Taj and Aero: Advent of the Feather King

Oriana was a bit surprised to hear Alex would prefer the sound of their home to his own, but didn't complain. "Oh, they have tried. We had to play a rescue mission for Ryleon when he was younger after he was captured by the pirates when he left him home. That's one of the reasons he learned how to fight, to defend himself from it happening again. They tried burning down the house with us in it too, but obviously no avail. Its always a different day. You should come see it." Oriana stopped herself then, for the first time thinking past their adventure. Was he even coming back with her, or going home? She looked down then, suddenly rather unsure.

Initially, he was slightly horrified that Oriana's parents would put her and her brother at that kind of risk with their line of profession, but the feeling passed quickly. Obviously, the experience had made the two able to look out for themselves, and really, would he want Oriana any different? Alex was amused to hear that Ryleon was the household damsel in distress though, and smiled at the tale of kidnapping, imagining him put in a dress in a tall tower with Oriana clothed like a man coming to save him. The smile dimmed at the mention that he should go see her home, though. Once this quest was over, he should probably go back to his own home. His mother would probably have had several nervous breakdowns by now after realizing that one of her sons had been kidnapped by pirates. His father would probably care little, Alex wasn't exactly a rising star in his father's book, but there was some family bond that would demand the old grouch at least pretend to be worried for him. On the other hand, his brothers would probably detest his return. Would it be even worth going back, only to jump right into their hands again? He could imagine now his younger brother spitting curses the moment he walked in the door, disappointed that his plan had been foiled by a stroke of luck. Shaking his head briefly to clear the thoughts, Alex returned his attention to the present, now looking at Oriana's cutely unsure gaze, and he smiled for her. "I would like very much to see your home." He said with a small nod.

Oriana felt a light flutter in her chest, a happiness that she didn't know she would have when Alex said he would come back with her. How could she not have thought past saving her parents? She had remembered that Alex was rescued from a slavery ship but never thought about his family before she had met him but in this moment, a wide smile appeared on her face happy to know he planned on staying with her. How funny it now was to her that just a few short weeks ago she couldn't stand even being around Alex and now she had come to love him so deeply. "I suppose I couldn't get rid of you that easily, could I?" She teased, letting a playful gaze slide over him. She leaned back for a second, looking up to the sky as if in thought and then looked back over to him. "Do you have siblings?" She couldn't remember asking him much about his family, not remember him talking about his life in a warm manner previously.

He couldn't help but to chuckle at the visible delight that Oriana showed upon hearing that he would happily go with her back to her home and reached out, folding his larger hand over one of her smaller ones and squeezed it gently. "Far too late to get rid of me now, I think." He replied softly, meaning every word as a soft warmth filled his chest. It was a completely alien feeling, but he recognized it as the sort of thing that was only brought forth when he looked at Oriana and she was looking back at him like this, practically glowing with her affection. Such a beautiful willful thing… how had he ever captured her heart? He blinked when she asked after his siblings, straightening a little bit, then sighed, his gaze traveling to somewhere far away. "Yes, two brothers. One older, one younger, both of them a real pain in the ass. Believe it or not, my older brother is a bigger ladies man that even me. I learned everything from him."

For the moment that Alex was looking at her, putting his hand over hers, she felt her heart twist and stomach flip. She felt the heat come to her face and was more than glad that the conversation took a less intimate turn. Her soft look soon turned incredulous. "So he is the one I have to thank for the first few weeks with you?" She said sarcastically. She knew Alex was no longer playing the game, glad for it even, but it was hard to believe there was someone out there worse than him. "I can't see someone worse than what you used to be, no offense." The very idea of it scared her for the female race, she wanted to be no where near that man. More for his safety, in that if Alex had been any worse, she would have done more than slap him upon first meeting. She smiled then, remembering the memory giving his hand a soft squeeze and then sighing contently.

Alex snorted in amusement and withdrew his hand, folding it in his lap. "I suppose I was a bit of a piece of work, huh? Well, I caught your attention at least, so all all worth it as a means to an end." He grinned, then continued, filling in Oriana about all the mischief he'd ever gotten into with his older brother that had shaped his opinion of women.

*~*

The next evening they were another day's worth of flight in a generally southward direction, sticking close to the border where the trees turned into a thin forest and the open plains beyond with its flat plains and whipping wind. They had set up camp, a fire between them and had settled in for the night, eating dinner comprised of their pack rations. It was then when everything was at peace that things went horribly wrong.

