At first, Ashley thought Zar was going to come back.

That, like dealing with a child, he had only set out to scare her straight before letting her out of the box and telling her that everything was fine.

After screaming her voice hoarse, Ashley waited patiently. She sat down on the floor, trying to keep a positive mindset. The ground was cold, however, and the lantern Zar had left her was nothing more than a spark in complete darkness so black she couldn't see her feet when she didn't illuminate them with the light.

Her breath misted in the air and Ashley couldn't help but to think of death. The idea was quick and easy to come, given that the harbinger had made it very obvious only he knew where she was.

If something should happen to Zar, she'd be trapped there. Not just that, either.

She'd die there.

Alone, in the dark, dying of thirst and cold. It wouldn't be a pretty way to go and just that morning she'd told the man who did that to her that she loved him.

Ashley laughed when she realized that she had, in fact, heard footsteps going away from the cell door. She had even heard the carrier start up and drive away. All of that meant that Zar wasn't playing a prank on her, something that she would have at that point been happy about.

No.

"Gwen was right," Ashley whispered to herself, resting her head against the wall and trying to calm her beating pulse. "This is what happens to women who think they can tame monsters. They get to see his true face. What in the name of gods was I thinking!?"

Hours passed.

Ashley tried every trick she could think of. She moved around to get warm, going so far as to do some exercises, given that the temperature really was rather chilly. It wouldn't kill her, not on that day, but she'd definitely end up catching pneumonia in the long run – if there was a long run in store for her.

She tried to count the time, focus on Zar's return. No matter how badly things had ended between them, Ashley didn't believe the harbinger had left her there to die. If he was alive, he'd return to bring her something – food, drink, heat.

It meant her life hinged upon a Nayanor warlord correctly estimating his strength.

The laughter came again, hopeless this time.

"I'm as good as dead," Ashley told herself, shaking her head then. "No, I'm still alive. No such nonsense. Zar will be back and when he returns, I'll have a thing or two to say to him."

After a few more hours, her hands were cold as ice and she was really beginning to feel the sharp pain of thirst. Ashley walked the entire outline of her cell, finding that there truly was nothing there. It was empty of everything. Even the walls were metal, not stone. She couldn't hope for an underground spring to save her.

When time kept ticking by, Ashley tried screaming against all odds and reason.

It wasn't the best idea.

When her voice broke, the tears finally came. There was something about the hopeless attempt to communicate with someone who hammered the last nail in her coffin.

"It's no use," Ashley whispered, hearing how her lonely voice echoed in the dark, sounding weird and hollow. "There is no one around this godforsaken place. That's why Zar chose it. I will just have to wait. Just wait. He'll be back."

After a little bit more, the desperation set in. If Zar was such a great warlord, how much time did he need to get back to her? Ashley had no idea how much time she'd actually spent in the solitary cell, but she knew it had to be long, long hours.

It left her with very uncomfortable and unpleasant answers. Either Zar was dead and couldn't come for her, or he was alive and had simply chosen to leave her to suffer until he deemed fit to help her.

She didn't want to consider either of them. Ashley honestly couldn't tell anymore which of the two options would have been worse. To lose the man she'd come to love and die soon after? Or to accept that she'd fallen for a monster who had no problem torturing her?

"Well," she told herself. "At least he was honest about it when we first met."

The truth was lurking nearby, however, the only thing that could keep her company. Ashley didn't want its harsh lessons, but there they were, right before her very eyes.

She refused to believe Zar had left her. The harbinger had been mad, angrier than she'd ever seen him, but he hadn't been uncaring. Ashley didn't think he'd lied to her that morning either. Life had simply gotten between them, twisted their attempt to love each other without complications into the ugly monstrosity she was in now.

Gwen had been right after all, in her own pessimistic way. A Terran and a Nayanor could only be together under the circumstances that didn't tear them apart. Joslyn and her mate, for example, were free to be happy because they managed to exist outside of the problems that tore at most people.

It hurt Ashley unbelievably deeply to think that she and Zar hadn't been able to do that.

As the minutes dragged on, every emotion in her body became sharper. The anger she felt toward him, all the things Zar had ever done and been a part of. And the love she felt for him, strong as the foundations of the planet below her feet.

She wanted to see that maddening grin on Zar's lips one more time, just as badly as she wanted to wipe it off his face for the pain he was putting her through.

It was then that she heard a carrier.

Ashley's breath caught in her throat. She didn't know if she should cry out. If it wasn't Zar, if somehow one of The Reaper's men had come close to finding her, could she risk calling to him?

The carrier stopped and after a moment, Ashley heard footsteps.

They were slow, like someone was dragging themselves along the passage. The heavy breathing sounded monstrous, magnified by the echoing of the tunnel.

Ashley got up, backing away from the door. If it was an enemy, there was no weapon for her to defend herself with.

She grabbed the lantern. It wasn't a blade or a gun but it was at least something.

The door opened after a deep, dark grunt of pain. Ashley recognized the voice.

Zar collapsed on the doorstep, falling atop of the bag he'd been carrying. The huge sword he'd been dragging tumbled from his grip.

Ashley noticed all that only as an afterthought. At first, she could only see blood.