She couldn't decide.

The first general rule went: don't commit if you're not sure. No problem with that, Selena was sure.

The second general rule went: don't commit if you can't get away when things go bad.

That rule had a very special meaning on Luminos, of course. The more correct way to phrase that was "don't commit before a month-long storm when you're going to be cooped up with the guy in very close quarters without a chance of escape".

Selena smiled to herself, taking a sip of wine.

I should be fine. I'm not planning on escaping anywhere.

When she heard the door slide open and close, Selena's heart started beating faster again. It had been doing that a lot near Ragnar. She felt like she was fourteen again, confessing her feelings to a boy.

Only Ragnar was not a boy. The warlord was the very opposite of that. He was a man, in every sense of the word, and Selena wanted him. For her own. For keeps.

She knew she didn't have to say those words that kept echoing in her mind. Ragnar hadn't pressured her into any sort of confirmation, although she suspected they both knew they'd fallen for each other despite their best efforts.

Selena had found that she wanted to. After so many years of abuse and doubt and fear, she wanted to give all of her love to someone she did love. She wanted to be able to say those words without another meaning behind them than the one they implied. No coaxing, no lies.

Just her and Ragnar.

She knew something was wrong the moment the harbinger stepped in. The eyes that usually greeted her with kindness and obvious joy at seeing her were cold and distant. Without a word, Ragnar removed his sword and sat down opposite of her to eat.

"Is there something wrong?" Selena asked.

The harbinger raised his gaze, pouring himself wine.

"Nothing that concerns you," he replied without any warmth that Selena could deduce. "At least I would hope so."

O-kay. This is not good. So much for those three little words. Not today.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Selena asked, a little irritated.

To the best of her knowledge, she had done nothing to upset the harbinger. Her studies with the healers had been going well. One of the women under her care was so close to her due date that she was ready to burst. Selena had a difficult few days ahead and she didn't appreciate Ragnar giving her crap when she didn't deserve it.

"I don't need to justify my moods," the harbinger replied, giving Selena the last clue she needed that something was terribly off.

She set her cup of wine on the table and glared at her fated.

"You owe me some explanation at least," she said. "You can't just waltz in here, look at me like I'm some kind of a criminal and –"

"Enough," Ragnar cut in with such force that the words got stuck in her throat. "These are my quarters and you are my female. I will not be questioned like this by my own mate."

Selena took a deep breath.

"So we're back there again?" she asked bitterly. "I'm your female. The word Nayanors use when they refer to us, thinking we can't tell it means inferior. What the hell is going on, Ragnar?"

This time, the harbinger didn't lash out. For a moment, his eyes were very sad like something was going on that wasn't entirely under his control.

Realization dawned too late.

Kathleen. The ship. Fuck.

She didn't say another word. Selena's thoughts were rushing though her head. Had she said something? Had she accidentally given the escape plans away? She couldn't remember saying anything like that to the harbinger.

It was an incredibly bad time to find out she talked in her sleep or something.

That wasn't it. When Ragnar left that morning, he'd been in a good mood, kissing her lovingly. For weeks, Selena had been feeling safer and safer with him. It was the reason why she'd thought she was finally ready to tell him how she felt.

It was all tumbling like cards now. Or perhaps it was better to say that the pebbles that had been all that was left of the walls around her heart were rebuilding.

"I have protected you for weeks," the harbinger said darkly, eying her over the rim of his cup. "Since the day I found you, I have made sure everyone in this fortress knows that you are out of suspicion. That you have my full trust."

The stormy eyes that used to turn her on like a light were now waking a deep fear in Selena's heart. Sitting there, opposite of her fated, the man she thought she'd come to know – it felt like she hadn't dug through to the deepest part.

Ragnar looked menacing, that was the word. His eyes were filled with such anger that it hurt to watch. His gaze had power, Selena had known it for a while, but so far it had been used to make her squirm in need.

Now it was making her feel like she was under deep scrutiny down to her soul.

"I haven't betrayed your trust," she replied.

