Oriel tried to move her wings for probably the one-hundredth time since they had started walking. She hated not being able to control her wings. They were another extension of her. They were another set of limbs to her. It was starting to drive her crazy that she couldn't use them. 

When they stopped for a minute to rest, Oriel watched Tassian fly around above the trees keeping watch over them. She longed to be up in the trees with him. Instead, she's glued to the ground. 

She tore her eyes from Tassian and crossed her arms. She leaned against a tree while they waited for Borus to come back from relieving himself. She knew her mood was souring every time that she thought about her wings, but she longed to be in the air. She longed the wind on her face. 

That longing didn't distract her from her duties here on the ground. Oriel continued to feel out around her. She was able to feel Dyso's presence when he attacked. She knew that she could now feel when he was coming after them. He wasn't able to protect himself, Xara, or whoever the lizard man was anymore. 

There was no one around them at the moment. Oriel kept her body and mind ready for another attack  She wasn't going to let herself relax too much. She promised herself that she wasn't going to let Tassian get hurt again. She knew that he would protect her as much as she would protect him. She was going to protect all of them. 

Oriel heard wings fold beside her and felt a slight wind go over her. She looked to her right and saw Tassian leaning against her tree. He smiled at her as he reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. 

"Don't think about it, Eagle," Tassian tried to comfort her. She didn't know how he always knew what she was thinking of, but every time it amazed her. 

She gave him a small smile and shrugged her shoulders. "I've gotten so used to flying around that my legs feel weak."

Tassian shook his head slightly. "Your legs are full of muscle." 

She pushed him slightly and she laughed. "I know!" She turned to look at him. "I'm not used to walking as much as we are now. They feel weak." She paused for a moment and looked over at Draya sitting down, leaning against another tree. Her eyes were closed, but her lips were smiling. 

"You can feel him now?" Tassian asked quietly. He had moved closer to her and let his wing wrap around her. 

Oriel nodded. "I could feel all three." She looked back over at him. "They can't hide anymore from us." 

Tassian nodded sharply. "Good."

Oriel nodded in agreement. She looked around to try to see if Borus was back yet. Before she started to think that he had let himself get eaten by an animal, he walked out of the bushes and knelt by Draya. 

"Do you think we'll ever find mine?" Tassian asked. There was a little longing in his voice making Oriel snap her head over to him. She knew that he was talking about his family, but she didn't know how to answer him. 

She moved closer to him and leaned her head against his chest. "I hope we do, Tassian." She felt him wrap his arms around her. "They have to be out there somewhere."

Tassian grunted in response. "I just need to know what happened to them. You know what happened to your family. Hell," his voice perked up. Oriel couldn't tell whether he was faking or not. "We've been traveling with your mother and brother!" His arms tightened around her. "If they're dead, at least I'd know what happened to them."

Oriel looked up at him. She didn't know how to respond. He was looking over at Borus and Draya. She made a mental note to ask Draya the next time they were alone. She may know something about what happened to them. 

"I'm sorry, Tassian." Those were the only words that could come out of her mouth. She wished that she could say something more comforting, but she's never been good at comforting people. 

Tassian looked down at her quickly. There was sadness in his eyes and Oriel's heart hurt from looking at them. "You don't need to be sorry," he said slowly. He leaned down closer to her. "You are not the one who took me away from my family. You are not the one who performed painful experiments on me and forced me to become an assassin." He paused for a moment before adding. "You are not the one who tortured me by placing me with the woman that I loved and couldn't touch. Couldn't show my love for her because we had both agreed that we wouldn't bring another child into her clutches. Even if that meant that neither of us could act on our love for each other."

"Tassian," Oriel breathed out. Tears formed in her eyes and threatened to fall down her cheeks. She placed her hands on his chest. 

"She placed blood on our hands, Oriel, that should have never been on us," he continued. His voice cracked. "I want her dead."

Oriel nodded quickly. "I want her dead too, Tassian." Tears fell down her cheeks. Tassian noticed them and wiped them away with his thumb. 

"If we can't find Queen Vega," he said slowly. 

"Then we kill her ourselves." 

Tassian looked at her closely and searched her face. "If we go down that route, it'd be a suicide mission."

Oriel shook her head and leaned back from him. "We're already on a suicide mission. Dyso has been hunting us for days now, Tassian. Yes, he has his weird obsession with me-"

"Weird is not the word that I would have used," he interrupted her. 

She gave him a look. "But he was ordered by the Queen to have us returned to her. You and I both know that she doesn't care whether we are returned dead or alive." She took a deep breath. "Even if we are returned to her alive, she'd kill us herself there on the spot. She'd be spilling blood in that throne room once more." She reached up and cupped his face with her hands. "No matter what we do now, it's a suicide mission. To her, we are dead. Even if we go back and ask for her forgiveness, she wouldn't give it to use."

