She couldn't describe the elation she felt.

As they headed back to their quarters, Quinn didn't let go of Rhys' hand and the harbinger didn't either. The simple physical contact suddenly seemed to symbolize so much more. It was the manifestation of something bigger, more important than just being there together.

It meant being together in a true, loving sense.

"I want all the captains to gather tomorrow morning," Rhys was speaking to the transmitter while the carrier drove on autopilot toward their home in the vast halls of Jos Gharo. "I will not have discord in my fortress with the long night raging outside. Everyone knows how hard it is to last a month without fresh air and any hope of help if something should go wrong.

"Now that Kol-Eresh is with us, it will be a rough going. Any man who threatens peace will have to answer to me. Let it be known I want Jeroek there first. I will take his absence as a testimony that he was the one who tried to murder me without drawing a blade. In that case his fate will be the one he intended for me and my fated."

Quinn felt him hold her hand tighter as he said that, knowing how much it still pained Rhys to know he could have lost her. She wished she could somehow express how it felt to be cherished like that, but no words did justice to that. And what had transpired with the other harbinger had once and for all confirmed for Quinn that Rhys was the man for her.

Maybe he'd been right. Maybe the galaxy had to use unorthodox, terrible ways to bring two people together who belonged with each other. Because she was filled with such love for him that it was hard for her to imagine her life without Rhys anymore.

The harbinger caught her in his arms the second the doors to their quarters shut behind them. Quinn moaned when his lips claimed hers, passionate and loving at the same time. Rhys lifter her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom, but instead of ripping her clothes like Quinn had expected, he laid her on the bed gently. When she met his gaze, it was filled with a whole different kind of desire.

"You look absolutely beautiful," he said with a feral grin, "but I think we should tend to your wounds first."

Quinn chuckled softly when Rhys started to undress her gently.

"You're just using this to get me naked," she said with a mockingly accusing tone.

The harbinger laughed.

"No," he said, "but I did promise that you would spend the day without your clothes when we got back."

"How about you?" Quinn asked, looking at the blood still on the harbinger's armor. "Aren't you wounded?"

Rhys' hard glare told her that it was insulting to imply that the warriors had been able to hurt him.

"Does it hurt?" the harbinger asked when he pulled the dress off her to reveal the damage the tunnel had done.

"Not really," Quinn said, looking at the small cuts. "I just rushed, that's all. I didn't know what had happened to you. I couldn't hear you. The only thing I could focus on was getting to the lever and –"

She stopped. Another insult had jumped to her mind.

"Help me?" Rhys guessed, the smirk on his lips telling her that this time, he didn't mind.

"Yes," Quinn admitted. "I know I couldn't have, but I had to do something."

Rhys said nothing, pulling her gently up to sit opposite of him. Quinn watched as his gaze traveled over her half-naked body and saw the effort it took for Rhys to force himself to wait.

"Stay still," he said, disappearing to another room for a long minute.

Quinn sat on the bed, thinking of the twists and turns her life was taking. Destiny had funny ways to show people how wrong first impressions sometimes were.

She had to see Cassie soon. Quinn trusted that Rhys' threat kept her sister's mate at bay now, but she needed to be sure. Not to mention she wanted to share news with Cassie, hear how she was doing and tell her of Rhys, too.

After all, she'd come to realize how impossible it would have been for her to leave, even if presented with a chance. Something powerful tied her to Rhys now, unbreakable and eternal.

Rhys returned with a bowl in his hands. He had stripped out of his bloody armor and left the massive sword behind too, which was a relief for Quinn who didn't exactly like the smell and sight of blood.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing to the bowl Rhys put on the bed next to her.

"Medicine," he replied. "This will sting, but you have to bear with it. I promise it will pass."

"Alright," Quinn said, letting him take her arm and dab a wet cloth from the bowl on her arm.

She winced like she'd been hit when the cloth touched her skin. For a second, it felt like her body was caught in a wave of electricity and then it passed.

"Holy hell, that hurt," Quinn blurted, blinking fast to avoid tears running down her cheeks. "It's like – ow! Do you need to keep doing that?"

"Yes," Rhys said. "The cliff the fortress is built in, the rock it's comprised of, it's not entirely safe for humans. There's nothing wrong with it in a general sense, but there are components that have been found to be dangerous to you. This is a disinfectant. I'm not taking any chances with your health."

"Okay," Quinn said, biting her tongue when the next dab made her wince.

Then she saw her arm. The small scars that had been there a second ago were gone. She barely noticed the shock that went through her body when Rhys moved up her arm and then to the other, so mesmerized by how the cuts kept disappearing.

"Wow," Quinn breathed. "That's just... magic."

The harbinger laughed.

"It's very effective, yes," he agreed.

"I don't want to know how you discovered that the rock is dangerous to Terrans," Quinn said.

"It's better like that, yes," Rhys said, moving on to her torso and legs.

"Is there anything else I need to avoid? Like, if I fall on the stone or if I breathe it in?" she asked.

"Nothing of the sort," Rhys said. "Even this is just a precaution. If there was something wrong, it would show on your skin long before it got life-threatening. I just don't want you to go through any kind of pain."

Quinn nodded. She was also very keen on avoiding unnecessary pain.

When Rhys was done, he put the bowl away and pulled her against him. Quinn could feel his hard cock press against her when she was lifted onto his lap. She chuckled, rubbing her ass against the harbinger's growing erection.

Rhys growled deeply, running his hands over her naked flesh.

"Now," he said. "I can be sure I don't hurt you when I rip the rest of your clothes off that gorgeous body of yours."