"Would you?" Carien asked, gesturing across the room with his right-wing toward a surprisingly feminine Kreel that was arm in arm with another much larger male.

"Would I-"

"No for me. Kreels... Never been my cup of tea," Oryen responded over Damien. "Now..."

"Jesus..." Damien whispered under his breath, laughing and rolling his eyes.

An hour had passed. He'd spent a majority of the time avoiding invasive questions and proposals while sipping very minimally on a glass of wine Oryen had poured for him.

One sip.

"Maybe you guys should slow down on the wine," Damien suggested.

"Maybe you should stop being such a buzzkill," Carien retorted as Oryen began laughing. "Drink more. Come on, join us. It's fun. Ok, redhead by the drink table."

"Come on, lad. Having a little fun won't hurt. Blame it on me if we do something stupid. Drink your wine and let me fill you up," Oryen slured out.

Petrina had begun to get sloppy drunk about a half hour ago and had left to lay down on a couch somewhere. As Gianna was taking her past Oryen, he'd snagged the wine ring. Damien was actually thankful for that development overall, but it had left him with his two interrogators. Luckily...

"Alright, alright, you drive a hard bargain. Drink with me tonight and you have my blessing!" Oryen shouted, grinning as if he'd just offered Damien the golden ticket.

"I'll drink to that," Carien called out, downing his... eighth glass of wine? Tenth?

Damien wasn't sure anymore. The man came off soberer than Oryen but had finished more than twice as much. They were all drinking what the N'morans had bought, but for some reason, that Celestial had a much, much higher tolerance.

Damien had a feeling this particular type of wine would wreak havoc on him after just one glass, but if her dad was really willing to...

"I'll drink to it too, we all should!" Oryen replied.

"Top me off too then, what are we drinking to?" Vanessa asked.

"Vanessa!" he called, staggering her way and filling up the clear glass cup she held. "Excellent, we are now all," he paused, closing his eyes and shaking his head for a moment before continuing, "here now. To Damien and Alexi, my daughter."

Oryen lifted his glass up with a smile and waited for Damien to do the same.

Damien chuckled and mimicked the man, lifting his glass with a grin. Drunk or not, they were fun, and if he remembered what he said tonight all the better. Who cared if it cost him a slip-up or two?

"To u-"

"Noooo, you don't," Alexa's voice cut in from behind him, hand coming around and yanking the glass out of Damien's right as it began to touch his lips. "This is exactly how you end up like mom."

"Oh come on, sweetheart. One drink," Oryen implored.

"It'll - woah," Damien exclaimed, turning around to complain only to be met by the sight of Lexi and Kastra in their matching silk dresses.

Similar in color scheme to his suit, Kastra had been quite conservative with the cleavage but left it strapless, showcasing the top of the mark Alexa had left on Kastra's chest. Alexa currently had a shawl on at the moment to cover both of the marks left by Damien and the Fae.

She smiled and looked down at herself, doing a small twirl, while Kastra just confidently stared at Damien.

"I'm guessing you like them?" Alexa asked after spinning, grinning knowingly.

"I-"

"Lexi, a word please," Oryen cut in before Damien could answer, sounding suspiciously sober compared to how he had been just moments before.

Damien looked over at him and the man just smiled his same, winning smile.

'What an actor. He'd win an oscar on Earth,' Damien thought with surety.

"More for me," Kastra said from behind Damien, pulling his hand towards where everyone was currently dancing.

"Come save me when you're done," Alexa called out as Kastra and he disappeared into the crowd of people.

Looking around the cafeteria, Damien noticed they'd removed the tables, covered the walls, inserted two large doors where the back entrance usually was, and somehow turned the ceiling into glass so they could see the sky. Damien was confident there were classrooms above the cafeteria yet... that was the sky usually above them during a sunset.

They'd also hung gigantic crystal chandeliers all over the room to light it once the sun was down completely. The light danced off the crystal-like disco balls, sending beams of sparkle in all different directions. It had become a new room altogether and seemed much larger than it had before. Holding the two thousand plus participants seemed trivial.

