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A/N This chapter is one of the larger ones I kind of got carried away. Hope you like it

The next morning Selina stood by Alexander’s side as the two men from the night before where being led into the room. Both where shoved to their knees before them.
“ Why are they here my dear?” Alexander asked looking into Selina’s eyes.
“Punishment.” Selina said standing. Alexander watched as she walked towards the two men.
“ Do you remember why you’re here?” She asked touching their face.
“ Yes Mistress.”
“ Tell your master why you’re here.” Selina said looking at them. One of the men looked up at Alexander and sighed.
“ We punished the new prisoner without permission.” He said looking at Alexander for pity.
“ Well my dear it seems that it’s your call, what are you going to do with them?”
“ I was hoping you’d ask that. As punishment for disobeying me you shall receive the same treatment the prisoner did.” Selina said with a smile. “ And since I wasn’t in the room with you when you tortured him, I will allow this pleasure to fall to the captain of the guard.” She added looking towards the doorway. A large man stood in the doorway his head bowed slightly as he accepted the orders given. Selina moved back to Alexander’s side and ran her fingers over his cheek.
“ I am pleased.” Alexander said.
“ I have a prisoner to deal with.” She said looking at him.
“ The boy?”
“ Him too.” She said leaning down and kissing him, the hood of her cloak covered their faces as she felt Howard enter the room. She reached her mind out to his and he cried out in pain. Alexander pulled away from Selina and looked towards his friend.
“ What is wrong?” He asked.
“ Nothing.” Howard answered messaging his temples.
“ What brings you here this morning Sir Howard?” Selina said turning towards him. Howard’s eyes watched her every move.
“ I heard you where punishing some of my guards.”
“ That I was. And it was my right.”
“ Why?”
“ It was none of your concern.” Selina answered brushing past him. “ Cross me Howard and Alexander will know of your traitorous acts.” She whispered leaving them alone.
“ Seems your lady is on edge today.”
“ She was awakened last night.” Alexander said standing.
“ So it seems. I’ve heard what had happened. I could have dealt with the guards.”
“ She was in charge of the boy, it was her problem to deal with.” Alexander answered looking at his friend.
“ You trust her with to much.”
“ Milord.” Kevin said entering the room.
“ Is there something you need Kevin?”
“ I cannot find Selina. I was to be training with her today.” He said.
“ She’s dealing with a prisoner at the moment. You will find her down in the dungeon.”
“ Thank you Milord.” Kevin said bowing and exiting the room as quietly as he had entered.

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“ What do we do if we don’t hear from Kevin soon?” Nickolas asked.
“ He will be gone for a few weeks, we did a great job of injuring him. He has to make them believe that he’s trust worthy.”
“ Kevin can convince anyone of that.”
“ Yes I know. But think of it this way my young friend if we get what we want, this will change everything.”
“ I hear there is great power within the walls of the castle, that Lord Alexander hides a great power beneath his very home.” An old man said walking towards them.
“ Who are you old man?”
“ They call me Adam. I was in the employ of the Lord for a great many years. Before I was banished.”
“ I had never heard of Lord Robert ever banning anyone from his castle.”
“ He didn’t, Lord Alexander did. When Alexander’s father was killed he became the pinnacle of evil, the very vessel that evil resides.”
“ What have you learned of Selina?”
“ Mistress Selina is a telepath, I’ve only seen her face but a few times. Her raven locks where always kept sweeping around her pale face, her piercing blue eyes seemed to see within a mans very soul. Her slender figure could intice even the most chasten man.”
“ Wow, that is more of Mistress Selina than any one has ever seen.”
“ I was a lucky man to see her in all her glory. She bares a tattoo on her right shoulder blade of a bloody rose, a bloody dagger on her shoulder and dragon on her left shoulder blade.”
“ For a woman so beautiful, how would you have seen such things?”
“ I am the one that gave them to her.”
