"We'll stop here for the night," Damyan announced.

Aelfred lowered herself, allowing Damyan to dismount.

Raven turned to follow suit but froze when she saw that Damyan's arms were stretched up toward her. She glared at him; she would rather fall on her face than accept help from him!

He must have read her attitude from her expression. "Fine," he huffed before walking away.

Raven rolled her eyes. He was such a child.

Preparing to jump from the camel, Raven started when a different pair of arms appeared.

Jhon was smiling brightly at her. "I'll help you, Your Highness," he declared.

"Thank you," Raven smiled back.

"She isn't royalty," Damyan growled as he began to build a fire.

Jhon only shrugged before lowering her to the ground.

"Thank you," Raven smiled, "and you can call me Raven."

"Raven," Jhon repeated. "Raven. Raven, Raven, Raven." He walked away, repeating her name to himself.

Raven began to smile but stopped when she saw the way Damyan was glaring at her.

"What?" she barked, folding her arms around herself.

Damyan only looked back at his fire.

"Nothing," he said, "I'll get you a roll. Wouldn't want the gritty sand scraping your soft, delicate skin," he spoke sarcastically.

"Didn't know you cared," Raven replied.

"I don't," Damyan shrugged as he walked over to Raven, only stopping where there was an inch of space between them. He stared at her with such intensity that Raven felt her legs become unsteady. He leaned towards her slowly.

Was he about to kiss her? Raven opened her mouth to say something, but then Damyan reached his arms above her head. Raven relaxed when she realized he was only untying something from Aelfred's saddle.

"Here," he shoved a bedroll into her chest roughly, causing Raven to stumble slightly.

"Thanks," she muttered.

Damyan grunted in reply, stalking away from her.

Raven hugged the bedroll to her chest and joined Damyan and Jhon by the fire.

Jhon gave her a friendly smile while Damyan ignored her existence.

Raven rolled onto her back and gazed at the stars. The next few days would be most unpleasant.

She was choking.

There were screams.

Fire burned as arrow-ridden bodies littered the streets.

She began to run as tears streamed down her face. Then, in a deeper part of her mind, she heard the voice of Slaede.

"Bring her back to me," he was saying.

Raven latched onto his voice as the scene around her changed.

Raven found herself in one of the palace's many private rooms. Slaede and his son, Graente, dined at a table while Rickus stood at attention.

"There are rumors spreading through the armies that she's gone," Graente spoke while feasting on a giant turkey leg.

"Is this true?" Slaede asked Rickus.

"It is true, Your Highness," Rickus answered honestly.

"Then silence them!"

The world around Raven became foggy, and her ears began to ring.

"…come back willingly?" Graente was asking.

Raven could barely hear Slaede's response. "…right incentive." She then watched as he placed his hand on the head of a dark-skinned girl, not yet 10. Had she been there this entire time?

"Maya," Raven whispered.

Maya's unnaturally colored eyes widened, and her mouth opened with a gasp. "Raven," she muttered before Raven was violently ripped from the vision.

Raven shot up with a gasp, a hand on her chest to calm her racing heart. Her entire body was soaked in sweat. She needed to go.

She looked over at Damyan's sleeping face, studying him. He was handsome. Too handsome. His skin was a dark bronze; the muscles in his arms, legs, and chest were well-defined. And let's not forget his stunning eyes, her subconscious whispered.

Raven abruptly looked away, trying to get her emotions and thoughts in order. She needed to flee. Maya had been in her vision. Raven didn't want Maya anywhere near Slaede, or his perverted son, Graente. Raven could handle Graente's lechery; Maya could not. She needed to get back to the palace. Looking at Damyan and Jhon's slumbering forms, Raven realized this was her chance.

Raven slowly rose to her feet. Careful not to make a sound, she crept past the two sleeping bodies with surprising ease before breaking into a run.

She had barely made it 20 steps when she yelped and fell flat on her face. A wave of nausea swam through her as an excruciating pain shot up her leg. She gasped in pain; it felt like nails were being hammered into her foot.

