"You and Azriel need to check up on an Illyrian camp for me."

Tassia looked up at Rhys, her heart skipping a beat. "What?"

"Cassian has other work and Mor isn't in the Court of Nightmares." When Tassia nodded, Rhys continued, "Both of you will have to be there for a few days. Azriel's spies have reported talks of rebellion amongst the camp members. They believe that they should be able to do to females as they please, and for obvious reasons, we can't allow that. I'd suggest just Azriel going but he hasn't been to a camp in ages and since you've lived there, you can help him. But you should stay on your guard at all times. The treatment of females at that camp is horrendous at best."

Tassia forced herself to relax, "What about my brothers?"

Rhys blinked at her, confused, "Haven't you spoken to Kreel recently?"

"I haven't seen her since the first night."

"She's supposed to take care of you and your brothers. Including babysitting them when you're not there."

Azriel flew over the camp with Tassia's arms wrapped around him. Her breathing hitched as she smelt the dried blood that hadn't been washed out of the stones in the courtyard. The stones that they lie females on before clipping their wings. The stones that were quite similar to the ones she had been chained to as her wings were cut out of her back.

Azriel tightened his hands on her waist before they landed. Tassia took a step out of his arms and he blinked, focusing on the Illyrians that were gathering around them.

"No one told us of any check-ins on behalf of the High Lord." A man spat at Azriel.

"Well, in that case, I suppose it's good that the High Lord is under no obligation to inform you before he does them, then." Azriel drawled, his siphons flaring slightly.

The man nodded and stepped back, eyeing the shadows that curled around Azriel. "And who is this?"

The man looked at Tassia who forced herself not to stiffen under his gaze as the spymaster replied, his voice low and threatening, "She is a member of Lord Rhysand's Circle and you will treat her as such."

The males all stared at Tassia who smirked at them, shifting her weight to rest on one leg, "Surprised? You really shouldn't be."

One of Azriel's shadows wrapped itself around her wrist once, showing his approval before darting back to the shadowsinger.

Azriel just nodded and gestured to the male, "I assume you can get our accommodations ready in an hour?"

"There are warriors already occupying it," the male replied and his eyes darted to the ground as he swallowed, "sir."

"Well, get them out," Tassia drawled, lifting her hand to admire her nails in the sunlight.

The camp was terrible. A female had gotten her wings clipped a few days ago and Azriel made Tassia talk to her and understand everything she and others like her had been through.

They worked the entire week, Azriel threatening and promising the camp commander until they reached a consensus that neither side liked. Tassia spent her time talking to the people in the camp trying to figure out who started the rebellion talks. It was only a few days later that one of the wives, Orym, told Tassia of the meeting that a few males had been to a few nights before. Orym had snuck out to eat some of the camp kitchen leftovers, as her husband barely gave her any food when she overheard them talking about fighting against the High Lord.

Tassia informed Azriel of what the woman had told her as well as the males' descriptions and at night, they swept across the camp and dealt with the perpetrators; not killing them, but making sure they knew the costs of going against the High Lord.

Tassia was struggling against the chains that pinned her to a whipping block. Her back was already in shreds and her wings were spread out. She was covered in her own blood and her face was streaked with tears.

"Please," the fourteen-year-old begged, "please don't do this."

"Oh, we won't."

Tassia tensed as an all-too-familiar voice spoke, "I will."

And she screamed as a burning blade was brought down on her wings.

Tassia jerked out of bed, her body covered in a layer of sweat. Her breathing came in harsh pants and she blinked, barely able to separate memory from reality. Azriel was next to her bed and it was clear he was trying to wake her up.

"Hey, hey," Azriel walked over to Tassia and placed a tentative hand on her shoulder. "You're safe."

"Sorry," Tassia's voice was raw. She had been screaming. "I thought I had the nightmares under control."

Azriel looked over her, his eyes narrowing slightly, "What do you mean by under control?"

Tassia hesitated and her eyes focused on the wall right next to his head as she spoke, "They used to be really bad. So bad that I would not, could not sleep. After a while, they got better." There was a pause and Tassia continued, "Being in a camp again is probably making them worse."

"Why didn't you say no when Rhys asked you to come here?"

Tassia laughed, her voice still hoarse, "I highly doubt I had a choice."