Damien allowed Kastra to drag him further to the center of the room where people were currently swaying to an array of wind and string instruments. He was pleasantly surprised by the fact that they even had a band, though the music wasn't particularly to his liking.

"Yes, by the way. I really, really like what you made," Damien said to her as the chandelier light danced through her hair. "You both had me breathless."

"They are in position," a Shade confirmed, standing before a small cabin in the forest.

The cabin was set in a clearing and the Shade was the only of its kind visible. The surrounding forest appeared so dark it was as if something in it was alive, trying to invade the purity of the clearing.

A man sat on the porch on a wooden bench, lifting a silver hand holding a cigar up to his lips. His head drooped forward and hung there for a few seconds until he exhaled, lifting it back up to stare at the single Shade before him.

"And the collateral?" he asked the creature.

"Secured, but... If I may, Master, this is risk-"

"Your opinion isn't necessary. What's necessary is that you just do what I tell you to, exactly how I tell you to do it," the man asserted in an icy tone.

The Shade went to respond but instead paused and glanced around the clearing. The darkness in the forest appeared to become even more intense as movement appeared in short flashes, looming over the clearing.

The creature decided to speak again and set its eyes back forward on the man who sat patiently, unmoving save for the cigar he was smoking.

"And if he doesn't-" the Shade started, cutting off midway through its sentence as the shrouded area its neck should have been begun to flatten inward.

Its hands flailed upward, revealing bone white skin that was stretched to its limits. The fingers clawed at its throat over an invisible presence as it struggled, slowly being lifted upward.

"He'll come," the man said. "He'll come, or his daughter will die, his partner... and our wonder boy. I'll make sure of it myself. All of them in excessively painful ways. Just... Like... You," he finished, each of his final words crumpling the creature inward on itself more and more until it was the size of a fist.

"Why do they always get so comfortable lately... So many questions..." he mumbled, standing up from his chair to reveal a black-cloaked figure with a black mask on its face, moving over to pick up the small black bundle that was on the ground. "How did Charna ever put up with them..."

After staring at it for a few moments, he tossed it into the forest where another Shade appeared and caught it.

"You're up," the man said. "Make sure he dies."

"How far will you go?" the Shade immediately asked in the same scratchy, deep voice as they always spoke in.

"You too, huh?" the man asked, standing slowly and taking a threatening step forward.

The Shade ignored his advance and stayed put until they were a foot from each other.

The man sighed.

"I will go as far as I need to," he stated, turning around to walk back to his cabin.

"If the others find out we Shades-"

"They won't!" he yelled back, stopping his walk. "Make sure he dies."

It stayed still for another few seconds before nodding and disappearing into the forest. Moments later, the shadows in the forest seemed to follow after it as hundreds of other Shades disappeared from the area around the cabin.

"Are you proud of me for taking over your job, brother?" the man asked, looking up into the black, starless scene above him.

"Well, Damien was right when he decided not to tell me about his eyes and to instead ask you..." Oryen muttered as Alexa walked over to him with a curious look on her face, quickly changing to annoyed. "You have Fae magic in them."

"He told y-"

"HE just told me to find out for myself. You... What did you do, Alexa?" he asked, taking a deeper tone than he had with anyone for a while.

Putting off the customs for one hundred years was one thing, but entering into a contract with the Fae...

She fidgeted and glanced around the room like she was looking for an out, confirming Oryen's worst fears. He wasn't about to let her find one. The moment she opened her mouth to call someone over, he shut her out from the room.

"Hey Garrett, Emily! We are... Garrett!" she yelled as Oryen stepped in front of her to block her flailing arms.

"Nice try, but no. We are talking. Gods, I can't believe I haven't noticed until now..." he said, trailing off.

He was too busy messing with her lover, his wife... Trying to get everyone to get along. Too busy enjoying his break and not spending time with his own daughter.

"I'm surprised mom hasn't," Alexa responded with a chuckle.

"You think this is funny?" he asked sternly. "A bond, pact... or whatever you did to do this is serious, Alexa. If your mother sees that... What do you think, she'll just pass it off as a change caused by your communing? She isn't an idiot!"

His daughter looked down and away as he guided her away from the others towards a corner of the room.

