As for Selena – the look on her face told the harbinger he needed to get her away from the mess he'd left behind.

"Selena," he said roughly.

The female came to him, stumbling as she walked past the warrior he'd killed before. Her gorgeous blue eyes were filled with fear.

"The others," she whispered to him. "Piper and Kathleen. They tried to help me. I don't want anything to happen to them because of... this."

She gestured to the Hall of Earth and all the hundred pairs of eyes looking at them.

Ragnar knew the right thing for a Nayanor harbinger to do was to turn on his heel and drag Selena away before her compassion got her into more trouble. It would have been a show of force, to prove that he had control over his female.

Suddenly, he didn't see the logic behind that action anymore. What force did he need to overpower a fragile female? And Selena was his fated. Her opinion and well-being mattered more to him now than that of his domain.

Ragnar didn't know when it had happened, but he felt himself falling into the same trap that had killed his brother.

"Leave the females be," he ordered Mjorn's soldiers. "No harm will come to them until one of you brings me actual proof they've done something worthy of punishment. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Harbinger," the soldiers chorused, some more hesitantly than the others.

"Back to your duties," Ragnar ordered the two females.

They left, sending Selena sad, fearful looks. She nodded to them, trying to put on a brave smile, but so close to her, Ragnar could feel her shaking from head to toe.

"Home," he told her.

Selena nodded quickly, not disputing the word.