An arrow burst out of the trees, splitting the air and pinned Ilario by his wing to a tree directly behind him. Crying out in pain and surprise, he tired to pry the fletch out of the tree and out of the muscle of his wing. A second later bandits came flooding into the capsize, all war cries and flashing swords. One crashed into their set tent, knocking it straight down and the others rushed forward to engage the avians in battle.

Alex, surprised by the sudden turn of events leapt to his feet, fumbling briefly for his sword and only managed to get it out of its sheath in time for a sloppy block. He was pushed back by the bandit easily since he didn't have his feet under him properly and fell over backwards when his heel ran into the log that he'd been sitting on before.

Rose didn't entirely know what was going on since she couldn't see past the ring of fire glow, but she recognized the sound of an attack and leapt to her feet, her heart instantly in her throat and stuck close to Demetri.

As soon as the fighting broke loose, Tristan bit back a curse, why did this keep happening? Seeing his brother pinned to the tree, he ran to his side, drawing his sword and making a block that might have been aimed for Ilario's heart. Twisting his blade to free it, he got a better footing in front of his twin and prepared to defend him until he could get free or all of the men around him were dead.

Rlyeon had nearly been kicked into the fire, having been close to where the men had crashed into their camp and had to take a moment or two to figure out where his weapon had gone before mobilizing into action. He eventually got himself up, just in time to roll to the side to avoid having his head hacked off. He came up on one knee, bringing his blade up to block another attack. "Damnit." He growled, fighting off the current man.

Oriana stood close to Alex, her heart beating in sudden fear that she quickly swallowed. Now wasn't the time, or the place and her fear would make her as useless as Rose. Having a distaste for such damsel-in-distress scenes, she drew her sword, defending Alex's back.

Demetri met head on with a man who was swinging his large sword wildly and tried to stay close to Rose, knowing full well she couldn't see and couldn't defend herself even if she could. That wasn't something he really hated, just added worry for him to keep an eye on her. He didn't want to lose her so soon after finally being able to open up to her.

As if on cue to his thoughts, another man came running behind him and for Rose. "Rose!" He tried to call out in warning, earning him a cut across the shoulder for not paying attention and he had no choice but to look back at his attacker.

The man heading for Rose, wrapped his arm around her and kept running, not daring to slow his momentum and get attacked by one of the more aggressive avians. "Just stay quiet and I won't run a sword through that pretty little mouth." He warned, running off into the night.

Rose squealed when she was swiped off her feet and immediately started flailing at her assailant, pounding on anything she could ram her fists into. However, when the knife came into play, she abruptly quit her struggling for fear of instant death via de-throating. She looked over her kidnapper's shoulder, watching as camp disappeared and did her best not to start crying.

Being flat on his back on the ground wasn't really helping the cause very much, so Alex tried to struggle to his feet. He was stopped half way through however when another bandit that had spontaneously popped out of the woods ran straight over him, planting a foot solidly in his stomach. Alex lost his breath and nearly his lunch, reflexively curling up to prevent further damage as the man ran over him, tackling Oriana around the waist and picked her up like a sack of potatoes. Throwing her over his shoulder, the man cackled as he ran away, not particularly caring if the ride was easy for Oriana. She was just cargo.

By the time that Ilario managed to get the arrow out of his wing the bandits were gone with the girls, none of them staying around for much longer than the few seconds needed to keep their comrades from being decapitated by either Ryleon or Tristan. Looking around, Ilario scratched his head. "What the hell just happened?"

*~*

Rose was absolutely miserable. She was standing straight up, tied to a tree with her hands and wings bound behind her so that she couldn't try and untie herself. The Bandits were some distance away, their fire a spec of light in the sea of darkness that engulfed her current vision. She was lonely, cold, uncomfortable and terrified. So far no one had come and tried to take advantage of her helpless state, but by the boisterous laughing coming from the fireplace, she could tell the bandits were getting drunk. And drunk men never equated to anything good when they had a hostage. "Demetri…" She sniffled quietly, a hot tear forging a path down her face.

Oriana nearly got the wind knocked out of her when out of no where some large man up and grabbed her by the waist. She was bobbing up and down violently on the mans shoulder as he began running out of camp. She saw the flicker of the camp fire growing distant rather quickly and could taste the fear in her mouth that the events of their last attack was going to repeat itself.

~*~*~

After Demetri had killed off the man that served as a distraction to get to Rose he sheathed his sword and sent an icy glare in the direction the men went off to. He didn't bother answering Ilario, having none himself and began packing up his things. The longer they waited, the more chance that harm was going to come to the girls and that was something he refused to let happen to Rose. She wasn't like Oriana, who general could protect herself, she was gentle and sweet.

