Selena was tense that night.

The female thought she managed to hide that fact from him, but as time passed, the harbinger had become pretty proficient in reading her moods. The smiles she gave him were a little forced, although the general emotion remained the same as it had been on the previous days.

Ragnar tried to decide between gently persuading her to tell him what was bothering her and ordering her to. Both had their benefits, but he got the sense that the middle ground was his best option.

“Something happened today,” he said. “I can see that from your face. I want you to tell me.”

Selena lifted her eyes from the tablet she’d been reading. Piper had brought it over that morning when she came to fetch her for another female meeting. It had some of the training materials the healers used to study.

Ragnar would have been very glad to see Selena improving her skills if it wasn’t for the event clearly bothering her.

“How did you know?” she asked, setting the tablet down on her lap and regarding him.

“You have tells,” the harbinger admitted. “A warrior learns to see them. It gives us an edge over our enemies if we can guess his thoughts before he ever moves. Yours are very obvious.”

Selena tried to pretend to be mad, but it wasn’t working. Her mouth was pulling her lips into a smile and she shook her head.

They were sitting in the common room, on the floor like they usually did. Ragnar was in the middle of sharpening his daggers and Selena had been reading until that moment.

“I’m not that obvious,” his fated said in a hurt voice.

“You are,” Ragnar replied. “Now, tell me. Is it Mjorn? He tells me he’s had more cause than before to suspect Kathleen of something.”

Selena had a weird look on her face, but then the female shook her head.

“It’s not him,” she said. “I don’t know what you did to him, but I haven’t seen him around in a while. Maybe he just stays out of my way, though. I should ask Piper."

"If it's not Mjorn, what then?" Ragnar continued. "The long night approaches. I want everything in my fortress in order before we're locked in here. That includes interpersonal relationships. If it's Piper, I can have some other female attend to us. It would be a pity, since as far as females go, I find her tolerable."

Selena snorted.

"I'll tell her you said that," she said, sighing. "No, it's not Piper. I saw Kathleen today and we had a fight, I suppose."

The harbinger's curiosity raised its head. He had been patient where Selena's friendships were concerned.

Nayanors didn't have the same kind of relationships as Terrans, they had figured that out as species a long time ago. For Nayanors, the rules were simple. There were the fateds, the only people who ever truly got close to them. In their own species, the world was divided into two – those a warrior commanded and those he obeyed. As a harbinger, Ragnar only had the first kind.

The other harbingers were neither above nor below him, but the interactions between warlords were minimal. Only major events or feuds required them to pay attention and it was rarely pleasant when they did.

Friends were more of a rarity on Luminos. A warrior depended too much on his own skill and standing to make time for others or open themselves up for weakness. The closest thing to friendship was mutual respect and tolerance.

Terrans weren't like that, however. The females had a deep need to connect with someone who resembled them. It was one of the few instincts of theirs the Nayanors couldn't control and one of the luxuries that had never been denied to them because of it.

Mjorn was putting a damper on that, but until the females learned to play by the rules, it was a necessary sacrifice.

Where Selena was concerned, Ragnar had been lenient. He'd waited, hoping that Selena would come to see the bad influence that Kathleen was and now she'd given him a clue that his wish had come true.

"What did you fight about?" he asked.

Selena raised her sky blue eyes to him, smiling softly, a fearful look in her eyes.

"I would rather not say," she admitted. "It's nothing. I don't think it's going to lead anywhere, it just... bothers me. I get what you're saying about the long night. There aren't very many women here I've been able to connect to. Piper is the only one and I'm sad, I guess, that Kathleen isn't another."

Ragnar hoped that the relief didn't reflect too deeply on his face.

"If she said something to you –" he began.

"No, no," Selena cut in quickly. "It's nothing serious. We just had a difference of opinion. Please don't interfere. I'm having a rough time as it is talking to the women. You wouldn't believe how clearly they see you standing behind me."

She paused for a second.

