"We're two miles from the shelter," Borus informed them as he rode along the cage. He would pace his horse around the cage every hour looking at Oriel. Tassian would growl at him and wrap a wing around her every time he came around.

Borus rode off and Tassian relaxed. Oriel looked at him and observed that his bruises were starting to heal as they were turning green and yellow. Hints of blue and purple still resonated in the bruises, but they were healing. The swelling from the cut on his lip was gone, but the cut was still there. He would mess with the cut with his tongue and occasionally bit it. She was irritated that their moment was interrupted earlier. Wherever Borus was taking them better be worth the interruption.

A couple of hours later they felt the cage stop moving. Borus walked over to the end of the cage and crossed his arms at them. "I don't want to immobilize either of you again. Please, don't try to escape." He was staring at Tassian while he was talking. The hood still covered his eyes, but his mouth gave a hint of challenge.

Oriel knew that Tassian would take the challenge at any time and she wasn't ready to fight. She knew she recognized his name and those eyes were extremely familiar. She needed answers to the questions circling in her mind. She laid her hand on Tassians' are and scooted closer to the cage door. "We won't try to escape."

Borus nodded as he opened the door and stepped aside to let them out. Oriel stepped out of the cage first and moved so Tassian could get out. She looked around them. The land around them was extremely dry. No vegetation grew because of how hot the air was. Five extremely tall caves surrounded them in a horseshoe shape. Borus stood in front of them and motioned for them to follow him. His men surrounded them as they started forward. They walked into the middle cave and instantly the air got cold. Oriel wrapped her arms around herself as her body got used to the cold air.

The people inside the cave stopped and turned to watch them as they walked past. Piles of provisions and weapons lined the walls of the cave. Children clung to mothers as fathers stepped in front of them. Oriel rolled her eyes, used to that kind of reaction. Although, the reaction she wasn't used to getting was that some people were curious. Some people were walking closer to them to get a better look. Some had looks of amazement on their faces.

An older woman walked over to them and Borus stopped. The woman wore a blue, flowing dress. It had small, yellow flowers on it and long, bell sleeves. Her eyes were bright, silver-blue, and full of curiosity. She had freckles sprinkled along with her nose and her mouth was smiling. Her red hair hung in waves to her shoulders and framed her face. She walked up to Borus and outstretched her arms to him. She took his hood and pushed it off his face revealing a mop of curly, red hair. She wrapped her arms around her shoulder as her eyes landed on Oriel.

"Oriel?" her voice squeaked. Her eyes held sadness, joy, and confusion in them. She gently pushed past Borus and quickly walked towards Oriel.

Tassian quickly stepped in front of her and tense up. Oriel placed a hand on his back and moved to his side. She was still standing behind him, but she was able to see the woman stop quickly and look up at Tassian. Her eyes softened at the sight of him. She smiled kindly and folded her hands under her chin.

"I'm so very sorry," she drawled out. She looked back over at Oriel. "I've been waiting twelve years for this moment. My little girl is back home."

Oriel's mouth hung open and her brows furrowed in confusion. She started to speak, but Tassian interrupted her. "Excuse me, but what are you talking about." He looked back at Oriel and she saw that his face held the same expression as hers did. He turned his head back towards the woman. "Who are you?"

The woman looked between him and Oriel before speaking, "Krathys took everything from you." The way she was talking sounded like she was talking to herself instead of them. She turned and looked at Borus. "My son, please take these two souls to my quarters." She gave them a small smile before turning and walking away.

Borus outstretched his arm. "Well, follow me." He gave Oriel a small nod and turned to walk away. Oriel started to walk past Tassian to follow him when Tassian grabbed her arm, making her spin around.

Tassian stepped closer to her so she could only hear him. "We're way off course, Oriel. We need to focus on getting to Queen Vega."