Tristan looked back to his brother, to the wound in his wing and frowned. "You okay?" He asked, hoping that his brother could still fly. It would make it a lot harder if they had to run after the dirty bandits rather than fly.

~*~*~

Oriana sighed in an annoyed fashion, listening to the men in the camp laugh in some victorious manner and leaned her head against the tree that she was currently tied to. She was more than grateful that she wasn't being taken advantage of, but honestly she felt it was only a matter of time. She hoped that it wasn't Rose that they were going after now, not having seen her cousin at all since she was kidnapped. She had taken in her surroundings to find herself completely alone save for the soft sound of crickets or a bird flying out of its nest.

After a few test flights, Ilario finally gave up when it was determined that no, he couldn't fly without being in horrible pain. It was a small wound, but that didn't make it any less painful to put strain on. Rose could fix it in a heartbeat, but unfortunately she wasn't there at the moment to sing and make it better. So, burdened with someone that couldn't fly, the group was forced to move slower. Leaving him alone would probably just invite more kidnappers, and the last thing that they needed was to have to save Ilario to.

Alex however couldn't wait that long. So he volunteered himself as an advanced scout while the rest tried to look for them separately. Taking off, he flew above the trees, scanning the darkness for a sign of the kidnappers that had taken Oriana, worry eating away at his gut. He flew as fast as he could, scanning the ground feverishly. There! A spot of light in the forest! He headed straight for it, circling low and saw the bandits celebrating and getting drunk.

Instantly he felt anger sear his gut and his hand went to the hilt of his sword. He should have turned around, went back to inform the others that he'd found the bandit's camp. It would have been the smart thing to do, but he wasn't exactly thinking of self-preservation. His only thought was to save Oriana, and that's what he was going to do.

He dropped out of the sky silently but for the thud of his boots on the dirt behind one of the bandits and ran his sword straight through the man's chest. The others were bewildered when they saw his shadow drop out of the sky, and cries of surprise and anger rang out when they saw the tip of the sword peek through one of their comrade's breast bone. Withdrawing his sword with a spray of blood, Alex leapt to the next bandit, striking quick and fast and slicing the man's throat clean through.

In the end the kidnappers lay dead around the fire, dead or quickly dying of sword wounds. Alex was breathing heavily, a long tear in his over coat across his left forearm where one of the drunk idiots had gotten lucky, but was otherwise unharmed. He cleaned his sword and hands on the front of one of the men he'd killed before sheathing the weapon and looked around, walking to the edge of the fire light and searching the darkness of the forest. He saw something tan agains the blackness of the trees and walked toward it, feeling nervous again now that the lust for blood had worn off. The closer he got the faster he went, recognizing Oriana's wings despite the darkness. "Oriana!" He called, rushing forward until he was standing directly in front of her.

Oriana was resting her head against the tree, saving her energy for when they came for her until she started hearing noises come from the camp. They were fighting someone and it didn't sound like they were winning. After several moments of screams, and the clashing of metal upon metal, there was an eerie silence that settled over the place. What had happened?

Soon enough her questions were answered as she heard her name being called by a familiar voice. Alex. relief washed over her more than she had expected and relaxed her tense muscles as much as possible while being in her bindings. When Alex stopped in front of her though, the small smile vanished as she caught sight of the blood on him and the look on his face. "Alex..." Her heart beat in her chest painfully. "Are you okay?" It seemed like a silly question for some reason, she being the one tied up but he looked so...hurt.

He searched Oriana's face for a long moment, simply taking her in, the choking feeling of fear slowly fading away when he realized that she was alright. He put his hands on either side of her face, his thumbs skimming her cheeks then met her lips in a desperate kiss that ended all too quickly. "I was so worried…" he confessed, pain written all over his face as he brushed her hair out of her face behind her ears and leaned his forehead against hers, his eyes drifting closed briefly. "I'm so glad that you're alright."

Oriana could only stare at Alex for a long moment after he kissed her and she saw the obvious pain on his face. She had never seen him so vulnerable and she felt a heavy weight on her chest. She wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around him and comfort him. She searched his face as he leaned against her forehead, she didn't know what to say to make him feel better, to take the look on his face away. "I'm alright..." She tried to reassure, moving against the rope that was holding her down. She assumed he would get her out as soon as his emotions were no longer bringing him such pain and simply let him lean against her without saying anything more.