Azriel pinned her with a stare, his hazel eyes looking golden in the light, "You always, always have a choice. With any of us. We might try to push you as much as we can, but the second you say the word, we'll back off. Even Rhys."

Tassia nodded, suddenly exhausted. She never had much of a choice, in anything ever since she made the one that doomed herself. She didn't have much of a choice when her mother insisted they live in the mountains after leaving their camp, she didn't have a choice when she began taking care of her brothers after her mother's death. But now she did. And that meant more to her than anything anyone had ever done for her. Azriel noticed that she wanted to be alone and left the room after saying goodnight.

Tassia squeezed her eyes shut as tears threatened to slip out of her eyes. She thought of the wings that she loved and cherished and the mountain her mother had burned them on.

(FLASHBACK)

No one in the camp thought Tassia had wings. She was only a fourth Illyrian after all and as far as they knew, she didn't have any. But she did. Brilliant pure white ones.

She was a child when her back started bleeding and the wings began to push themselves out. Luckily, she was home and her mom put ice on her back and dunked her in freezing water.

The pain of her back being shredded was the worst thing Tassia had ever experienced until then and she was sobbing incessantly. Her step-father immediately took baby Aleskand on a trip for the few hours that her wings would be growing for, so her brother wouldn't be scared by her screaming.

Being only part Illyrian, she could fold her wings into her back so they wouldn't be visible but every time she extended them, her back would start bleeding and the cuts would open up. Not to mention that since her camp was extremely backward, if she showed them her wings, as soon as she started her biannual cycle, they would cut it off. And the fact that her wings were pure white. As a result, Tassia kept her wings sheathed and never learned to fly.

Except for once, when trying to save a life would turn out to be the greatest mistake she ever made. She was fourteen and since she had had her cycle before, if she showed anyone her wings, they would be clipped. Tassia had one friend in the entire camp, a fae named Jodin who didn't have wings or know about Tassia's. Once, when she was walking back home from the market, Tassia saw a few Illyrians bullying him. She ran towards them right as they pushed him off the cliff. She didn't think as she extended her wings and flew towards him. She caught him in her arms and he looked extremely terrified as Tassia curved her body around him, protecting him as best she could before they crashed into the trees at the base of the mountain.

Jodin had flinched and ran away from Tassia the moment they reached the ground. When she reached the top of the mountain, the Illyrian males were already waiting, their weapons pointed toward her as their commander barked orders to tie her up.

They had whipped and beat her until she couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't really do anything without being in excruciating pain but she refused to show them her wings, knowing that whatever they decided to do to them, would be far, far worse than anything she had to endure.

It was only when a male dragged Jodin in front of her, did her resolve waver. They were going to whip him until and unless she showed them her wings. Even then, she didn't and watched as they forced her only friend to his knees. The Illyrian had raised his hand and the whip along with it when Tassia cried out, her wings exploding from her back.

The male just smirked at her and pulled Jodin up. And she watched as he refused to meet her eyes and walked behind her.

"Tassia Claremont." The male began, sentencing her to whatever punishment he had decided on, "For the crimes of hiding your wings from your camp members and perverting the due course of justice from clipping your wings, you shall not be given the gift of them any longer. For the acts of witchcraft, as seen by all standing here today, when you displayed your ability to hide and expand your wings as you pleased, you are hereby sentenced to be burnt at the stake."

Tassia's stomach dropped. They were going to kill her. She whimpered as she felt someone walk up behind her and she begged for mercy.

"Please, please." She shook, scared out of her mind, "Please, not my wings."

"You committed the sin, demon," Tassia flinched at the voice, at Jodin who spoke, "And now you shall do penance."

"Jodin?" Tassia's heart shattered in realization. It wasn't the males who were bullying her friend that had reported her to the camp commander. They might not have even seen her fly and rescue Jodin. It was her friend itself. Her friend who she had risked everything to save. "Please don't do this."

There was no reply but the feeling of the burning blade against her wings was answer enough.

When she came to, her mother was in front of her, her fire-red hair around her like a halo. She was covered in blood. Syfas used her knife and jerked it upwards, breaking the chains that bound Tassia to the stone. She whimpered and tried to draw in on herself when her mother kissed her forehead, "I'm so sorry, Tassia. It will be better soon, darling. I promise."