Oriel sighed. "I understand that, Tassian. How are we going to get out of here? Kill everyone here? Innocent people who are already afraid of us. Borus took our weapons anyways, we have nothing to fight with." She looked over her shoulder and noticed that Borus was standing far enough away to give them space. "They loathe the Queen, maybe they could help us get to Queen Vega and break our bond with the Queen."

"And if they won't?"

Oriel looked up at him, "Then we'll kill them."

Tassian bit his lip causing it to bleed again before nodding in agreement. Oriel reached up and gently took his lip out of his teeth. "Stop bitting, you'll only make it worse." She ran her thumb against his lower lip before yanking it back and turning around quickly. She hurried towards Borus and followed him further into the cave.

The further they went, the fewer weapon and provision piles there were and more doors. Borus turned around and walked backward. "This is where we house everyone. Behind each door is a bedroom. At the moment we have two rooms that are being prepped for each of you." He turned around as they reached a large double door at the end of the cave. He knocked on the door twice before opening them and motioning for them to go in.

They walked into the room and saw the woman standing on the far side of the room with her back to them. The room was slightly bigger than the small house that they had slept in just almost a whole day ago. A large bed sat on the left side of the room. A table sat in the middle with dishes placed on it as four chairs sat around it. The woman was standing in front of a large window overlooking the desert around them.

The woman turned around and smiled at them. She motioned to the chairs. "Please, both of you have a seat." She walked over to Borus and patted his cheek. "Thank you, my dear. You may leave us now. They won't hurt me."

Borus seemed to hesitate for a moment before turning around and leaving through the doors.

Oriel looked over at Tassian and gave him a look to behave before walking over to one of the chairs and sitting down. She moved her wings so they were relaxed against the chair. Instead of sitting down, Tassian stood behind her and kept both hands on her shoulders.

The woman walked over to them and sat down on the chair opposite of them. She folded her hands in front of her on the table and took a deep breath. "I know this will be a lot to hear, but please, just listen to me. My name is Draya and I'm the leader here at this settlement. We know who you are and your reputation. Why are you here?"

Oriel felt Tassian squeeze her shoulders signaling her to talk for them. "We're searching for Queen Vega. We want out of Queen Krathys' rule and want to have freedom."

"She is no Queen," Draya spoke quickly. She looked at each of them for a moment before nodding. "Both of you have been through a lot. Too much in my opinion." She sat up straighter. "It wasn't a coincidence that you two were some of the few that survived Krathys' experiments."

"What do you mean?" Tassian pulled a chair close to Oriel and sat down in it. He leaned forward and Oriel had to hold back a snicker in the way that Tassian was acting. Now he was interested in what this woman had to say.

Draya looked over at Tassian. "Both of you were born with your abilities. Her experiments only heightened them. She indeed took children at random, but the fact that you survived wasn't a coincidence. Your abilities weren't a coincidence. The fact that both of you turned out to be assassins wasn't a coincidence."

"How were we born with our abilities?" Oriel asked her.

Draya turned her attention back to Oriel and her eyes softened when she looked at her. "You remember that Krathys was experimented on like how both of you were?" Both of them nodded. "She wasn't the only one who survived those experiments; she was just his favorite. Everyone that lives in this cave is a descendant from those afflicted by the King. I'm one of those children. Like I had said, Krathys was his favorite. He figured out how to make the perfect weapon and tossed the rest of us aside. He took us to the edge of the kingdom and dropped us here, refusing to let us come back home. Still, we prospered and united ourselves to build this settlement, hoping that our children will live good lives and never face the horror that we had faced. We were wrong."

She stood up and motioned to the glasses in front of them. "Would either of you want anything to drink? We've got fresh water." Both of them nodded and she turned around to grab a pitcher.

While she was filling up their glasses she continued, "Krathys was incredibly successful in creating both of you. You are her perfect weapons. She made you forget about everyone and everything you once loved." She placed the pitcher down and looked up at Oriel. "She took you from me and your father."

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Author note: Thank you so much for reading this chapter! If you enjoyed it, please leave a vote or a comment!