Down in the depths of a black castle, a woman was held, trapped, caged. She had fought against the forces that threatened to break and destroy her. The battle raged on for longer than the woman could count, yet she held her ground. No matter what they did, who they brought into her cage and ruined, where they hurt her, she did not yield.

But as the days passed, the fire that had always burned inside of her heart, the fire that burned colder than the stars in the sky, began to gutter.

Until one day, it sputtered out.

***

"Dahlia, are you there?" Selene whispered, "do you watch me as I wither away in these chains?"

She was silent for a moment. Taking in the undead silence. Someone was being beaten close by. She heard their grunts of pain fade away as life finally released them.

"You can see me," she said, no emotion in her voice, that had been bled out of her.

"What of you Ophiel?" she asked, "Your chosen champion has been defeated, chained down, and tortured. All you do is watch. What do you feel?"

She coughed, blood and saliva dripping down her chin.

"Even though you do nothing as I die here, I'm not done yet. I have not lost this fight."

The words were empty.

She had nothing else to say. The burns on her face throbbed with each word.

Her head hung low, her body limp. The chains on her arms were taut as she hung like a broken puppet.

She thought back to her brother who still roamed the continent searching for her not as a loving sibling, but as a grieving orphan.

Now, she would never be able to convince him of the truth. If she could have at all.

Many wrongs had been committed by her in life, wrongs that she would never be able to right.

She cried silently in her cell, the tears stinging her wounds.

And that's how she stayed until Enico returned to study her again.

He pulled out her teeth with pliers forced her eyes open with tools and shone strange unearthly lights into them. He tightened her chains holding her and opened her cage to study her body, holding cold metal to different parts of her.

He could not see her face now, as it hung limp. Her hair covered her like a dirty white veil.

He loved her snow-white hair and as he touched the locks, she knew he would take it from her next time he came.

This time though, he had only studied her. He left quickly, shutting and locking the cell door behind him.

She would still be alive when he returned for her hair. And then her fiery red eyes.

She couldn't die yet.

"Dahlia, I know you're here. You watch me like a hawk," she said in between wheezes, "Stay the fuck away from me," she hissed.

Suddenly, the room grew colder. Not because of Selene's magic, no, it was different.

The Lady of Death had vanished, along with the comfort of Death itself.

Now, Selene was completely alone.

Or was she...

Something near her was making noise.

No. Someone was speaking.

She cracked open her swollen eyes to see who had come.

The cell door was wide open, along with her cage. With effort, she raised her face to the visitor and met dark blue eyes.

Aiden stood in front of her, hands on her shoulders as he frantically tried to stir her.

Once her eyes were open, he dashed to her foot cuffs and made quick work picking the lock. Then he went to her hands. As soon as he released her, she collapsed into him like a sack of flour.

She did not have the strength to stand.

What did he plan to do with her?

Yet, as he scooped her up into his arms and carried her out of the cell, where she saw five guards dead on the ground, she knew the old him had returned.

He was speaking to her as he ran, but she could barely hear as she slipped in and out of consciousness.

Was she being freed?

In this state, she wouldn't make it far, especially while being chased.

As if on cue, he pressed a hand to her chest, and suddenly, she could hear and see. But her legs were still numb.

She stared up at Aiden with wariness in her eyes. He was bleeding from his shut eye, the one with the scar over it. It ran down his face and dripped onto Selene's chest.

"I'm getting you out of here," he said breathlessly as he ran.

"You brought me here in the first place," she wheezed, barely able to speak.

He rolled his eye, "Technically, you wanted to come here yourself--,"

"You betrayed me and lied to me for months," she said.

"This doesn't excuse my actions but--,"

He jolted to a stop and threw them back against a wall, hiding as well as they could.

Two guards passed them by without a glance.

Then Aiden kept going.

"The King has enslaved me," he finished.

"What?"

"All those years ago when -- when it happened, the king put an obedience spell of some sort on me and ever since, I've been his to control. It's taking everything in me to fight against it now. But I couldn't leave you there."

"Why should I believe you?" Selene said, the ice in her voice unmistakable.

She knew she hit a nerve when he slowed for a moment.

"I do truly love you, Selene," he said back.

"And then you gave me up for torture."

He said nothing after that. She didn't care where he took her, whether it be to freedom or to another hell. Her trust in him had been shattered from the moment he put that dagger to her throat.

And if he had been enslaved to the king, why hadn't he told her before now? Why wait until after she had been mutilated and broken?

He had no excuse.

Wordlessly, he carried her through the dungeon's tunnels and through strange, uninhabited passageways. Just when she thought Enico would materialize from the shadows to grab her, she smelt something.

Air.