"You better hope she-"

"I don't care if she finds out. If she gets upset, then we just won't talk," Alexa replied indignantly, looking up into his eyes.

Oryen stared back at her intensely, gauging her attitude.

"And what? You think you'll be fine until you turn one hundred?" he asked.

"Yes, it-"

"And what happens when she tries to kill him to cancel it?" he interrupted.

Alexa's face went white as a sheet for a moment before she regained her calm. She shrugged at him with as much bravado as she could muster.

"If she finds out and tries to take him away from me we won't speak again, ever. If you want that to happen, tell her to look for Kastra's illusion. Otherwise, maybe she'll find out and maybe she won't. I don't want her in my life if all she wants is to control it. Maybe when I turn one hundred, I won't love him anymore, but until then, he's mine, and if she touches him she's dead to me," his daughter asserted.

Oryen stared into her eyes, full of resolve. She was serious about this at least, that was true. He was almost proud of her in a way. She found something that was hers and whether or not it was good or bad for her, it was hers.

Then again... he could easily kill the young man and be done with him. Oryen liked him, sure, but the sooner he died, the sooner she'd heal. Thirty years from now... forty... she'd be fine.

'Unless...'

"Tell me one thing honestly," he demanded, getting a nod from her in response. "Is death a part of this pact between you and him?"

"It isn't just him and I," she replied testily. "Kastra is a piece of it as well. And no, I won't die if he does," she said nonchalantly.

He squinted at her then sighed out, ridding himself of the worry he'd been feeling up until now. At least she had some sense while he was gone. Vanessa... Petrina would be pissed off at her.

'Speaking of my wife.'

Oryen stood tall and scanned the room. Petrina was making a fuss with Gianna where he'd left them, glaring at Damien while the young gentleman moved in their direction with his beautiful... other significant other, and quite the glare adorning his face.

"And you..." Oryen started, not knowing how to phrase his question.

Asking his daughter if she was alright with his fidelity might be a loaded question that would ruin the night... As if all of this hadn't already.

"I what?" she asked, following his eyes. "Kastra?"

He nodded.

"What about her?" she asked, genuinely confused.

Her confusion made his head tilt slightly as he wondered how blind she might be to the situation.

"You're ok with him and her?" he shot back with his eyebrows raised.

"Yes?" she responded.

"Oh," he said while scratching the side of his head, now confused himself. "I just... would have assumed you'd have a problem with it. Well, if he treats you both equally I suppose... it isn't exactly unhear-"

"She's mine too," Alexa declared.

'What?'

"What?" he asked, realizing he'd not actually voiced his question, though it was surely written all over his face.

"She's-"

"Hey, is everything alright?" Damien asked intently from the side as the two approached, ignoring him while focusing on his daughter instead. "I noticed you get a little... well, I felt something was off. Really off."

Oryen looked over at the young man, impressed with his perception.

"That is my fault. I may have gone a bit too far with one of my questions. Everything is okaayyyywow," he said, beginning to explain the situation as his daughter wrapped Kastra in an embrace and kissed her, very, very deeply. "That..." he started, looking over at Damien, who shrugged at him, then back to Alexa.

A quick glance over his shoulder showed him that Petrina was currently hidden by more than a few guests, and he was thankful for that, but... this... both of them...

Alexa and Kastra parted, and the Fae smiled at him, eyes going from their usual silver to multicolored like the other two. Then, within a second, their eyes all melded back into their usual colors.

'The Illusion magic,' he wondered.

"What is on your back and chest, then?" Oryen asked, referring to the other point on his daughter where Kastra's mana was settled.

"Marks," Alexa shrugged.

"Marks like... like his mark? That big?" he asked skeptically, pointing to Damien's neck. "I thought that was a birthmark or a scar."

Alexa pulled his collar down to show that it was actually a handprint and placed her hand perfectly over it, covering it up as if it were her own hand that had branded him. Then, she dropped her shawl onto Kastra's arms and turned around to reveal her back, unveiling a grey handprint set directly between her shoulder blades.

Oryen stared at the three of them for a few more seconds, unsure of what to say.

