KNIGHTLY CONCERNS

Elena's journals were fascinating. She'd written down her thought process for all the dark sorcery she was experimenting in, and Sophia was beside herself with excitement at the thought of being able to continue that research.

Selene still didn't care much for magic, but agreed that it would certainly be useful, and if there was one thing Selene desired more than anything, it was strength.

In the mean time, as they waited for the next full moon, Henry had started to interview knights for Selene and Sophia.

Selene rejected almost half of them right off the bat, claiming that they looked weak and would not hold up in a fight. None of the knights were pleased with that remark, but there was not much they could do about it, and had to leave, thoroughly embarrassed.

Sophia kept throwing the knights hypothetical scenarios that none of them could solve. She claimed that she needed a knight that would be able to get her out of any kind of life threatening situation, and if they couldn't even think their way out of her easy examples then they don't even deserve to be called knights.

In the end that left them with almost no knights at all.

There was one, a younger looking boy who was tall and didn't look intimidating at all, but Selene seemed to see something in him that nobody else could, and so Selene found herself a personal knight.

Sophia, on the other hand, couldn't find a single knight there that met her standards, and so Henry had to dismiss the last of them with a sigh. Sophia actually already had somebody in mind, however. She remembered there was a strong character from the book, a very powerful knight that worked for the second prince, Julius. He was the one who carried out most of the dirty work for Julius, and had managed to stop multiple assassination attempts on Julius.

The female lead, Anastasia, had actually met Julius' knight before, unknowingly. Sophia was pretty sure the author had originally wanted to add him to Anastasia's roster of handsome men that were in love with her, but decided not to in the end. From what Sophia could remember, his name was James and his most distinctive feature was his flaming red hair.

Julius had mentioned once in the book that he bought James from a slave auction on his seventeenth birthday, and noticed immediately that he had an innate talent for combat. Julius was going to be seventeen in a few months, so Sophia would have time to buy James for herself. Or steal him. Stealing him might be a better option. She didn't want to spend money if she didn't have to.

Sophia decided to wait until after the full moon to get James. It would help if she had sorcery on her side.

While Sophia devised a plan on how to get her personal knight, Selene was getting to know hers.

He was sixteen, like her, and he said his name was Elliot. The moment they had a second alone, Selene challenge him to a fight. Elliot had no idea what to say to that, but then Selene had lunged at him, and his reflexes kicked in.

She hadn't said he wasn't allowed to use his sword, but felt it would be unfair if he did, so he fought with his hands instead. That was a mistake, however, for Selene had eventually pinned him down, taken his own sword and levelled it against his throat.

"If you have a sword, you should use it." She said.

Elliot was too stunned to say anything, still in disbelief at the fact that she had so obviously overpowered him and took him down in almost less than a minute.

"But I would have killed you..."

Selene only grinned at him, not saying another word.

Suddenly Elliot doubted himself. Was she so powerful that even with a sword she could still defeat him? He thought he was the one who was supposed to protect her, but she seemed wholly capable of doing it herself.

"Miss, if you don't mind me asking... why do you need me here if you're capable on your own?"

"Ah, well, my parents don't exactly know about my... skills. You're here to appease my father, mostly. So, you know, you're free to do whatever you want, you don't actually have to watching me all the time."

Elliot could see that she really didn't need him there, but it went against his honour to not do his job properly. "I'll do my job, Miss."

Selene hummed. "Don't say I didn't warn you. If you end up seeing something you don't like, don't blame me."

What? That was strangely ominous. Just what exactly did Selene get up to that would disturb him so?

She flashed him another smile, only this one felt a bit like a warning, and Elliot felt he was definitely in over his head with this one.

Then the night of the full moon came, and Elliot watched in horror as Selene and Sophia cut both their palms and pressed their bloody hands against a tree. He'd been warned, yet again, that he could go somewhere else, but he promised her father to look after her, and so he was here.

He had no idea what they were doing, and they wouldn't tell him, but he felt something strange as he watched the scene. The air around him suddenly became thinner and his breaths were coming out quick and short. There was a strange sort of pressure squeezing around him, but just as fast as that feeling came it suddenly dispersed. Then Selene and Sophia, who's eyes had been closed a moment ago, were stepping back from the tree, grinning evilly at each other.

Elliot felt something was very, very wrong with the scene he was looking at.