Returning to Luminos wasn't exactly how he'd imagined it, in every sense of the idea.

With the Foront descending fast toward the Black Hall – and The Reaper – Zar was feeling many things he'd never experienced before.

The first and foremost of them was the sense of being complete.

It figured that a species as hostile to their own kind as Nayanors were wouldn't share details about their most sacred and private relationships. Zar had never understood how men he'd known all his life changed after they found their fated mates. Most of them explained it away with lust and the hope of their mate bearing strong sons to carry on their name – or at least they didn't deny the implications.

Now he knew better. After bonding to Ashley, claiming her as was proper, Zar felt a peculiar sense of belonging that surprised him.

He got the sense that not only did Ashley belong to him now, but he belonged to her as well.

It made him all the more reluctant to return to the Black Hall and present her to The Reaper. Standing by his side, waiting to board the hovership and head on to the Hall first, Ashley looked quite pale. Zar wasn't sure what the reason was, but he put it down to fear. She had a strong spirit, but he suspected that setting foot on Luminos for the first time would have scared any female.

"No one will hurt you there," he told her firmly. "You are my fated mate. It will take some time before everyone has had the chance to see you. The Black Hall is a gigantic maze of corridors and long halls. It is rumored that it is possible to live there without meeting someone who lives at the other end.

"Even so, you are wearing my colors. Nayanors and any female who has been there for more than a few weeks will know what that means. No one will dare to lay a hand on you, much less hurt you in any way."

Ashley looked at him, the concern now plain in her light stormy eyes.

She was absolutely stunning that morning. Clad in another dress, a black one this time, with dark green embroidery. His mate wore a warm, furry cape on top of that to protect her from the cold of Luminos. The long night was approaching fast, Zar had been told. The air was getting colder and the winds were rising.

The storm was coming.

He needed to keep that in mind as he progressed. The people of his domain, a hundred miles south of the Black Hall, would already be moving toward The Reaper's fortress, seeking shelter. They would bring almost everything they couldn't lose to take refuge along with themselves. Parents would also bring their young sons for Zar's evaluation, to see if they were fit to join the Foront's crew.

"I'm not afraid," Ashley said. "At least not for myself."

Zar laughed.

"For whom, then?" he asked. "I don't know what I can do to convince you I'm capable of defending you."

Ashley gave him a harsh look.

"It's not that," she argued vehemently. "Well, not exactly that. I don't doubt you want to keep me safe, I'm just worried about what that will cost you."

Zar's eyes narrowed now.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Speak, now."

"Will you get in trouble for letting my friends go?" Ashley asked.

Zar stared at her. She looked so innocent, standing there, worried about him and his responsibilities. That was unlike the females he knew.

"You shouldn't concern yourself with that," he stated. "If I hadn't agreed to letting the females go, I wouldn't have let them. That's the end of it. For me and for anyone else who should ask."

Ashley nodded quietly.

Zar lifted up her chin, making his mate meet his gaze. Her big, beautiful eyes were still fearful, that was obvious to him.

"Listen to me," he said, his deep voice making Ashley stand at attention despite herself, he could see that from the glare. "I am Nayanor. It may not mean much honor and decency in your eyes, but I assure you I'm not going to let anyone get hurt for what you did. Trust me, Ashley."

She opened her mouth to say something Zar doubted was the answer he was looking for when the light in her eyes changed. He couldn't deny how deeply it affected him to see his mate nod quietly, the same female who fought him on everything long after she should have.

"I trust you," she said and there it was.

He was hers.

* * *

The weather was cold outside, as Zar had been warned.

He and Ashley sat at the back of an open hovership, flying slowly across the frozen fields of rock to the Black Hall. His mate was wrapped deeply into her cloak, nestled in his embrace, shivering slightly.

"If you want to, I can call a fighter to bring us there more quickly," Zar said.

"No," Ashley said and the smile on her lips told him she meant it. "I like it like this. You were right. Luminos is gorgeous. It looks to me like a place I'd like to visit if it wasn't for all the Nayanors."

He chuckled, already used to her way of saying exactly what she meant. The pilot of the hovership carefully didn't turn but Zar was keeping an eye on him. No doubt the man was The Reaper's spy, sent to see if he still had the balls to run his ship or if Ashley had taken over.

At that point, the harbinger couldn't bring himself to care what The Reaper thought. Ashley was looking around with wonderment in her eyes, admiring his home world.

Zar wished she could have seen it at some better time, but that didn't seem to bother Ashley. Her eyes were glued to the vast, towering mountains to their right, rising like walls of magma, black as obsidian. They were the mines where Nayanors got their most precious minerals – the diadons implanted in their chests and the secret metal that enabled them to open wormholes.

Even Zar didn't know what that was.

And The Reaper owned it all, making him the richest and the most powerful warlord on Luminos.

It was a shame, in Zar's mind, that he was the master of all the beauty he was seeing around him. The rocky, frozen surface they were driving over was only the plateau for the Black Hall, rising like a behemoth in front of them. The Hall had been carved to look as imposing as possible, with its black towers and long tunnels that looked like some ancient beast had laid down and died, becoming stone over time.

Further in the distance, the blue forests glowed, sparkling in the darkness. The bioluminescence of those forests was where the planet had gotten its name. From where they were, they could see the soft swaying of the trees in the growing winds. It looked like blue fires throwing sparks into the air when in truth they were leaves falling.

Zar wanted to take Ashley there when the long night passed. The way she was looking toward the forests with a longing smile on her lips and admiration in her eyes set something in motion in him. Another effect he hadn't expected. Females were supposed to be mothers to Nayanor sons, yet the more he spent time with Ashley, the more Zar enjoyed simply seeing her be happy.

He wondered if it was a weakness he found in himself, if the female really was taking control of him, dismissing the idea in the next second.

There was nothing wrong about what he was feeling toward Ashley, of that he was certain.

"That looks very gloomy," Ashley said, pointing to the Hall. "I see where it got its name. Not exactly a place you'd call Fun Castle or something."

The harbinger grinned.

"No," he agreed. "But it has its own charm. I'll show you. With the long night coming, it will be full of people but The Reaper will have set aside a hall for us. The Hall reaches deep into the ground at some places. It's warmer there.

“Right at the bottom, there is a massive chasm in the floor. Down below, deeper than you could possibly imagine, you can see the planet's inner core burning, casting shadows on the wall."

"That does sound amazing," Ashley agreed, her voice dream-like. "I'm starting to think that –”

She stopped herself but Zar thought he understood her well enough without words.

His fated was his as well.