"If anything, I'll tell mom its a tattoo," his daughter said as Damien took her hand to lead her off, Kastra staying behind.

The two moved out to the dancing area and settled into each other's arms as she rested a hand on his neck and he put one on her back, as if signifying that they owned each other as they swayed to the music, smiling blissfully at one another.

Oryen did his best to not get upset at the new development as his mind went through all the possible dangerous scenarios that would come from it due to his wife. If she found out... And Alexa was so brazenly displaying herself here as if she wanted Petrina to find out...

'But they look so... happy. At peace...' he thought, wracking his brain on ways he could preserve this wonderful moment for his daughter while also keeping his wife happy.

He turned to glance at the Fae next to him. She was serious and more than a little reserved, only wearing the slightest of smiles as she watched the two sway back and forth to the light music. He hadn't had the opportunity to speak with her alone as of yet and had his reservations about it. But, now was as good a time as any to probe, so he shot a question in her direction as he looked back towards his daughter and proposed son-in-law.

"So why is a Fae so commonplace here now, and how did my daughter end up in a romantic relationship with you?"

The woman didn't turn to look at him and didn't respond immediately, but he knew she'd heard him by the way her small smile dropped away. When she did respond, she spoke very quietly.

"We are a unique race, a little mischevious, but they treat us kindly."

"Is that really worth a pact with them both? You're condemning them t-"

"Damien made his choice after months of consideration," she said, cutting him off.

"When he was what? Six? Seven? How could he have been fully informed?" Oryen demanded. "Arrogant and stubborn, forcing others to their whims... The Fae are generally disliked exactly for this type of behavior. Do you even actually care about them, or is this just another game to you?" he finished, cocking his head slightly to watch her reaction out of the corner of his eye.

He waited for what he assumed would be the usual reaction from a Fae, but didn't get it. The anger, emotion, passion the creatures usually displayed... but instead, she kept watching the two dance as her light smile returned.

"If it weren't for him, I would have never been allowed to explore like I am now. I used him to free myself from my home, but he also used me for his own needs just as much for protection and security. He was fully informed, and as for your daughter, she has at least another eighty years before she can no longer back out of it," the Fae said, pausing momentarily.

"Y-"

"Your daughter is happy," she continued right as Oryen tried to speak. "And until that changes, she is as much ours as we are hers. You can either accept that and be a part of our lives, or leave us alone."

The woman's expression had finally soured, and she took a step forward, getting away from him. Most likely, she'd go find Damien's parents; they appeared to have a good relationship. Oryen wasn't done with her just yet, though.

"Or I could imprison you all and end it however I please," he countered.

The Fae stopped moving and turned to look at him. Her silver eyes seemed to sparkle with a hidden glee at the thought. It caused him no small amount of unease to see, a feeling he hadn't had in over a hundred years. She seemed to get mirth from the idea, or how she may retaliate to it. It was an unease he hadn't felt since he learned what Humans had done to his wife in the past except that here, rather than as the aggressor, the Fae seemed excited about the prospect of revenge.

"If you hurt either of them or myself, it won't matter that you have the full support of your people. My kind won't go to war because we have other 'trivial' things that bring us the same joy as war does for you predator races, but there is a reason we are not extinct and that no one comes looking for war... There is nowhere you could hide. Nowhere you could run. No realm that could protect you... So why not just let your daughter be happy and change her mind on her own? Why must you both control her life so much?"

She finished talking and waited for his response, watching him now. Glaring down at him. It was uncomfortable.

"I apologize, that was uncouth of me," he said with a slight bow of his head. "Her happiness will always take priority in my eyes, but there was a possibility you'd bring her more trouble than you're worth. I simply wanted to ascertain whether or not... Well, that's not good," he said, noticing his wife was moving in Alexa's direction and was very upset. "Poor girl," he sighed as he watched Gianna try to placate the woman, mouthing sorry to him from behind Petrina's back.

"What?" Kastra asked him.

"She's headed for them," Oryen said with a sigh. "She looks upset."