"They're afraid of you," Selena finished. "If you take this up with Kathleen now, they'll never trust me with anything ever again."

Ragnar considered that. It sounded true enough. Both the fear and the issue of trust. If a warrior of his had hidden something from him, for example, the harbinger would never have been able to put faith in them again.

"I understand," he said. "Honesty is a treasure that should be kept. I will not speak with Kathleen."

The weird look passed behind Selena's blue eyes again, but the harbinger dismissed it as the female's relief over the solution to the problem.

"Thank you," Selena said, picking up the tablet again.

"Are your studies going well?" the harbinger asked.

Selena lowered the screen and gave him an amused look.

"I've had the book in here for less than a day," she said. "I'm barely through the basics. And it would go a lot better if I wasn't interrupted every two seconds."

Ragnar was beginning to grasp her amusement. The same smile was pulling at his own lips at the female daring to speak to him like that.

"Sorry," Selena said, laughing. "It's good. The book is really interesting. I think that if I have a good teacher, I can do a lot around here."

"That is excellent news," the harbinger said. "I will make sure the healers give you everything that you need to practice and learn. The long night is a good time for that. There isn't anything else to do and everyone you might need is at worst an hour away."

Selena stared.

"An hour?" she asked, disbelief plain in her voice. "How big is this place? I've seen the hovercarriers drive. They can get up to pretty high speeds."

"It's vast," Ragnar said. "I would say that if the driver of the carrier is very good, knows the fortress as well as I do and doesn't waste any time, it's possible to travel between the two furthest points in an hour."

"This is only one building," Selena protested.

"It's a fortress," Ragnar said, smirking. "They are built to be more than homes and shelter. They're the guardians of my species. I once spoke about them with another harbinger, Kol-Eresh. I would like you to meet him one day. He is one of the men I respect amid a large group I merely tolerate. And unlike me, he has a sense of humor."

Selena was trying to fight the grin on her lips but she was losing the battle.

"You have a sense of humor," she said. "It's just very dry. Go on."

"He said that the fortresses are like capsules of Nayanors," Ragnar went on. "If there ever comes a year where the storm breaks down every fortress but one, our species would still emerge intact. It would be an incomprehensible setback for us, but it would be possible to rebuild. All the technology would still exist, so would the people.

"I like the idea. After that conversation, I always made sure the fortress was well-stocked. Not just for the storm but for what might come after."

Selena was no longer smiling. Or not – she was, but the smile had changed. What had been simple amusement before was now a pure, bright and utterly innocent flame of happiness.

"I think that is amazing," she said quietly.

The emotion in her voice was unlike anything Ragnar had heard from her before. The word for it entered his mind, but the harbinger didn't want to push Selena further. The mere thought of having her come to love him was enough to set every inch of him on fire with desire and protectiveness.

The bond was working. Ragnar had never believed it could, not for him, but there they were, inching closer to it with every day.

"Ragnar," Selena asked then, a note of carefulness in her voice. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything," the harbinger said, the word coming out with more feeling than he'd intended.

At that moment, he couldn't imagine refusing anything to his fated.

"Please tell me about your brother," Selena said.

Just like that, the moment of simple joy was over and the harbinger frowned. Selena must have seen it too, because she spoke quickly.

"Don't get mad," she told him. "You were just talking about honesty and how important it is. Over this past week I've gotten to know you better, but there is still that one wall I can't get over myself. You have to meet me halfway.

"If we want to have our satisfactory life, I would like to hear the story."

"Why?" Ragnar asked.

"Because grief is healthy, but it has its time and I'm pretty sure the expiration date on yours has passed," Selena replied. "If it does that, the grief turns into poison that destroys the mind. As a rule, when someone doesn't want to talk about something because it doesn't matter, it just says how much it needs to be talked about."

The harbinger regarded his fated seriously.

"I'm not sure you would still think that once I've told you," he said.

"Try me," Selena replied firmly, setting the tablet on her lap and looking at him. "I'm tougher than I look. You can spare me the gory details if there are those. I'm more interested in your point of view anyway."

