"You've got to be kidding me," Lance muttered. "You're a prince?"

Reggie glared at Lance as he struggled against his bonds. The pair had been moved to the center of the Ladon campsite, where they had been bound to separate sides of a tree. There was little to no chance for them to escape now, and Reggie needed to think of a good plan to get out of this mess. It wasn't helping that Lance had been asking him questions nonstop.

"Did you really try to kill your father?" He inquired a few seconds after his first question, which he had asked repeatedly, had remained unanswered.

"Can you be quiet you imbecile?" Reggie growled. "You do realize the seriousness of the situation we are in? Or is everything just a joke to you?"

Lance frowned. "Excuse me. We could have avoided this whole situation if you had just told us who you were from the beginning."

"Oh yes, I suppose your incompetence is my fault. The princess would have been in my care if you had not showed up and disrupted my plans."

Lance furrowed his brows. "We didn't need your help. In fact, I had everything under control."

"Hey!" A guard yelled at the prisoners. "Shut up!"

Reggie bit his lip, but Lance didn't seem to know when to quit. Before the prince could stop him, Lance had spit at the guard's feet.

"Go to hell!" Lance yelled.

"Lance," warned Reggie through gritted teeth.

The guard rose from his seated position, giving Lance a dangerous glare. "What was that Luciano?"

"Now Lance, think before you-"

"I said," spoke Lance ferociously, "go to hell!"

  Reggie sighed. Here we go again.

The guard rolled his eyes and turned to the man sitting next to him. "Can't we just kill the punk already?"

    "You heard the boss," grunted the man, his curly beard bouncing as he spoke, "We can't kill him, but they never said we couldn't give him a few knocks on the head."

    The guards gave Lance a menacing look, but the Luciano wasn't frightened. He gritted his teeth in defiance, daring the men to try him. The confrontation seemed inevitable, but the tides turned as the men spotted something hurtling to the ground above them. The guards pointed, and everyone's eyes watched the blur that raced through the sky until it crashed into the forest, shaking the ground around them. Lucan emerged from his tent, his eyes darting around to see what had caused the disturbance.

    "Was that-"

    "A dragon." Reggie interrupted Lance. "One went missing from the Ladon Empire months ago. They're the most destructive weapons available to King Augustus."

    Lance's mouth hung open. He knew dragons were the heart and soul of the Ladon culture, but what he didn't understand was what one would be doing here. Dragons normally stayed hidden, and the places dragons were known to inhabit were far north of where they were now.

    The same thoughts seemed to plague Lucan's mind as well. It didn't make sense for a dragon to be out here in the wilderness unless it was in the form of some illegal activity, illegal activity that Lucan was now in charge of regulating.

    "Mal," growled Lucan, realization suddenly flooding into his mind. He stomped towards Lance. "You sent the princess to Mal!"

    Lance shrugged. "I don't know who you're talking about."

    "You certainly don't act like you know who she is you fool!" Lucan exclaimed. "If Mal got her hands on the princess, she might already be dead. Then the witch will march up to Aragona if she finds out that Vito is gone."

    Lance smirked. "Do you want an apology? Cause you're not getting one."

    Lucan gave Lance a look of disgust before turning to his men. "Search the area where the dragon landed. We need to know what we're up against."

Lance glared at Lucan's hungry expression as the soldiers scrambled to head into the wilderness.

"You won't be able to take out Mal."

Lucan smirked, the scar on his face twitching. "I think you forget how close I was to your father and Mal. I know almost everything about them, their greatest desires, fondest memories, and their most crippling weaknesses."

Lance's face fell as Lucan stood above him. "Mal doesn't have any weaknesses."

"She certainly does not have many, but I'm sure she would give me what I want if she knew it meant saving her nephew's life. An infected wound like yours won't let you live for long. The clock is running out boy. Time to say your prayers."

    "Why is it so hard to make a fire?" Raina screamed in frustration.

    Ari watched as Raina kicked the pile of wood over, stomping over to where Ari was sitting under a tree.

    "Isn't there some magic thing you can do?"