The outside world. It was so close. She could smell the fresh air and suddenly realized how badly she craved freedom. She did not know how long she had been trapped in the dungeons, but long enough to make her feel like she had never felt the wind on her face or the sun on her skin.

Aiden truly was setting her free.

"At the end of this tunnel, I will give you back all the power I borrowed. Use it to get to the river. There are people there who will help you."

"The power you borrowed?"

Aiden nodded, "Back when you first met Enico, I stole some of your power to save your life. I gave you some earlier and it helped heal you a bit, I'll give you the rest now. Be careful, your body is still frail."

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.

He looked at her softly and set her down on the ground. He pressed his hand to her chest again and closed his other eye, giving her the last drops of Moonfire he contained.

Though weak, she knew she would be able to walk. Just enough to get to the river.

"Go. The exit is right down there. It's night and it'll be hard to see but," he pulled a scarf out of his waistband and wrapped it around her head, "They'll see that white hair from a mile away."

"You're not coming?" she asked, her heart tightening for some reason.

He shook his head and smiled, his scar stretching beneath the blood, the scar that his sister dealt him. His eye showed an emotion she hadn't seen in a while, and Selen realized, with horror, that he'd gouged his own eye out.

He touched her face gently, ran his hands over the brand on the side of her face. "I am so sorry for what I have done," he whispered.

"Where do you think you're going?" a voice said from behind Aiden.

He lept up and spun around, drawing a dagger out of his boot and holding out an arm to protect Selene.

She glanced around his legs to see who it was.

Enico.

He stood there, picking his long nails as if he didn't care about her escape. But she knew it was quite the opposite. And he was covered in blood as if he had just gotten out of having "fun" with another prisoner.

"Go, Selene," Aiden said, his voice stern.

"Oh. I don't think so," Enico purred before launching himself at her.

Aiden was faster though and he threw himself in between them, aiming his dagger for Enico's throat.

The beautiful demon man reared back in surprise.

"What are you doing, you human scum?" he hissed, "I'll have your heart for this. Now grab her!"

Aiden didn't take his eyes off Enico when he said, "Go, Selene!"

The sound that came out of her was one of desperation. She couldn't leave him. Even if he'd betrayed her. But there was no other choice, she wasn't strong enough to protect him now.

Enico growled again and threw himself towards Aiden, but the man held and after he'd pushed the monster away, he turned and screamed at her.

"!"

Without thinking, she pushed herself up on shaky legs and ran. She ran with everything she had and then some, praying for the Angels to give her the strength to go on. Knowing that they hadn't abandoned her and asking for forgiveness in thinking they had.

Please, get me to the river!

She threw herself out of the cave tunnel and into the night air. It felt so cool against her skin, she couldn't help but sob as she ran. She was not free yet. All of this could be taken away once again if she did not keep going, and faster.

She heard barking behind her. No doubt some sort of hellish dog demon sent to track her. She could only imagine what was on the other end of the leash.

She pushed herself harder, feeling the energy slowly running out. She wouldn't last much longer, and she heard no river. Yet she pressed on.

Soon the sounds of shouting reached her ears, the soldiers were closing in.

They sounded so human.

She ran through the mountain trees, straining her ears for the sound of rushing water, begging the Angels to help and guide her.

Suddenly, she felt something, like a hand on her shoulder pulling her to the right. She followed it.

Then she heard it. The river.

She laughed and cried at the same time, knowing that she had done it. It was just a matter of if Aiden was telling the truth.

The tree branches whipped at her face as she ran, drawing blood. She didn't care. She was so close to freedom, so close.

Breaking through the tree, she collapsed a few feet from the bank, her energy completely expended, and her wounds in agony. She laid there for a moment before she felt rather than heard someone land softly in the grass and rocks next to her.

Warm hands closed around her shoulders, lifting and pulling her into someone's chest. It was a man.

She opened her eyes for just a moment to see who had saved her.

Glowing blue eyes looked down at her.

Aiden? She thought.

No those eyes were much too light to be Aiden's.

"Kai..." she whispered.

The Fae male smiled at her through the darkness, his canines visible even now.

"You're safe now, Selene. We're taking you with us. Rest."

She couldn't help it as her eyes closed, finally after days, weeks. But slowly, a hatred for herself began to bloom. It wasn't Aiden who held her, but someone else. She left him behind.

How could she?

She wanted to go back, to save him from the horrors of that castle, but she couldn't even lift her head. Against her wishes, the world around her began to fade to nothing.

Her story was not over yet, the stars knew that. They stared down at her and watched the warrior carry her away to safety and knew that she would be able to fight in the upcoming battle to save them all.

And in the dark of night, Selene Ferox escaped into the forest.