Ragnar considered.

He hadn't spoken to anyone about Doroc since... ever. From the moment that Piper had stepped out of the way to let him into the room, he'd buried the sight deeply into himself and hadn't taken it out to share with another soul.

His fated wasn't the person Ragnar had imagined telling it to. Another harbinger or a trusted warrior perhaps, but even those were merely the most likely options, nothing more. He had never felt the need to speak of it.

Selena's plea was hard to deny. Impossible, in fact.

"His name was Doroc," Ragnar said, noticing how Selena silently prepared herself to listen, devoting her entire attention to him.

There was something about the quiet way she waited that made him speak more honestly than he'd planned.

"He was my older brother," Ragnar went on. "Our father was the harbinger of Isidor-Fol and then Doroc followed in his footsteps. He was a capable warrior and I never disputed that, although I always knew the truth and I suspect that so did he."

"That you were better?" Selena guessed and Ragnar nodded.

"I was," he admitted. "If the harbinger had been anyone else but my brother, I would have challenged him, but I thought fate didn't have the position in mind for me. The gods are cruel on Luminos. It never occurred to me they would want me to take the title by force. So I didn't."

Selena nodded, urging him to continue.

"I was glad for Doroc when he found his fated," Ragnar continued. "She was a beautiful female. Healthy and strong. When I first saw her, I congratulated my brother. I believed their sons would be great warriors."

"Nayanors have the worst priorities," Selena sighed. "What happened to her?"

Ragnar's look said enough, apparently. Selena's blue eyes went wide and she pulled back.

"Oh," she said quietly.

"Doroc never told me that something was wrong," Ragnar said, surprised at the change in his voice.

It was growing darker and deeper as the memory rose up from the bottom of his heart.

"It was a time before Mjorn, back when the females were still trusted," he explained. "I knew my brother was a strong warrior. He was a harbinger, after all. He had proven himself worthy of the title many times. In hindsight, I never saw his female smiling or standing close to him, but that is the curse of time – it only moves forward.

"It never occurred to me a warrior like my brother would not be able to make the bond work."

Selena's eyes were sad now, but the intensity of her attention remained.

"Then came the night of his death," Ragnar said, pausing for a second, remembering the dread that had filled him as he walked down the dark pathway. "Piper called me."

"She told me she was there," Selena murmured, wincing when Ragnar raised his eyes to her sharply. "Don't be mad at her! She only told me that and I had to drag that out of her with pliers."

The harbinger frowned, but shook his head.

"Piper was a good aide to Doroc and she's been a good aide to me," he said.

Selena breathed out deeply and nodded for him to continue.

"When I got here, I found my brother dead," Ragnar said, finishing the last part as quickly as he could.

Selena was right. He'd spent too much of his life imagining the corpse of his brother. It was time for the image to go.

"He was lying in his bed, his throat cut. The female was gone, but I knew it had been her."

"How?" Selena asked quietly.

"The sword," Ragnar replied simply. "It hadn't been drawn, but he was wide awake when he died. My brother was blinded by the fated bond, but he was still a Nayanor. If it had been anyone else, he would have killed the attacker."

Selena accepted that with a quick nod, lowering her eyes as the silence reigned in the room.

Ragnar had no idea what his fated was feeling, but saying the words out loud had brought a sense of freedom to him. Perhaps telling the story had banished the ghost he'd forbidden Selena to see while keeping it alive himself.

"Thank you for telling me," Selena said. "I know now. And I hope it helps me understand you better."

"I'm not complicated," Ragnar replied, observing her with a small grin.

The female met his eyes and smiled softly.

"You are," she argued. "I don't know who told you that you weren't, but you are. But I think I'm a step closer to you now and that... makes me happy. I'm sorry about what happened to your brother, though."

"Don't be," Ragnar said, leaning back. "The gods have a fate in mind for all of us."

"Maybe," Selena said. "That is a terrible way to go nonetheless. Don't deny that."

