by Vi Voxley
During the actual night when the lights were dimmed, beams of moonlight from Luminos' three moons shone through the holes in the ceiling. The light reflected off mirrors in the shafts, creating patterns on the ground. Sometimes Ashley and Joslyn stayed up late just to watch the moonlight play, excited like children half their age.
"You give me courage," Ashley admitted seriously, breaking out of their usual easy, light conversation.
Joslyn gave her a quizzical look.
"I mean you make me believe that things could work with Zar," she continued. "That although this is deeply messed up, it doesn't have to be the end of my life. And that maybe it can go well for others too."
Ashley saw Joslyn start to smirk before her face dropped and a deep frown appeared on a face that was used to smiling.
"Trouble ahead," she told Ashley, who turned to see what had gotten her friend so upset.
Just like that, the happiness she'd felt that morning receded like a good dream in a waking nightmare. Gwen Raleigh, the perpetual bearer of bad news, was coming their way, her intention clear on her broad, pale face. The flock of blonde curls around her head flew up and down as Gwen strutted down the walkway like she owned the place, whereas the truth was far from it.
If there's ever a Nayanor who is your mate, I don't know who I pity more.
"Gwen," Ashley said hurriedly when the self-appointed spokesperson for the latest "haul" as they were known stopped in front of her. "Before you say something incredibly stupid, remember where we are. If you want to speak to us in private, let us go and –”
"I'm sorry, Ash," Gwen said, the informal version of her name sounding so wrong on the lips of the woman who hated her guts. "I couldn't hear you over all those sheep noises you keep making."
"Funny," Ashley replied coldly, stopping Joslyn from interfering with a quick look. "You get funnier every day. I hope you maintain that sense of humor when your mate finds you."
Gwen bared her teeth, looking like a lioness ready to prowl. Ashley sighed. Gwen had that flawless beauty about her, an almost Viking-like pride and fierce spirit that she was sure a Nayanor would find irresistible. As it was, Ashley prayed that if the man existed, he lived on the other side of Luminos and never met Gwen, given that she would have gotten herself swiftly killed.
"I look forward to the day you stop believing this fated mate bullshit they feed you," Gwen said, giving them both a hard look. "Honestly, I don't know what curse is upon this damn domain that the two women who could make a real difference defend our fucking captors."
"We don't defend them," Ashley protested, her anger rising to the surface quicker than she'd imagined.
It was the morning's events, she knew that. A guilty part of her thought that Gwen was partly right. It was easy for her and Joslyn to preach about trying to get along with Nayanors when they were happy with their mates, ready to give the unexpected twist of fate a chance.
"Really," Gwen deadpanned, rolling her eyes before crossing her hands over her chest and adopting a business-like tone like she usually did. "Anyway, I thought you might want to know. Mia was claimed by a Nayanor mate today. She was dragged away crying and screaming. What do you say to that?"
"To stop crying," Joslyn answered in Ashley's place, a dark look on her face. "If she embarrasses her mate, the month of the long night won't go well for her."
Gwen did what she always did. She stared at them like it was the first time they were having the conversation, the first time they went through the motions of their futile argument. Ashley was quickly growing tired of that.
The problem with Gwen was that she belonged to the group of women who hadn't been put at ease by her explanations back on the Foront. Unlike the rest of them, who went quickly down the rabbit hole of despair, Gwen had taken it upon herself to be their protector. As it happens, so had Ashley, only their views on what defending the women on Luminos entailed couldn't have been more different.
Gwen thought they should stand up, fight and form some sort of a militia on the home world of a warrior race with serious empathy issues. Ashley happened to think there were quicker and less painful ways to commit suicide.
It was safe to say they didn't get along.
"I can't believe you two," Gwen said, putting on her best act of being appalled. "You especially, Ash. You are the mate of the harbinger. If you get along so well with him, tell him to let us go! Don't you hate what's going on here?"
"You know he won't do that," Ashley said grimly. "Just as well as you know I don't condone the raids. I just think we need to deal with them."
She didn't like to be reminded that there were things she would have changed if she could have. Not to mention, she would have changed Zar's perspective on the raids if she thought there was even the slightest of chances. The fact that there wasn't haunted Ashley in the deep, dark hours of the night when the world around her slept.
Then she thought of Gwen and whether she was on the wrong side of the battle the woman fought when Ashley basically agreed.
"There is no dealing with some people," Gwen said furiously.
"No," Ashley agreed. "There really isn't."
Gwen looked like she was ready to explode when something happened that chilled Ashley to the bone. The entire vast hall that stretched as wide as the eye could see was filled with the distorted voice of The Reaper. Ashley had only ever met him and heard the Lord of the Black Hall speak once, filling her lifetime supply.
"Zar Kohora," the message rang out, The Reaper's voice shaking from rage. "Report to the central throne room at once. Bring your accursed mate with you.
"Congratulations, by the way, you little bitch. We have fucked your people for a long time, but you're the first one that managed to fuck us back. You have exactly ten minutes to celebrate that."
23
Zar
He couldn't believe it.