Does he know? I can't give them away. Ragnar won't hurt me, but the others... I saw those scars. That can't all be Mjorn. I have to give them a chance. Even if Kathleen fails, at least they tried.

"Is that so?" Ragnar asked sternly. "Tell me about the ship. Look me in the eye and deny that you know what I'm talking about."

Selena froze. She had no idea how much she was giving away with her expression, to the man who had always been good at reading her.

She didn't like his interrogation, but there was no way out of it. There had to be an answer. The longer she stayed quiet, the more she implicated herself.

Try to play it cool. Nothing specific.

"I... have heard rumors," she admitted. "I guess it might be the same ship you're talking about."

Not a lie. There are rumors and I've heard them.

"And it didn't occur to you to bring this to my attention?" the harbinger pressed on, unmoving as he sat there, observing her. "Or Mjorn's?"

"No," Selena jumped at the opportunity. "What kind of a woman would tell Mjorn that? He is going out of his way to find excuses to hurt the others. I wouldn't hand him one."

"Not even if it was true?" Ragnar went on.

"You can't ask me that," Selena replied as firmly as she dared. "I saw what Mjorn was capable of. If some woman believed there was a ship and it gave them hope, do you honestly expect me to dump Mjorn on them?"

"So there is no ship?" Ragnar asked.

"I don't know," Selena said.

Ragnar reached for the chalice of wine and refilled his cup. Selena had seen him drink the stuff like it was water, knowing it didn't have the same effect on Nayanors as it did on humans. But for a moment, she was reminded of Jake before they got into one of their vicious arguments.

Her ex had also had a bottle in his hands many times right before the storm hit.

She forced herself to be calm. Ragnar wasn't like the others and he'd been outraged when he heard Jake had hurt her.

"You lie," Ragnar said.

Selena's heart dropped, but she couldn't let it show.

"I am not," she argued. "I haven't seen the damn thing. I don't know if it exists."

"But you think it does," Ragnar added. "I can tell. Your pulse is skyrocketing."

The fear in Selena's heart was growing worse with every second, that was for sure.

"Now who's lying?" she asked, trying to sound braver than she was. "You can't possibly know that. You're not a Brion to hear my heartbeat."

"I don't need to," Ragnar said dismissively. "You have other tells. Your voice is shaking. Your hands are clenching and unclenching. You don't look me in the eye. You lie."

Those were all correct observations.

"I'm afraid, okay?" Selena shot back. "You should see yourself. You're like some evil spirit, glaring at me like I've done something unthinkably horrible. I don't know what's going on, I'm worried about my friends and I'm doubting what we have if this is a side of you I haven't seen before."

That last bit was a low blow. Selena knew how important the closeness of their relationship was to Ragnar, at least she had known that morning. Now she wasn't so sure anymore when Ragnar didn't blink an eye.

"I told you," the harbinger replied. "You have nothing to be afraid of with me unless you have something to hide."

"Yes, so you've told me," Selena said sharply. "You've made it very clear that your affection depends entirely on how you think I'm behaving. How do you think that makes me feel? Do I have to watch my every step, consider every word out of my mouth? Who I talk to, what I may happen to hear when someone's talking to me?"

"You had a choice to tell me about the ship and your little friends," Ragnar replied darkly. "You didn't. You are not doing the females any favors with that. I didn't trust them before and now I'm thinking I made the mistake by extending them the same trust I gave you."

That hurt. That hurt deeply, but there was more coming. Ragnar may have been good, like all warriors, at reading the signs of her fear, but Selena was good at reading between the lines. And the names had sounded there loud and clear.

"You think I'm her?" she asked.

"Who?"

"Your brother's fated," Selena snapped, seeing Ragnar's eyes flash with fury. "Is that what you think? That since I don't tell you everything my friends tell me, I'm a serpent in your bed? Perhaps you should start sleeping with one eye open, then."

"The thought hadn't occurred to me," the harbinger drawled, "but perhaps I should."

He took a sip of the wine.

"Never speak of them again," he said, the tone of his deep voice making it very clear it was an order. "Neither of them. My brother or his accursed female."