"I'm glad." He mumbled, his hands on either side of her soft neck. Alex spent a second looking over her face again, then kissed her once more, this one a long slow meaningful hiss. He had been terrified of loosing her, more frightened than he'd ever been in his life, and he poured all of his feelings into that kiss. Drawing back reluctantly he breathed her in never wanting to let her go. Then a devilish thought entered his mind and he smiled slowly. "Although, while I've got you here, I think that there's a way I can calm down a bit. I was so worried." He placed a quick tantalizing kiss on her mouth, his hands tracing the curves of her body until they rested on her hips.

Oriana returned his gentle kiss, so unsure how to take this side of Alex she had never really seen. His overly mushy side however went away as fast as it came it seemed when a sly grin graced his handsome features. She cocked a suspicious gaze at him when he said he thought of a way to calm down and didn't have time to ask what it was he had meant before she found herself in another drugging kiss that she couldn't help but respond to. When was the part when he was going to untie her again? The thought briefly crossed her mind as she felt Alex's hand rest upon her hips. This time she did pull back, even if only a little bit to separate their lips, not really having anywhere to go, and looked at him. "Do you plan to untie me anytime soon?" She spoke her thoughts aloud.

~*~*~Some time later ~*~*~*~

Demetri, Ryleon and the twins had finally made it to where the camp had been but it looked more like a mass slaughter than the encampment they had been expecting. "Looks like Alex beat us to it." Tristan commented, looking around for the girls. He was a little disappointed to see no one until he caught sight of a head of blonde hair. "Hey, is that Rose?" He asked, and before he could even start to move, Demetri was on it. Heading into the forest as fast as he could.

Ryleon watched with some amusement at how fast he had moved, a little worried since he had not said a word since Rose had been kidnapped and then looked at the twins. "I think I will go look for Alex and Oriana." He had been a little worried for the two of them and went off in the opposite direction from Demetri.

A scream, that was all he heard and Ryleon was on the move, he knew it was Oriana's. He was stunned however to come to the scene that he saw. Oriana was still tied to the tree, her head lulled back so he couldn't see her face and Alex, taking advantage of her. How dare he?! Drawing out whatever he could grab first, which happened to be his frying pan, Ryleon moved into place and without warning came up behind Alex and hit him as hard as he could in the back of the head. "Oriana...are you alright?" He asked, flushing a little at her appearance. Had he been mistaken?

Oriana was so completely shocked at what just happened that she could only openly stare at her brother for a long moment, and then look down to Alex's' crumpled form at her feet. "Ryleon! He wasn't hurting me!" She hissed, her face a dark red color at how this all played out. "Ugh! Untie me!" She ordered, watching as her brother made quick work to do as she ordered.

"I'm sorry...I thought.." He mumbled, looking down to Alex and hoisted him over his shoulder. He felt a terrible guilt that he knew would only get worse when the man woke up. And he made his way back to camp, not wanting to look at his sister walking behind him.

~*~*~

Demetri soon found Rose, and ran to her side, putting a hand on her face and couldn't help the defeated sigh that he released. "Your safe..." He quickly untied the girl and brought her to him in a crushing hug. "I was so scared..." He said softly against her hair, and he was angry. Angry at himself for even letting her out of his sight.

She couldn't really tell what was going on by the fire, unable to see much more than the light flickering when men passed in front of it. But she could hear with excruciating detail as they died, pleading for their lives to no avail. When everything went silent she was left alone in the dark, wondering what had happened and what would happen to her. Terrified of the darkness and the unknown, she could only wait for something to happen, panic slowly building in her chest at the thought that whoever had killed the bandits might come to her next when they found her. She remained silent, trying to to cry for fear the noise would attract somebody undesirable, and then she heard familiar voices.

A larger figure came out of the blurred backdrop of the forest and she quickly recognized him. The second that Rose's bindings dropped she wrapped her arms around Demetri's chest, sobbing hard with all the pent up fear that had engulfed her for the past two hours and accepted his hug, unable to say anything but was just relieved that he was finally there.

*~*

When morning came they were back in camp, all of them looking a bit ragged and sleepless from the late-night interruption. Rose had healed the wound in Ilario's wing and the bump on Alex's head at Oriana's request before they had all turned in.

Alex woke with the morning sun hitting his eyes and sat up slowly, not at all remembering what had happened the night before or why he was here. Last he remembered Oriana had been pinned against a tree and then… nothing. Looking around, he found that he was in the tent with the others, Oriana at his side and scratched his head absently. What happened…?