The harbinger stormed out of his training session with the young warriors he'd been leading. Zar's blood was boiling. His fury was so obvious that after The Reaper's message, all of his companions had retreated to give him a wide space to leave the hall.
That bastard thinks he can call me like a dog, while I'm seeing to my new warriors.
It wasn't what truly bothered Zar, however. He'd known The Reaper for a long time and the one thing that the other warlord wasn't, was stupid. The message had been broadcast over the entire Hall. There was no doubt in Zar's heart that something was terribly wrong and it included Ashley somehow.
He didn't think he wanted to know what it was.
On that morning, he'd finally confessed his love for her, a feeling Zar had never expected to really feel. He'd bared his heart to his mate and the mere thought of her betraying him was unbearable. It simply couldn't happen, not now when they had finally come together and he had been waiting for signs to see if they would have their first son soon.
Nayanors and Terrans both scattered from his path as Zar marched to where his carrier was waiting.
Ashley and her Terran friends were standing right in the middle of the walkway, looking frozen in time.
His mate's face was ashen as well as the females who Zar recognized as Captain Yamor's mate. The third one was unknown to him, but she was practically jumping up and down from glee, the only one in the vicinity who looked even remotely happy.
"I knew it," the harbinger could hear her cry. "I knew you were on my side, Ash!"
"Shut up," Ashley warned the female when Zar reached them, barely holding on to the last tethers of his temper. "For the love of gods, Gwen, shut your mouth right now."
"Is there anything I should know?" Zar asked, hearing running footsteps behind him. "Tell me now, Ashley. If I need to hear it from The Reaper, you'll regret it."
The look on Ashley's face was horrible to see. Not because of what laid ahead for them, which wasn't pretty, but because he had to stoop to threatening her. Underneath the fear and the concern Zar saw in Ashley's eyes, the most prevailing emotion was a bone-deep hurt.
&n
bsp; "Zar!" he heard a voice from behind him.
The harbinger turned to Captain Roagh, seeing the man look eerily like Ashley did.
"You know," he stated simply, the anger making the words come out choked. "If you conspired with my mate against me, I swear, Roagh, I will deny you all the honors after I've butchered you like a beast."
"Never," Roagh hissed at him, casting a dark look in Ashley's direction that set another sort of rage coursing through Zar's veins. "I would never conspire against you, Harbinger! All I did was to protect you, and our people!"
"Protect me!?" Zar roared so loudly people around them hurried to make themselves scarce.
"Exactly why," Roagh answered, unmoved by his anger. "Not from The Reaper, from your damned temper, Zar! You can't fight the entire Black Hall for her!"
I can.
The feeling was so immediate and so powerful that Zar didn't say anything in response for a long moment, considering instead. He didn't know that was even an option, a necessity for him. Now that he knew something truly was up with Ashley, Roagh's taunt made him do what he always did – fight back. A Nayanor harbinger didn't shrink back from challenges, especially if they were directed at his fated.
"Gods, you're going to do it, aren't you?" Roagh murmured. "Is there anything I could say that would make you consider all these people here? There are thousands still on the way! Do you hear me, Zar? The Reaper can shut the gates right now and leave them out there. You know he can. You know he fucking will if you push him."
"Zar..." Ashley said, the first word out of her mouth after leaving him before.
After professing her own love for him.
"Come," Zar said, walking away. "You can tell me as we ride. Leave nothing out."
Ashley followed him in silence. She began to talk when they were on their way, the carrier taking them through dark, hollow halls that were designated for his people still on the way to the Hall.
She told him everything. The way she'd conned his warriors to let her wander around the docking bay freely. How she'd managed to get three females away from them. How she'd told them to deliver the message to the Union if they made it.
In short, how she had exposed the secret of wormhole travel to the Galactic Union, who was now free to start coming up with ways to track and stop them.
Every word she said confirmed the suspicion Zar had had from the moment Roagh had called him out.
It was the day when he would die for her.
They were close to the central throne room when Ashley finished her explanation. Zar had sat in silence while he piloted the carrier.
Sitting next to him, Ashley's voice had grown weaker and weaker as she spoke. When silence fell again, she glanced at him fearfully, looking like she thought he would strike out at her.
"What's going to happen?" she asked. "To you? To us? To the people Captain Roagh was talking about?"
"I imagine some of us must die to satisfy The Reaper's bloodlust," Zar replied.
Ashley's expression changed at once, going from concerned to defiant in a heartbeat.
"You can't let that happen," she argued vehemently. "I didn't want this. I never planned on anyone getting hurt –”
"What you planned is no longer the problem," Zar said, aware of how cold and distant his voice was. "These are the consequences and they will be dire."
He could feel Ashley shaking next to him, her pretty eyes flashing with determined fire.
"Fine," she said. "Let me talk to The Reaper then. I'll tell him it was all me. I'll apologize, offer to make amends somehow."
Zar laughed mirthlessly, not an ounce of humor in him.
"False on both accounts," he said darkly. "The Reaper would not accept an apology from you, not on any terms. You are a female, not even his female. You have nothing to offer him but your neck. Which is why you will never see him again. If he caught you, he'd have you executed."