He tried calling to her twice, but the woman was too intoxicated to care. He thought she might have more tact with this being a public venue, but it seems when it came to her daughter, she was more than a little irrational. He could have guessed that from the way that she was drinking if he had been paying more attention.

Instead, he called Alexa and Damien over, and luckily the two actually took his advice and made their way over.

"We all think we know what's best, don't we?" Oryen asked rhetorically to the group when they'd gotten within earshot. "Shall we all go outside?" he said, turning and almost shoving people out of his way as he made for the door, the others nodding and on his heels.

"Alexa!" the woman yelled from behind them as they ignored her. "Oryen! I know you can-"

Her voice cut out as they all made their way out the door, and he dampened how much sound she could put out. Part of why she always appeared so cool and collected was because when she did yell, he could regulate how angry it appeared she sounded, but then again, that didn't hide facial expressions.

Still, he went about making preparations to make this as painless as possible while leaving their immediate area at maximum volume. It was best to find out just how angry she was before turning her down.

Making their way outside, the sun had set but its light still filled the sky. Doing a quick sweep of the area with his eyes, Oryen was glad to see that there weren't very many people out. Unfortunately, none seemed to be the type that would be able to help with the situation if it got dangerous, and he certainly wouldn't be able to stop her.

"Why is she upset now?" Alexa asked, rolling her eyes while coming up behind him.

"She is drunk. I imagine she saw the marks you were flaunting," Oryen explained.

"I just wanted to hav-"

The sound of doors being slammed open interrupted his daughter as Petrina's wings collided with them, receding back behind her once they'd made a path.

"A PACT?!" his wife screamed out in question, making a line for them.

"Oh, that's a ten," he muttered. "Don't make any sudden moves, Damien."

"What?" Alexa asked back. "They're just marks, mom!"

Oryen moved in front of Damien and covered his body from view with his wings, holding his hands out front while putting as much love into his voice as possible.

"Sweetheart, this is not the plac-"

His voice was cut off as her body began to glow slightly. She kicked off the ground with a loud bang and created a huge gust of wind as she banked around Oryen and grabbed Damien like a ragdoll, one arm carrying him by the stomach. By the time they had even moved to begin to react, she had the young man pinned to the building in front of them by his throat, twenty feet off the ground.

"WHAT DID YOU MAKE HER DO?!" Petrina screamed into Damien's pained and rapidly reddening face.

"Mom, what are you doing!?" Alexa screamed as Oryen immediately grabbed the Fae's arm, stopping her from jumping after them.

Unfortunately, Alexa was out of arms reach and she shot to the building in an instant.

"LET HIM GO!" she screamed, grabbing onto Petrina's wings.

"WHAT DID YOU MAKE HER SIGN YOU URCHIN!" his wife screamed into Damien's face again, pulling his head off the wall only to slam it back into it.

"I... didn't-" Damien struggled out, words coming to him slowly.

Petrina's right hand slammed into the side of his face and then into his stomach, nearly knocking him unconscious in the process. Oryen could feel the young man's mana doing everything it could to dampen the blows on the building, but nothing he did could help him with her iron grip. He'd be dead within a minute if no one did anything.

"YOU LIE! UNDO IT NOW! OR WAS IT YOUR SLUT FAE YOU CHEAT ON HER WITH?!" Petrina screamed, glancing over her shoulder with her hate-filled eyes as Alexa continued to futilely try to pry her off Damien.

"Sorry..." Damien choked out as Petrina looked back at him. "I... did it. I can't... undo-"

Oryen watched on, keeping the Fae out of the mess lest his wife murder her, as the back of Petrina's wings glowed a dark blue right where Alexa's face was.

"Alexa, no!" he yelled, much too late as his daughter formed a spike of ice on her right fist almost instantly and drove it through the center of her mother's right wing and into the shoulder beneath.

The pain caused Petrina to instinctively backhand the presence that had caused her harm as she and Damien fell three feet out of the air before stabilizing once again.

Alexa caught the hand in her chest and was sent into the ground like she'd been hit by the tail of a dragon. She dug into it a solid foot, sliding through it for twenty feet as if it were water.

Oryen shot to her location as his wife realized what she had done, her hand on Damien's throat slackening a bit as she turned around to look at her where her daughter lay.