Sitting up, she frowned as she realized that a chain surrounded her foot. A bright, red, painful ring encircled her ankle. The chain had been laced with iolite. That stupid iolite, Raven thought bitterly. Slaede said he had destroyed all iolite gems, save the ones in his palace. He was clearly mistaken as Damyan seemed to be in possession of several.

Raven followed the chain with her eyes, annoyed when she saw Damyan's beautiful, turquoise eyes staring down at her.

"Where are you going, sorceress?" Damyan asked with a big smirk.

Raven jumped to her feet and charged him, swinging her fists with all her might.

Of course, Damyan expertly dodged her feeble attack, chuckling as he did.

In an act of desperation, Raven placed her hands on his muscular chest and pushed with all her might.

Damyan grabbed her tiny wrists, spun her around, and slammed her to the ground with ease.

"Uh!" Raven grunted as the wind was knocked out of her. She closed her eyes, refusing to cry. She would not show weakness in front of this…ruffian. Instead, she continued blindly swinging at him.

Damyan finally trapped her arms above her head and set his muscular body on top of hers, effectively stopping her movements. "What the matter?" he sneered. "Eager to get back to Slaede?"

"No," Raven wiggled as much as she could, ignoring the feel of Damyan's chest pressed against hers. "I'm trying to get away from you!"

"Right," Damyan adjusted himself to stop her squirming. "Admit it, you crave the safety of Slaede's arms," he mocked.

"You know nothing about me!" Raven spat.

"I know you sit comfortably in your luxurious tent while men, women, and children are slaughtered in front of you," Damyan continued.

Raven growled. How dare he?

"I didn't realize your hands were so clean," Raven spat.

"Oh, I've killed. But I never once allowed the men in my company to violate a man, woman, or child. Can you say the same?"

Raven struggled to move her arms.

"What did he offer you?" Damyan continued to mock, his hold only tightening. "Gold? Rubies? The chance to become his queen?"

Raven's eyes flew open. Now she was incensed.

"Go to hell!" she exclaimed, allowing the tears to fall. "My service to Slaede is the only thing keeping my family alive! I'm sorry I don't give a damn about the rest of the world!"

Raven watched through teary eyes as the scorn on Damyan's face slowly faded away.

"You have a family?" he frowned.

"Well, I came from somewhere," Raven bit out.

Damyan rolled off Raven, startling her as he helped her sit up.

He studied her. "Why did you help me that night in the tent?" he asked, recalling their first encounter from a week ago.

"I figured you were the only one who could help me escape. I could sense your hate and disgust for Slaede and me. I knew you would come for one of us. I just needed you to do it when we weren't surrounded by Slaede's entire army."

"You were relying on my hatred of you…to save you?" Damyan spoke slowly. "Couldn't you have used your powers to escape?"

"It's a little hard to access my powers when I'm breathing in iolite," Raven answered in a shaky voice.

Damyan's mind went back to that night in the tent. He remembered walking into the sorceress' tent and wrinkling his nose at the strange smell in the air.

"That wasn't incense burning," he breathed in realization.

"No," Raven answered. "It was powdered iolite. Slaede wears it on his clothes. Iolite stones are engraved into his jewelry. The only time I am not surrounded by it is when he needs a vision, but even then...I'm still weak."

Damyan didn't say a word. Instead, he gave her a look that did weird things to her stomach.

"What?" Raven asked.

He didn't answer. Instead, Damyan gently removed the burning chain from around Raven's ankle.

"You can go if you like," he said, standing to his feet. "But there are worse dangers out there than me."

Raven looked out into the dark desert. She needed to get back to her family, but there was no way she would survive the journey back on her own. She was still too weak.

She looked up at Damyan, who was gazing at her. Feeling her cheeks heat, she looked back out at the desert and sighed in resignation. Damyan was her best option.

Looking back at him, Raven gave him a slight nod.

Damyan nodded in acknowledgment before returning to his place by the fire.

Raven didn't move from her spot. Instead, she brought her knees to her chest and silently wept.