Ragnar gave that a bit of thought before nodding.

"All right," he said. "It wasn't the fate I wished for him and it definitely wasn't what he wanted. I'll admit that."

"What happened to her?" Selena asked.

"She's dead," Ragnar said simply. "You asked me to spare you the details."

Understanding, Selena didn't ask any more. Smiling to him, she started reading again. Ragnar could see that she wasn't focusing, however. For some reason, neither could he. The admission of the truth had set something between them free as well.

The moment wasn't right for it, but he wanted to hold Selena in his arms, make sure that every kind of wall between them was down, broken and in pieces.

His comm link started flashing, interrupting that thought. Ragnar groaned when he saw Mjorn's signature code.

"I must go," he told Selena. "I will be back shortly."

She raised her gaze to him.

"If it's Mjorn and if it's the others –"

"Stop worrying about them," Ragnar said. "Unless they do something wrong, they're safe."

Selena said nothing to that and the harbinger stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

Mjorn was waiting at the door of the grand throne room. The captain was leaning against the wall, observing him with dark, cold eyes as Ragnar approached.

"You better have a good reason to call me away from my fated," he said roughly. "Speak."

"I thought it might interest you to know that Kathleen and her females have finally crossed the line," Mjorn said.

Ragnar gave him a hard look.

"You're going to need more than words to condemn them," he said. "What did they do this time?"

The captain raised his eyebrow. His spirit had to be admired. Ragnar was certain Mjorn could still feel the wound he'd dealt him. He had made sure he would.

"I just want to know, Harbinger," Mjorn said, "if you have noticed how much more willing you are to overlook accusations against the females since your fated arrived on this planet?"

"Leave Selena out of this," Ragnar ordered.

Mjorn pushed himself off the wall and looked him straight in the eyes.

"There is going to be an escape attempt," he said. "Rumors have reached me about a ship and Kathleen's name has come up from more than one source. Other names are fuzzier, but both your aide and your fated have been listed off as well."

That was the last thing Ragnar had been expecting to hear.

The mere idea of escape was ludicrous. No female had ever made it further than the borders of a harbinger's domain. Getting off the planet was absurd, even with a ship. The great flagships never came down to the surface for long, which meant that more than a few were always on orbit around Luminos.

Any irregularities or unidentified flights were carefully monitored.

"Nonsense," he said.

"That's what I thought at first too," Mjorn admitted and that, not the accusation itself, made Ragnar a little concerned. "Even if the females got a hold of a ship, how could they hope to fly it? Or take it into warp? I'm only telling you this so you wouldn't cut my chest open again when I return with proof and I could say I wasn't making this up."

"So there is no proof," Ragnar said, calming.

"No," Mjorn said, but the tone of his voice was firm. "Not yet. But Ragnar – I heard the first rumor months ago and didn't tell you because it was insane. I ruled it out as crazy the second time, and the third. By now, I have eight sources and they're not from females who go around risking their necks for some lie.

"A very well-coordinated lie, no less. Every detail they've brought to me matches someone else's story. This is happening, Ragnar. The first escape attempt off Luminos is coming."

The harbinger regarded him for a long moment, but Mjorn wasn't backing down, which was a point in favor of the ridiculous notion being true.

"Proof," he said finally. "Bring me proof before you take any action."

"Of course," the captain replied with a short, mocking bow.

Ragnar bared his teeth, snarling at him. Mjorn had to look out. His patience with the man was quickly running out.

"One more thing, Harbinger," Mjorn called after him when Ragnar was already walking away. "If I find the proof and it implicates your fated after all, which one of us will you kill?"

Ragnar didn't reply to that. He kept walking away.

Even if there was something going on, he trusted Mjorn to find it. He cared nothing for Kathleen. If Piper turned out to be guilty, it would be a blow to Selena, but as for his fated... there could be no shadow of doubt.

When the doors to his quarters opened, Selena was waiting for him. She wasn't wearing the dress she had had on before. In fact, she wasn't wearing anything at all.