“ Really? I would have never expected Lord Alexander to allow anyone to give her such intricate tattoos.”
“ The dragon was his idea, matches the one that is on his back, but where his is red hers is black. I believe that those two are meant for each other.”
“ I don’t dispute that but I fear that their evil has corrupted our lands.” Brian said looking at the old man.
“ Selina isn’t as bad as she seems. She does things to please her lord. But between them they share a love that even evil can’t deminish.” Adam said. Brian wasn’t sure if what Adam said was true but he had finally found out what Selina looked like and proved once and for all Selina wasn’t Kevin’s missing sister.
“ You seek Jasmine?”
“ You’re a telepath?”
“ Yes that I am. I felt that you seek one that you thought was Selina.”
“ Yes, for years we had assumed that Selina was my cousin Kevin’s missing sister.”
“ Jasmine was once in the castle, but she became very ill and died many years ago. Selina is my child.” Adam said.
“ Wait, you allowed your child to become like that?”
“ Selina has a mind of her own. But for a short time, her and Jasmine where playmates until she had become sick. I had feared that Jasmine had made my Selina ill as well, but I was spared that when Jasmine passed but my Selina did not.” Adam said. Brian nodded and understood what Adam meant. Nickolas watched them talk and then decided he would go for a walk. He missed his own family terribly, his parents still slaves within the walls of the castle, his sisters probably maids, and his little brother, he was unsure of what had happened to Aaron.
“ We will free them all Nickolas.” Brian said placing his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“ I just hope they are all still alive.”
“ I trust that they are. Come it’s nearly noon and I am starved.” Brian said leading his friend back into the camp.
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“ We have prisoners to deal with my dear.” Alexander said looking at Selina
“ You’re coming with me?” She said with a hint of surprise in her voice.
“ Yes.” Alexander said taking her hand in his own and following her down into the dungeon. As they descended the stairs they both could hear the soft crying of the prisoner. Selina stopped in front of the cell and touched the bars.
“ What is wrong child.” She whispered. Aaron sniffled and looked towards the wall.
“ Nothing mistress, what is my punishment?” He asked. Alexander wondered why he was so freely asking for a punishment, most would be begging for forgiveness.
“ Wait my dearest.”
“ What?” She asked looking at him.
“ Why do you ask so quickly for you punishment Aaron? Why do you not fight like the others?”
“ There is no reason to fight. She knows I did something wrong.”
“ I can feel you’ve done wrong, but what you’ve done wrong was to yourself. Tell me boy, by who’s orders did you act?”
“ I beg you not to ask me that.” Aaron said.
“ Why?” Alexander asked.
“ I can not tell you.” He answered.
“ Even if the punishment you would receive would be worse than that you received last night?”
“ Yes.”
“ Come Selina, we must talk.” Alexander said pulling her aside.
“ What?”
“ Something isn’t right, he’s protecting someone.”
“ I can feel he fears someone, but it’s not just us.”
“ Leave him here to think of his actions. I will think of a fitting punishment at a later time.”
“ All right.” Selina said looking towards Aaron, she could not understand why he was protecting someone else, and most of the other guards would have given up another to save themselves in an instant.
“ But this kind of loyalty is hard to find.”
“ This is true. But I fear it isn’t out of loyalty that he lies to us.”
“ Then what is it?” He asked her.
“ Fear, someone has threatened him. He fears a fate far worse than we can bestow upon him.”
“ I will find out who is behind this. I do not like this kind of thing within my own ranks.”
“ Believe me milord I understand completely.” Selina said taking his hand.

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Howard watched them leave the dungeon and then stepped from the shadows and approached Aaron’s cell.
“ Very good, you’ll live another day.”
“ I can not keep lying to them, Mistress Selina already suspects me.”
“ That is none of your concern.”
“ What of Lord Alexander? He will not rest until he knows who has done this.”
“ You will die before you end up reviling that it was I that betrayed him.”