Ashley's eyes went wide as she finally realized they weren't going to the throne room.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked, the fear returning to her voice. "Zar, what's going on?"
"I'm taking you somewhere you won't be found," the harbinger replied, feeling the biting pain in his heart, growing stronger with each second that he lived with knowledge of his fated's betrayal.
"Where?" Ashley demanded, looking around in desperation.
"Don't bother trying to memorize the route," Zar said, the breaking of his heart turning his words into some dark growl. "I'm going around to make sure that even if you somehow manage to escape your rooms, you won't find your way to habitable areas."
He could sense her plan before Ashley ever moved. When she stood to jump out of the carrier, Zar grabbed her and pulled her back to her seat. The carrier slowed down as he turned and looked at her, his face frozen in a stony expression.
"Try that again and I will not leave you a light," he said. "Imagine that, sitting in your rooms without being able to see a thing. Nayanors use that as a torture method sometimes on weak spirits. They leave them alone in a room without clear borders, buried in complete darkness. A person will lose their mind there when the walls start closing in on their mind.
"Your spirit isn't that weak but I guess it wouldn't be fun."
Ashley stared at him, her eyes wide and terrified.
"You wouldn't do that to me," she said quietly, the tone of her voice betraying she didn't believe it quite herself.
"You left me no choice," Zar said with finality. "I told you, female. Your freedoms are earned and I assure you, you just lost every single one of them. I will not let The Reaper kill you, because you are mine, but from this day on, you're going to live the life you feared so much."
Ashley looked like the words she wanted to say were stuck in her throat. They rode on in silence, Zar's heart growing heavier with every second.
"I'm waiting, Zar," The Reaper's voice sounded again.
After what seemed like an eternity, Zar parked the carrier in front of a huge and foreboding statue. It was a place he'd discovered in his youth, never telling anyone about the passage he'd found there, knowing he might need it one day.
The surrounding darkness hinted at it still being unknown to others. Ashley was shuddering.
"You can't leave me here," she said firmly. "I only did what I thought was right!"
"Come," Zar said, refusing to look at her straight-on.
It hurt too much to remember the smiling female in his bed that morning, the depth of emotion in her eyes when she'd admitted she'd come to love him.
The fact that she'd done that, knowing full well her treachery was going to be discovered, threatened to ruin the memory for him. Zar fought it with everything he had. Things could never be the same between him and Ashley from that point forward, but he wanted to keep that single glorious moment like a guilty trophy.
"If you think I'm going to let you leave me here in pitch black darkness, you're out of your mind," Ashley shot back at him, clinging to the carrier. "Zar, don't do this! We can figure out a way to make this right somehow! If you lock me up here, I will never forgive you!"
"Come," Zar ordered. "If I have to tell you again, I will simply carry you there. I know you don't like undignified behavior, so I suggest you walk on your own two feet."
Ashley said nothing at first. She looked at him, searching his face for any signs of mercy, but that wasn't going to happen. The anger burned in Zar's veins, the thought of everything he'd risked for her, only to have it blow up in his face.
"No," she whispered.
The disbelief, the denial was plain in her voice. She still didn't think he'd go through with it.
"So be it," Zar said.
He pulled her into his arms, so at odds with the way it had happened a hundred times before. Then, Ashley had sometimes resisted a little, but always ended up pushing her gorgeous body against his, bringing them together like they were one. Now, her tiny hands beat at his armor, doing more damage to herself than him.
"Put me down, Zar
!" she yelled.
"Why didn't you tell me back then?" the harbinger demanded, walking through the dark passage, the lantern in his hands the only source of light. "Why did you tell Roagh but not me? I could have done something to prepare for this."
"I couldn't," Ashley argued, jumping to what she thought was a lifeline. "Roagh told me you'd antagonize The Reaper, get yourself killed and everyone in your domain along with you!"
"And what was the point of waiting!?" Zar snapped. "It was all going to happen anyway and now you two have made me walk into it blindly!
"Everything you've done has only brought you to the things you wanted to avoid! You wanted your damn freedom and now you're going to end up in a cage! I have to hide you like some secret sin, hoping I can keep you hidden until the long night passes! You wanted to save your friends and now you may have gotten a lot of people killed because you couldn't open your damn mouth and trust me!"
There was a door in front of him, a hard, heavy gate of a lonely cell. Zar guessed it might have even once been a cage for someone. Now it was going to be Ashley's.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know!" Ashley cried when he put her down, pushing the door open and checking inside. "I never imagined how bad it would get!"
"I believe you," Zar said, not looking at her. "It doesn't change a thing. Get in."
"You're actually going to do this," Ashley said, staring at him, wide-eyed and afraid. "You're going to leave me here, alone. In the dark. With no food, no warm clothes, no –”
"I will bring you everything you need to be comfortable," Zar replied, holding the door open for her. "Get in. Now. Before they come looking for me and find the carrier."
Ashley was shaking from anger. Her eyes kept flicking to the dark cell in front of her and then back to him. Seeing that she was going to start another argument, Zar stepped forward.
He knew he was breaking something precious and incredibly important when he caught her arm and easily dragged Ashley into the cell, ignoring her terrified protests.