"Alexa," the distraught young man screamed out with a hoarse voice, inflaming Petrina's anger again.

"YOU DON'T SPEAK HER NAME!" she screamed, turning back to the boy and raising her right hand to strike him again.

"Petrina, that's enough!" Oryen shouted to his wife, voice booming loud enough to cause a normal persons ear drums to shatter. "What are you going to do? Break every bone in your daughter's body? In the boys? Stop this now!"

It seemed Petrina had instinctively let off on her attack at the last moment and Alexa's communed state had fortified her body, causing the damage to be mostly superficial. Her wings were both crushed but had broken her fall for the most part. She was unconscious, but other than her wings and arms, she was mostly unharmed.

His shouting fell on deaf ears, unfortunately, as she held Damien against the wall, no longer yelling or appearing angry in her own right, an intense calm seeming to settle over his wife's body.

"...If that is what it takes. If he won't break the pact, I'll do it the old-fashioned way; I'll kill him now," she said plainly, fist covering itself in a spike of ice as Alexa had used earlier.

Oryen looked back down to his daughter and up to Kastra, who was staring at him.

"I don't fight. There is nothing I can do if she won't listen to reason."

The Fae nodded and broke eye contact to look up to where Petrina held Damien.

"If you kill him, you'll kill her," Kastra lied from next to him, cradling Alexa's head in her lap. "I drew up the contract myself. We all die if one of us does."

Petrina stayed silent for a few moments before her hand loosened on Damien's throat, just the slightest bit. Oryen looked at Kastra, then back to his wife, then to his daughter, nervous fear gripping his heart.

"You're lying," Petrina whispered.

"I swear to the God of Truth, our pact is one of death," Kastra stated as Oryen lifted his head in surprise.

'They lied?!'

Silence filled the yard for a brief second.

"LET HIM GO!" Oryen bellowed, voice booming with an intensity he hadn't used in years directly into everyone's minds.

Kastra crumpled to the ground in pain as he felt his daughter's eardrums burst. Blood began trickling from Damien's ears while his wife's body, faced away from him, tensed up from the residual sound. The downfall about having an enhanced body is that your ears and mind would take the full onslaught of a sound attack like that without bursting. It was more than a little disorienting, unless you were used to it.

"PETRI-" he started again before a loud boom rocked the area, dust shooting up all around them as the ground shook and his wife disappeared from in front of the boy.

Belinda Dewitt hovered before Damien instead of Petrina as Oryen glanced over the nearby area, searching for where the woman had gone.

"That is quite enough," the new arrival demanded, lowering herself and a gasping Damien she'd caught in her right arm in the direction of the ground.

Going between healing his daughter and searching for his wife, Oryen's mind struggled to grasp the situation. Luckily, the Fae seemed just as inclined to heal Alexa as he was and took away some of that worry.

"It won't be enough until she is free of them!" he heard his wife scream, voice coming from where the dust had kicked up as a wind blew to clear the area.

Finally, Petrina came into view, appearing ragged and angry. His wife lept up for the boy and Belinda, shooting a lance of ice before her as she went. It looked like it would connect with the instructor for a moment until she and Damien both disappeared, re-appearing in front of Petrina and backhanding her.

His wife had put her wings in front of her body in time to protect her face from the impact and, once again, was sent into the ground with a deafening boom.

Oryen sighed, able to feel just how injured she'd become after the two exchanges, secretly thankful that Belinda had shown up. He wasn't sure what the truth was regarding the Fae and his daughter, but he'd want to take no chances. The boy didn't deserve to perish for this either, even if Elerians had been killed for much less.

"Petrina N'moran, you have attacked a member of this school and its faculty. You are temporarily under arrest, and will be sent to the nursing facility until your sentence is carried out," Dewitt stated nonchalantly as she appeared next to Oryen, dropping Damien unceremoniously into Kastra's waiting arms.

The Fae began to look over him while she laid him on the ground next to Alexa, Damien gasping and still touching his throat, eyes closed in pain. Oryen felt his heart catch in his chest as the world began to get smaller all at once, watching the boy struggle with life as his daughter lay beside him in a similar situation.