"Why not?" Selena asked, too furious to put brakes on the words that were pouring out of her mouth. "I can see that I struck a chord. You might not think I'm trying to kill you, but you sure as hell haven't ruled out the chance that I might conspire against you."

"You haven't done or said anything to prove my suspicions wrong," Ragnar said.

Selena thought her blood was going to burn its way out of her veins, flow sizzling over her skin. She couldn't remember being that mad in her life.

"Haven't I?" she yelled at him, her hands itching to throw the cup into Ragnar's face. "What exactly about our life together seems like I've been trying to get away? The way I've been studying to learn the ways of Nayanors? The fact we've been sleeping together? The love that has grown between us –"

She stopped. It had slipped out so easily, pushed by her fury. That wasn't how she'd imagined saying it.

Ragnar had finally moved. She'd seen the way his powerful body had twitched for a second, his eyes kind and loving again for a heartbeat, like he wanted to come and kiss her.

Then it was gone, replaced by the same infuriating indifference that he'd shown her the entire conversation. It made Selena feel like she was being dismissed, or demoted. To a female.

Then he made it worse.

"I wouldn't know," Ragnar said, a haunting sadness somewhere under the anger. "Maybe the love you say is there is also an act you put on for me. To gain my trust."

That was too much. Too cruel.

Selena bit back angry, disappointed, heart-torn-to-shreds tears. She refused to give the bastard the enjoyment of seeing her cry over him.

"An act," she hissed. "You think this has been an act!? I can't believe I did this. I can't believe I thought that life on this insane planet could be worth something if I had you. I should have told Kathleen yes, she was right about –"

Selena stopped.

So had Ragnar. His hand was still in mid-air, holding the cup in his hand before he slowly lowered it, the burning gaze of his stormy eyes holding her in place. Selena's fight or flight instinct kicked in, but it wasn't a fair battle.

The fighting side of her won. She had left the flight behind a long time ago, back when she'd left Jake. Selena couldn't believe that she'd thought that Ragnar was the prize she got for her suffering. He was simply the continuation.

"Right about what?" Ragnar asked, menacing and cold. "About me? About the ship?"

Selena wanted to yell "yes" and "yes" to him, but she bit her tongue. Now more than ever, she couldn't rat out her friends. Not when Luminos was finally showing her its true colors.

She hated it. She'd defended Ragnar, Nayanors and Luminos in front of the others. They had tried to warn her. Perhaps they'd been through the same bout of naivety as her. For some reason Selena couldn't imagine going to them, admitting that they'd been right all along.

She hoped they succeeded in their escape. That way, they could be free and she wouldn't have to confess that everything wasn't fine with her.

"What didn't you say "yes" to?" Ragnar continued.

The beeping of the door stopped Selena from answering. Ragnar signaled for it to open without looking.

Selena froze in place when Mjorn entered. The captain gave her one viciously joyful look before handing Ragnar a tablet.

She waited in absolute silence as the harbinger pressed something on the screen.

Selena could hear as a video started playing. It took her a moment to recognize the speakers before Kathleen called out her name.

Time should have stopped, or the ground opened up under her feet, but it didn't. She stood and listened to the meeting between the women replayed for Ragnar.

There had been a spy. Selena couldn't bring herself to pity Kathleen for her trust when it was clearly audible how she promised not to speak a word of it to Ragnar or any other Nayanor.

The video kept going and going until it finally ended.

Ragnar handed the tablet back to Mjorn, his eyes still on her, only this time the look reminded her of Mjorn.

"Did you find the ship?" he asked.

"We're closing in," Mjorn promised. "The video came from the same source as the image. I think I've got the female pinned down too. We'll get her to speak. All the others in the video have vanished."

"Stop the ship from taking off or reaching the warp," Ragnar ordered roughly. "By any means necessary."

"And her?" Mjorn asked, pointing to Selena.

Ragnar looked at her, but all the traces of love that Selena had thought she'd seen before were gone.

"I'll deal with her."