Oriana woke when Alex began to stir, turning over to face him and his confused state. "I'll explain later...Do you feel alright?" She asked, bringing a hand up to the side of his neck and rubbing her thumb against his jaw gently. She was being overly gentle with him but she couldn't help it. She felt bad for him, even if it didn't seem like he remembered what had transpired.

Demetri had slept up against the tent that night, keeping an ear open for anything that might come at them again. This was getting too regular for his liking and the state Rose had been in last night was fragile at best. He sighed, waking when the first rays of sun had hit his face and waited for everyone to awake. He found it odd that Ryleon was out of the tent first, keeping to himself and setting up breakfast for everyone without a word. What had happened last night?

Blinking, Alex sat up fully, skimming his palm over the back of Oriana's hand when it touched his face. He was still trying to figure out what had happened, his eyes searching Oriana's face for any hints or clues. "Yeah, I feel fine." He mumbled in replied, conscious of the fact that there were others in the tent still asleep. He stretched, and something in his back cracked at the motion. "Well, as fine as you can get sleeping on this ground, at any rate."

She was brought out of sleep by the mumbled sound of voices. Rolling over, Rose slowly opened her eyes and looked to see Oriana and Alex talking quietly together. Heaving a mental sigh she stretched and yawned, uttering a good morning as she dragged herself out of her sleeping roll and went outside, looking around. Huh. Ryleon was already out and about, eh? Looking to the side, she saw Demetri and her heart warmed, knowing that he'd spent the night watching over them, more likely than not. "How are you?" She asked, walking to where Demetri sat and took a place next to him.

Demetri looked up when he heard someone exiting the tent and his dark eyes met with her lighter ones. A smile smiled graced his lips as he spoke, "Glad to have a quiet night." He said quietly, not wanting to wake any others and leaned over, placing a light kiss on her cheek. He looked back out into the camp and gave Ryleon a curious glance. "He's been up since before dawn and not a word to me." He commented, looking to Rose and hoping that she would take the cue to talk to him to see if something was making him act so out of character. Last night Ryleon, Oriana, and an unconscious Alex returned and the only information they got was that it was an accident. The siblings had looked at one another and it was impossible not to notice the under lying anger on Oriana's features. Perhaps last night had something to do with Ryleon's current actions.

Tristan woke, rolling over to see the love birds getting all gooey with one another and he mocked a gag, turning back over to wake his brother. "Lets get out of this tent before we are infected." He looked back to see Oriana's dry expression in his direction and rolled out of the tent, taking his half conscious brother with him.

Oriana sighed when they were alone in the tent and looked up to Alex. "If I tell you why you are so confused, you are not allowed to leave this tent until I say so, okay?" She said a little cautiously, of course the thought had crossed her mind not to tell Alex at all but that hardly seemed fair to him. Even after he was 'punishing' her for worrying him. She waited to hear his answer, propping herself up on one elbow turning her face up to him when he sat up.

Dipping her head, Rose smiled when Demetri kissed her, a warm fuzzy glow stirring up in her belly at the show of affection. When her cousin was mentioned she looked up to where Ryleon was tending the fire and frowned slightly. Yes, it was strange that he had been up so early. She'd fallen asleep before Alex and Oriana had returned to camp, exhausted by her ordeal with the bandits and all, and everyone seemed to need their rest that morning. Noting also Demetri's pointed look, she sighed and stood, stretching as she did so and squeaking quietly as she stretched her fingers toward the sky. Once properly loosed up, she walked over to Ryleon as casually as she could and sat down in close proximity to him. "So, how are you this morning?" She asked, smiling at him gently.

Ilario swatted weakly at Tristan's attempt to wake him up, not entirely comprehending what was going on until Tristan started hauling him out of the tent. He gone one last look at Oriana and Alex making mushy faces at one another before he was taken out of sight and understood why he was being rudely awoken and dragged away. Bleh. Couples. And now they were surrounded by them.

Slowly Alex nodded in agreement, not really understanding why Oriana was being so cautious. Had something bad happened? "Alright, if you want." He replied just as hesitantly, arching an eyebrow in curiosity.

Ryleon was going about his business in auto pilot, too pent up to have any real concentration and when Rose came over to him and spoke he nearly jumped out of his skin. He gave her an apologetic smile and looked back down to the food he was making. "I'm alright, I think am lacking on sleep a bit is all, I hope you got some sleep after everything yesterday." He gave her a nervous smile, and then looked back to the tent, half expecting Alex to jump out of it and kill him on the spot.