Looking back up, the instructor had already disappeared with his wife, nowhere to be seen.

"He's ok, right?" Alexa croaked out from beneath him, causing him to turn his eyes back down.

"Thank the gods," Oryen said with a cracking voice, smiling as he ran his hand over her face. "You're ok, huh?"

"He's ok?" she struggled out, attempting to turn her body sideways to look at him.

Oryen felt a slight annoyance well up at her worry about the young man, but pushed it aside as he helped her onto her side.

"Yes darling, he's ok," he purred out, glancing up to Kastra as he continued healing his daughter.

A few moments later, Damien took his first full breath in a while, and his eyes slowly came open. His gasping reduced and Oryen could see the tension slipping out of the small Fae's body as she slowly ran her hands down the young man's cheek, tears dropping onto his face from above as the small woman's body shook every so often.

"Thanks for the help healing me, my star," Damien whispered. "You can stop crying now."

"I'll try," the Fae responded, nodding as she began to smile with her tears still falling, resting one of her hands on his chest as the other continued to stroke his jawline.

"Your mom sucks, my love," he chuckled out, turning his head to look at Alexa and wincing in pain as he grabbed his chest from laughing.

Kastra quickly moved her hand off his chest to ease the pressure, but he grabbed it before she could get it away and reached towards Alexa with his other hand who was also crying while resting her left arm on his stomach.

"I know," Alexa wheezed out as she moved her lower arm closer to grab his hand, smiling warmly as Oryen watched him healing her wounds quicker than Kastra and he could together.

"No more family gatherings for a while," Damien said as he chuckled at his own joke again, the other two laughing miserably in response.

Oryen watched on with awe at the scene. Damien was handling all of what had just happened like it were another casual day while keeping the two women focused on the fact that he was well enough to joke. Kastra was vengeful from what Oryen had seen and he knew Alexa could hold a grudge, yet the young man had defused their anger in a matter of seconds all while healing his daughter completely of her traumatic injuries before moving onto his own. He kept the conversation off what had happened and the three looked as if they were just having a chat over tea.

It was incredible.

His daughter stood up a few moments later, almost like she'd never been hurt, and then Damien sat up a few minutes after, still talking as they surrounded where he was. A couple people had come by to ask what was going on, people watching from outside had spread word, but Oryen had sent them all on their way.

When Damien's parents and Vanessa showed up he assumed they'd be furious but other than Garrett, they were more focused on how the boy was. Garrett asked a few pointed questions but rather than lashing out, he thanked Oryen for helping in the little amount that he had. The three of them all doted on both of the children.

Damien had needed help standing and walking, but eventually, they got up and began to hobble away, the lecherous boy staring down his two assisting women's dresses and them helping him, regardless of the fact that he was clearly fully healed. Oryen just continued watching on in amazement.

"Glad that's over," a familiar voice said from behind him.

"Gianna, glad you're ok," Oryen said as she trotted up to his side, Sriel following her with a worried look on her face.

"I figured following her out was a bad idea. I tried to find my dad or Lemshire but... have you seen him?"

"Lemshire? Yeah, just-"

"No, my dad I mean," she interrupted.

"I haven't unfortunately," Oryen responded, noting the worry in her voice. "Care to join us? We are going to get their pets from Gallion, I think. It'll be nice to see him after so long. Your dad did say he'd like to see him, maybe-"

"I will pass, let me know if you find him please though," she interrupted. "My father, that is."

"Will do," he replied with a wave as she turned to leave.

He spun back around to watch his daughter intentionally give the weak man an easier view of her cleavage and rolled his eyes.

"What the hell am I going to do now..." he mumbled.

"Keep my sister from killing my family I hope," Vanessa responded to his rhetorical question as she caught up to him from behind.

"You're her sister," he chuckled out with a sigh. "If anyone knows I can't, you do. She wouldn't listen to me. I've never..."

She turned to him and grabbed his arm, stopping him from walking after the others.

"I wasn't joking. Don't come back again if you can't control her," she said icily, moving past him and walking after the others.