Tassian leaned into her right hand and placed a light kiss on her palm. "If we don't succeed, I hope she kills me first."

"Tassian," Oriel started. 

Tassian reached up and grabbed her hands, keeping them on his face. "It will break me watching her torture you. Watching her kill you. I wouldn't be able to do it, Eagle."

Tears flowed down Oriel's cheeks again. "I can't watch her kill you, Tassian." She shook her head quickly and looked down. "We have to kill her, Tassian. If we can't find Queen Vega, we have to kill her. We'll only have one chance to kill her. If we don't, we're dead." She looked back up at Tassian. Fear rippled through her. "I'm not ready to die, Tassian."

Tassian bent down quickly and caught her lips with his. He gave her a long, hard kiss before pulling back slightly and leaning his forehead against hers. She knew that was his way of shutting her up, but she didn't care. She'll always cling to him to calm her down. 

"I'm not going to let you die, Eagle," he whispered to her. "We'll find Queen Vega and she'll have her revenge for us." He kissed her forehead. "I promise you." He leaned back and wiped away her tears with his thumbs before looking over at Borus and Draya. 

Oriel followed his gaze and chuckled slightly at her brother and mother. Draya had her back to them and was pointing and wagging her finger in front of Borus. Borus had his head down with his hands folded in front of him. 

"What do you want to guess he said something inappropriate in front of Draya again?" Tassian asked her. His usual voice was back. There was no gloom in his voice anymore. Her Tassian was back. 

Oriel chuckled as she nodded in agreement. "You're probably right." She took his hand and started to pull him towards them. "We need to get going if we're going to want to put a large distance between our hunters."

Tassian's jaw tightened as he nodded. 

Borus looked up as they got closer to them. Draya dropped her finger and turned around to smile at them. She folded her hands in front of her. "We are ready when you two are ready, Oriel."

Oriel was a tiny bit curious about what Borus was getting a lecture on, but it didn't matter. They needed to gain a large distance between them and Dyso. She knew she may have to kill Dyso to get to Queen Vega. If they were to kill him, they'd have to somehow get that ring off of his finger. Oriel pushed the thoughts out of her head and smiled at them. "Let's get going." She started down the small path as Draya fell into step next to her. 

There was silence for a while between the four of them. Oriel reveled in the silence, but she knew it wasn't going to last long. She was just hoping that she could get a couple of more minutes of silence before - 

"Do you think that panther lady is mad?" Borus interrupted the silence. 

Oriel groaned and rolled her eyes. She enjoyed the silence too soon. She just decided to let Tassian handle all of his questions since he answered him before. Beside her, Draya pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. Although, Oriel saw a hint of an amused smile on her face. 

"Xara is extremely mad," Tassian answered.

There was a tiny bit of silence before Borus opened his mouth again. "Are those panthers her pets?"

"No," Tassian answered him again. "They are a part of her. She can feel through them. She can see through their eyes. Whatever she wants, she can control them to do."

"Wow," Borus breathed out. "You know, for such an evil lady, she's hot."

Draya turned around quickly. Oriel saw a hint of amusement in her eyes, even though her mouth was turned down. "You need to stop talking, now."

"I don't think he can," Oriel added causing a chuckle from Tassian. "But," Oriel sighed. "Xara is extremely angry. I killed one of her panthers. That means I killed a portion of her." Oriel grabbed the hilt of her swords, reassuring herself that she still had her protection. "She is going to want revenge. I'm not sure if she's going to want revenge from Dyso or me."

"Or both of you," Tassian added. 

Oriel nodded. "Or both of us. We need to be prepared for a more aggressive attack from her."

"Do either of you know who that lizard man is?" Draya turned back around and asked them. 

Oriel shook her head. "I've never seen him in my life."

"Neither have I."

Draya was silent for a moment before adding, "He could be the one trying to get in your mind."

Oriel looked over at her. "Do you really think it's him?"

Draya shrugged. "Who else could it be? The man with the golden eyes -"

"Dyso," Tassian said quickly. 

"Yes, Dyso," Draya corrected herself. "You said that he has the ability to cloak his presence so you can't feel him, right?"

Oriel nodded. "Right."

"Then there's that girl with the panthers, Xara. Tassian just described what she could do." Oriel was starting to see where she was going and was starting to understand. "The lizard man is the only person in that group that neither of you know. You don't know his abilities. He is probably the one who is trying to get inside your head and break your mind."

Oriel started to chew on her lip. "I need to try to figure out how to hide my mind from him." She shook her head. "I can't let him win." 

Dray placed a hand on her shoulder. "He won't win, my dear."

Oriel hoped that she was right. 

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