    "Magic doesn't work like that. I only have access to a certain type of magic. The fire element happens to be one of the many types I'm not familiar with," answered Ari. "Maybe Kaida can help."

    Raina gave Ari a confused glance. "Who's Kaida?"

    "The dragon."

    Raina sighed as she glanced over at the beast. The creature's breathing had grown worse. Any breath could have been its last, and the last thing Raina wanted was for Ari to get attached.

    "No. No names."

    Ari placed her hand on her hip and frowned. "Why don't you like her?"

    "What do you mean?"

    Ari rolled her eyes. "Don't play stupid. I saw you trying to kill her."

    Raina scoffed. "I'm not playing stupid. It's a dragon. They're dangerous."

    Ari glanced between Raina and Kaida. "If you're going to be mean you could at least keep your voice down and call her by the proper pronouns. She can hear you, you know? Besides, she's not dangerous. She's not even grown."

    "Maybe not right now," Raina muttered, "but if she gets better, we are easy food. Heck, she might be waiting until we sleep!"

    "Oh please, Kaida and I have the same chance of eating you in your sleep."

    Raina snorted. "I wouldn't doubt it."

    Ari smiled before grabbing a piece of firewood and heading to Kaida who snorted happily upon seeing the little girl. Her eyes were sad and pained, and Ari rubbed the creature's snout. Raina stayed poised, her hand resting on her sword in case anything happened.

    "Kaida, can you help us with a fire?"

    Kaida stared at the little girl, its eyes flickering in an expression that was impossible for Raina to read. The dragon slowly raised its head, the biggest movement it had done all night, and softly blew a small flame onto the wood, much to Ari's delight.

    "I told you she would help," Ari said smugly as she placed the burning wood in the pile, creating a large, crackling fire that would keep them warm for the approaching night. Ari collapsed to the ground beside it, and Raina smiled as she watched the shadow of the fire flicker and glow on Ari's dark skin. Raina's eyes drifted further to the clothes hanging from the girl's waist, and once again the lily flower necklace dangling from Ari's neck caught her eye.

    "Hey Ari," Raina began awkwardly, "You never got to tell me what that symbol on your necklace meant."

    Ari avoided Raina's eyes and remained silent as if she was deep in thought. She opened her mouth and then hesitated, snapping it shut quickly. Then finally, she nodded her head as if she had finally come to a decision.

    "If I tell you, you have to promise me something."

    Raina narrowed her eyes. "You would be one to try to strike a deal."

    "This is serious!" Ari snapped. "Will you promise?"

    Raina met Ari's eyes full of hope and strength. "Of course. What is it?"

    Ari took a deep breath. "I need you to promise that you will try to help me find my parents."

    The cracking of the fire filled the silence. Raina wasn't sure why she hesitated. She thought at first that it had surprised her, but it was more than that. Raina had found the younger version of herself, determined and hopeful. After Aragona had been taken over, Raina had tried to run away and had gone on long treks in the hopes of finding her parents alive. It had been something she daydreamed about on a daily basis: running into her father's arms, telling her mother she loved her, laughing with her brother about how she had thought he was dead.

    "Ari, are you sure they're still out there?"

    Ari's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

    "Like, you're sure they're still alive?"

    Ari scowled. "Of course they're still alive! I'm not an idiot! I lost them, but they're still around. I can feel it."

    Raina smiled at the girl. It was only a few days ago that she had said the same things about Antonio. She wanted to make this promise, but it was against Raina's philosophy to make promises she couldn't keep. However, if Ari's parents were out there, then Raina would be doing something good, something a knight would do. It wouldn't really be breaking a promise if she didn't actually find Ari's parents. Ari just wanted her to promise to try.

    "Do you promise?"

    The fire seemed to burn just a little bit brighter, flashing just as the moon appeared from beyond the clouds.

    "I promise."

Hello! Happy Sunday! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

What do you all think of the relationship between Raina and Ari so far? And how about Lance and Reggie? The action will start to pick up again very soon.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and hopefully I'll see you next week!