Tristan stopped pulling on Ilario when he was a good bit out of the tent and plopped down next to Demetri, looking back to his brother. "I just saved your eyesight, you own me." He said in a dry tone, wishing more than anything to be back in some sort of city or village where he/they could find a willing and able woman to bed for a night. His thoughts drifted back to the two women who they had last been with in the last real city they were in and sighed. He wished he could be back with them.

Oriana gave Alex one more look over, deciding if she was really going to tell him and then positioned herself in front of the tent entrance. "Last night..." She started, trying to find the words for how to explain this..."When you were... entertaining yourself, "There was a hint of annoyance in her voice but she continued,"Ryleon came looking for us...and thought that you were....taking advantage of me....and might have hit you over the head with some sort of pot?" Oriana waited to see Alexs reaction but thought for a moment and added something in before he could speak. "Oh, but he carried you back and had Rose heal your head so as you wouldn't feel any pain this morning." She said optimistically.

Rose cocked her head at Ryleon's reaction, not entirely certain why he'd be so jumpy. When he mentioned her own well-being, she simply nodded. "Yes, I'm fine now. A quiet night did some good for my rest." She paused a moment, simply watching Ryleon and the way that he nervously glanced at the tent, following his gaze briefly. "What's bothering you? It can't just be lack of sleep, you're being entirely too fidgety Ryleon." She frowned, pulling her best concerned mother look that she could, vaguely reminiscent of something Mai would do.

Plopping down on the other side of Demetri, Ilario rested his arms on his knees and let his head lean against them, figuring that it was too early for him to be fully awake anyway. "If you say so." He mumbled with a yawn, not entirely in the right mood to appreciate what he'd just missed. After a moment he managed to shake off his tiredness a bit more and looked over his arm at Demetri. "So…" He drawled, pinning the man with a blank stare. "How's Rose?"

Ooooh, that's right. He remembered now. Oriana was tied to that tree. Yeah. Although Alex did arch his brow in disbelief at her insertion that he was the only one being amused by the situation. She seemed to have liked it enough. However, as Oriana's explanation of the situation went on, he became less and less amused by the retelling of the tale after he'd blacked out. By the time it was done his face was an utterly blank slate, giving Oriana a deadpan look. "I see." Was all he said in a completely normal and toneless voice.

Ryleon looked to Rose with one of the most pitiful looks he had probably ever had on his face. "I did something I shouldn't have." He lowered his voice so the others wouldn't hear him and turned himself to face her, setting down his cooking utensils. "Last night when you healed Alex...I had walked into something that I mistook for something else..." He groaned, rubbed his head and then continued, "I thought he was hurting Oriana...so I hit him. With a pan. Oriana told me he wasn't hurting her...afterwards but..." He looked to the tent, finding a distinct lack of words to continue to explain himself.

Demetri gave a dry look to Ilario, not liking how this conversation was already headed, but knew that if he avoided speaking about it at all it would only make it worse on himself. "Does she look displeased to you?" He asked, nodding his head towards Rose.

Oriana waited for it, waited for Alex to roar in disbelief that Ryleon would ever expect him to do something like that. But it never came. She sat there, as his voice went totally blank along with his face and she wasn't sure what to make of it. "You...aren't mad...?" She asked, leaning in closer to see if she could catch some sign that he was lying.

Rose listened to Ryleon's confession, her heart going out to her cousin when he used that utterly pitiful look, and she wanted to reach out and hug the poor boy. She had wondered why Alex was unconscious with head trauma and nobody would tell her why! She could guess what sort of event that Ryleon had walked into where Alex and Oriana were concerned, and felt both bad and embarrassed for him. It was probably traumatizing enough that he though his sister was being hurt, but to actually catch them in the act… Her face flushed at the thought. Reaching out, Rose threaded her arms around his shoulders gently and pulled him into a hug. "I'm so sorry."

Looking up, Ilario watched the exchange between Rose and Ryleon briefly before shrugging. "No. Though I would have though you might've killed her by now. Must not be putting that thing to proper use." He couldn't help prodding at Demetri. He was like a dozing bear that was just begging to be poked with a stick.

Inhaling deeply, Alex managed to maintain his outer calm. "No." He said in still that same neutral tone, patted Oriana on the shoulder and offered her a small smile, then rose from his sleeping bag and simply stepped out of the tent. The fresh air hit him the moment he stepped outside, but that wasn't what he had noticed. He saw Ryleon talking with Rose and started walking that way, calm as a summer's breeze. When he was within a few feet of the boy, he balled his right hand into a fist, drew back and punched him as hard as he could.