"Relax, female," a deep voice said from behind her. "You don't have to die today."

That's the least comforting thing I've ever heard.

Quinn struggled even harder after that. The warrior holding her grunted when she tried to get herself free. She felt him turning, letting her see the rest of the room with four more warriors waiting by the door.

"Is the captain coming?" the man holding her asked.

"He's on his way," another warrior replied, frowning. "Hold her tight, Took. It's one small little female, it shouldn't be so difficult for you."

Quinn could tell the warrior was glaring even without seeing him. Some reactions were just so very Nayanor.

The lever. The lever was right in front of her, inches away from her hands, but Quinn didn't know if she should reach for it. Once they saw what she wanted, they would stop her. She had no idea whether the enemies had known about the control room before. Rhys had made it sound like a secret.

Maybe they didn't know about the platform and the fact it turned.

Quinn desperately wished she knew which way she had to push the lever. It was right in the middle now.

The comm links started beeping all around the room and the warriors exchanged looks.

"They lost contact with the unit outside," one of the warriors told Took who was unable to see the message with Quinn kicking him wildly.

"That's a nice way of putting it," Took said morbidly. "The harbinger killed them and he'll kill us too if he ever gets in here."

"He won't," a warrior shot back, trying to sound more blasé than he looked. "You saw that pathway. She barely fit. How can a grown warrior pass through that?"

"It's his fated," Took said and the room settled into silence.

Nayanors, Quinn thought. This species is completely insane. If they think it's likely Rhys would come through a sheer rock wall for me –

A transmitter beeped again. A warrior who looked like a squad leader answered, the deep frown on his face deepening as he listened to a dark, distorted voice speaking.

"The harbinger –" he began, addressing the others. "He killed the unit. He's coming, he's coming for her! Get the female out of here! Captain, don't come here!"

Rhys. He's alive!

Quinn put all her strength into the only move left. There was no point in trying to hit a fully-armored warrior. The only chance that remained to her was to somehow break free, slip out of his grip and go for the lever.

She hoped, hoped with every fiber of her being that Rhys hadn't gotten into the pathway. Not knowing which way the platform turned, she could have crushed him to death.

Quinn figured her own death wasn't that far off. The looks the warriors were giving her were pretty nasty. It seemed rumor got around quickly in a place where people were packed so tightly together as they were in the fortress.

She doubted even being female would protect her forever. If Rhys was gone...

It didn't matter. All that mattered was that she reached the lever.

Quinn pushed herself off the man holding her, using the arm around her as leverage. It seemed the distraction and fear that followed the message had bought her a precious second of confusion. The warrior recoiled fast, grabbing out for her, but Quinn had slipped free just long enough to take that one step and pull the lever before being snatched up again.

The platform growled in a terrifying way. The warrior pulled Quinn away from it, but she had the chance to see light spilling into the room and Rhys, standing with his sword drawn, framed in the ethereal glow of the storm behind him.

"No!" the warrior had a chance to scream before Rhys dashed for them.

One of the warriors went for the lever, but Rhys was much faster. The platform shuffled closed again and the harbinger was inside the control room, his massive sword dealing out death left and right. The furious glow in his eyes chilled Quinn's blood far more than the storm ever could.

There was blood on his armor already. Clearly the men outside hadn't wanted to meet their makers yet either.

Not even ten seconds had passed before there were only three of them left standing in the room. Rhys turned to face them, the wrath on his face terrible to behold. Quinn could feel the warrior's grip on her faltering for a moment before he realized that she was his shield.

"Release my fated," Rhys ordered darkly. "And I will grant you a quick death."

"Harbinger –"

"That is my only shred of mercy," Rhys cut in, his deep voice echoing strangely in the small room. "I suggest you don't waste it."

The warrior hesitated. Quinn thought she could hear the cogs in his head turning, trying to figure out the way to survive, finding none. The hands holding her let up and she dashed out of the way as Rhys' sword cut through the air. It sliced the warrior's head clean off, true to his word. It dropped to the floor, the wide-eyed look forever etched on his face.

Rhys didn't look too happy with his death, but Quinn was starting to understand the strange Nayanor honor.

She ran to his arms. The harbinger dropped his sword to catch her, holding her tightly against his wide chest. Quinn could hear his heavy breathing, knowing it wasn't from the combat, but from sheer relief at seeing her alive.

She didn't fare much better. Her hands were wrapped around Rhys, as far as she reached. She could feel her fated press a kiss on her head, holding her in his embrace like he never intended to let go.

"I thought I lost you for a moment," Rhys said, a tremor in his voice. "Out there, when I called for you. I thought you were gone and it felt like the long night was everywhere around me, never to leave. Like I was being torn apart by its force and I would continue to feel that way until the day I died, never to see you again.

"Never again to see you who I treasure more than life itself."

At that, Quinn looked up. The harbinger's eyes were wild and stormy like the skies outside over the plains. The raw emotion she saw in there took her breath away. She barely comprehended what it took to make a man like that almost shake from relief, his arms wrapped around her holding her as if he needed to prove to himself she was really there.

"I thought I was lost too," she whispered. "But I knew you would come for me."