“ Sir you know I am a loyal soldier and would keep my word, I’ve not let you down yet.” He said.
“ Yes I am pleased with that. For now you stay where you are, as to not arise suspicion with the lord and his mistress.” Howard said leaving the room. Leaving Aaron alone with his thoughts once again.

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Kevin had been training with the other guards for the better part of the day, many of then feared the arrival of Mistress Selina, but Kevin almost rejoiced in the fact that she was coming to check on his progress. He needed her to trust him; he would not be able to remove her from the castle unless she fully trusted him. The trumpets sounded announcing the arrival of Selina; all those that had been practicing snapped to attention and lowered their eyes as the cloaked woman entered the room. To Kevin’s surprise Alexander was at her side. This was not part of the plan, it had been nearly three days since he had arrived in the castle and his wounds had nearly healed and he needed to get out of their before Selina picked up on his thoughts.
“ Milord, I was not expecting you today.” The captain of the guard said bowing to him.
“ I decided to come and see what Selina does all day when she’s away from me.”
“ Would you like to inspect the troops sire?” He asked. Alexander nodded and descended the large staircase and entered the arena where the soldiers where training. Alexander looked over each and every one of them stopping before a young soldier he had never seen before.
“ What is your name boy?”
“ Marcus, milord.”
“ Well Marcus, when did you arrive?”
“ He arrived just last week milord.” Selina said stepping up behind him.
“ Is he any good?”
“ Very good actually. A great marksman, handy with a sword and is learning hand to hand combat from Simon.”
“ Very nice. We’ve needed someone like him for a long time.”
“ Yes, I was thinking of adding him to my personal guard.”
“ Be my guest. This young man would be a perfect addition to your guards.”
“ That’s what I was thinking.”
“ How are we coming along Kevin?” Alexander asked turning to him.
“ Things are coming along fine Milord, my wounds are nearly healed and I am ready to depart when ever Milady Selina is ready.” Kevin said tipping his head. Alexander wasn’t sure if he liked Kevin’s attitude towards Selina.
“ You still need a few more days in training. I saw how you handled yourself with my best guards, and if the rebels can beat you, you are not ready yet. My dear would you like to demonstrate?”
“ I’d be delighted.” Selina answered. She reached up and pulled on the cord that held her cloak closed and let it slip past her shoulders and to the floor. Kevin’s eyes followed the flow of the long black dress she wore up to the silver and gold crested armor she wore over her chest. The large dragon in the center of the plate told him it was a family crest. Selina leaned over and kissed Alexander passionately before pulling her sword and heading for the ring.
“ Come Kevin. I want to see how well you fight.” She said as she entered the large round ring. Kevin was handed a sword and he entered the ring, it was the first time he noticed that all of the men in the room where paying attention to Selina’s every move, as if she where a great teacher. She stood in a fighting stance and smiled evilly at him. Kevin raised his sword and smiled back. The two fought for nearly an hour, nether giving up to the other. Kevin howled in pain as Selina drew first blood, drawing the blade of her sword across his shoulder. She then turned and flipped him over and pinned him to the floor, the tip of her sword at his throat.
“ I submit.” Kevin said releasing the grip on his own sword.
“ You’ve got talent, no man has ever gone this long with Selina. I must say you’ve healed well. But I still would like two more days of training. Come Selina, we are finished here.” Alexander said holding his hand out to her. Selina helped Kevin to his feet and then took Alexander’s hand. Kevin watched them both walk up the stairs and out of the room.
“ No one has ever nearly beaten Mistress Selina in a duel.”
“ She’s very good.” Kevin whispered.
“ She was trained by the same man that trained Lord Alexander, Sir Howard and many others. She’s very good but be warned she’s very deadly.”
“ So I’ve noticed.” Kevin said touching the still bleeding wound in his arm. Now that he knew she could defend herself, he had to find a way to get her from the castle unarmed. This was going to be more difficult than he thought.