The children gasped. "Really, Jasper, must you tell such awful tales?" Baroness Lianne scolded.

I'm sorry, my Lady, I'll tell something a bit more. . .appropriate for the children." The old man put away his book and found a new one. Selena, however, didn't care to pay attention to this new story. If it was appropriate for her age, then it wasn't worth listening to. She turned to her brother.

"Sean, you wanna get out of here?" she whispered to him.

"Don't you wanna hear the story?" he whispered back.

Selena shook her head and sat back, disappointed. Though only eight, she acted older than her years, and expected her brother, one year her senior, to do the same. He, however, enjoyed his position as youngest son and had no need for maturity.

Selena was too bored by the old man's story to wait for her brother. Sitting back on the floor, she slowly inched her way backwards toward the open door. As she silently stood and turned the corner, she thought that sometimes being the overlooked middle child did come in handy. Her elder sister sat sewing with her stepmother, the youngest, Annemarie, on her lap. Neither would have been able to accomplish such a disappearing act as Selena performed recurrently.

However, there wasn't much for her to do with her new-found freedom. All her siblings were still in the Hall listening to that mind-numbing story. Selena wished that the old man would have continued reading A Description of the Creatures of the Night. Such tales terrified her younger sister, but Selena loved them. But, of course, 7-year-old Annemarie had made a face, and so the story to change.

After slipping into the kitchen to beg a snack from the cook, Selena was stopped mid-stride by a side-splitting yawn. She regretfully decided it must be time for bed and made her way up the old stairs to her rooms.

A blast of cold air hit her as she opened the door. "One of the maids must have left the balcony door open," Selena thought. She hurried over and shut it. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw movement in her bedroom. She whirled to the connecting door. Grabbing a lit candlestick off the mantle, she perused the shadows.

She had almost finished searching the room when she suddenly stopped. She thought she saw something in a darkened corner. She stepped closer, and a boy's face came into the light. "What are you doing in my room?" she demanded imperiously. The boy slowly stood.

Selena jumped back. Two large, black wings rose from his shoulders. "Y-you're a daemon!" she stuttered.

"Please don't be afraid," he pleaded, palms out to show he meant no harm.

"I'm not afraid," she said quietly, still backing away. She hit the bedpost with a start.

The boy smiled faintly. "I'm Eric," he said.

Selena's childish nature overtook her more grown-up logic, and she began to relax. This creature, though strange, obviously didn't mean her any harm. "I'm Selena," she said, extending her hand. Eric took it and kissed it. "Just like a grown up," she thought. "Why are you in my room?" she asked again.

"Please don't tell anyone," he said urgently. "I only wanted to see how humans live."

"Well, we're not regular people, you know. My father's the Baron of this land. My friend Claudia, now, she's normal."

"I like how you talk," Eric said softly to her. "I have to go now, but can I come back tomorrow night?"

Selena glanced around the room, up at his wings, and then back at his face, thinking. "Sure," she said. They got up and went to the balcony.

"Just remember to leave the balcony doors unlocked," he cautioned. "And don't tell anyone about me. Not even Claudia, or your brother. No one." He reached up and opened the doors. The cold breeze swept through the room.

"Goodbye," Selena said. Eric spread his wings and jumped off the balcony. Selena watched him until he was just a speck under the light of the full moon.

Selena woke with the sun on her face. Her stomach rumbled as she dressed to go downstairs. She couldn't wait for the coming of the night when she could again meet her new friend.

At breakfast she had the terrible urge to blurt the whole story out to her brother Sean, but, being a clever girl, she knew the secret must be kept. She was very impatient for the day to end, stealing constant glances at the great clock.

Finally the sun went down, and the storyteller entered the Great Hall. Selena took a seat by the door, ready to slip out as soon as her stepmother's attention was diverted. For once she hoped that Annemarie would cry.

Selena was in luck. The storyteller had hardly begun when Annemarie burst into tears. Who knows what started it, but when Annemarie threw a tantrum it required the combined efforts of her stepmother and her elder sister Crystina to quiet her. Selena was free to go. She took the steps two at a time on the way up.

Selena burst into her room and threw the balcony doors open. "Eric! Eric!" she sang out. Something seized her from behind. She released a small cry before she realized who it was. "Eric, you scared me!" she reprimanded.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, looking very sorry indeed.

"That's all right," she said. "Do you play chess?"

"No," Eric sighed. Then he brightened. "Can you teach me?" he asked eagerly.

"Sure!" Selena smiled. She pulled her prized board with the marble pieces off the shelf. "You can be black and I'll be white."

Eric soon got the hang of the game, and could almost beat her. He came every night after that. Selena found herself growing more and more close to him. She told him about anything and everything, and he always listened without judgment.

The years passed, and Selena and Eric stayed as close as those first days, if not closer. Their secret remained, for the most part, a secret, though it seemed at times that Sean suspected something was going on. Selena's older brother, Marcus, got married, as did Crystina. Selena reached the age of seventeen, and she and Annemarie, now sixteen, had begun entertaining suitors. At least, Annemarie was. Dark-haired Selena may have been beautiful on her own, but she was shadowed by her sister's golden radiance. Several times her heart had been broken by men who actually wanted her sister.

A ball was being held for their stepmother's birthday one night. Selena was going with a young noble who had recently inherited his father's lands, Peter Tallien. He, unlike her past suitors, seemed genuinely interested in Selena, rather than her sister.

The ball was to begin promptly at nine o'clock. It was already dark when Selena was getting ready in her dressing room. She heard a soft swishing at the balcony doors. She rushed to open them. Eric, ever polite, never simply barged in.

"You look wonderful tonight," he greeted with a smile full of sharp teeth.

Selena blushed slightly. "Thank you, I'm not even done yet. The ball's tonight, remember?"

Eric nodded slowly. Selena went back to the mirror and sat, fixing her hair. Eric walked up behind her, his dark wings blocking out the whole background of the mirror's reflection. "How he's changed," Selena thought. Eric was now tall and rather handsome, his dark hair long and swept back from his well-built face. His green eyes were like pools she could fall into.

"Selena, do you ever wish things were different?" Eric asked slowly.

"Hmm?" Selena murmured, looking up at his face reflected in the glass.

"I mean..." he began haltingly, squirming a little, "do you ever wish... we... were different?"

Selena's hand slowed on her hair, the brush stopping mid-stroke.

"If I wasn't... then I could take you to the ball," he stuttered.

"Oh, Eric," Selena sighed, "what-ifs and had-nots never helped anyone."

"But still..."

"It would be wonderful."

When Selena was finally ready, it was well near nine o'clock. She bid farewell to the daemon and went down to the ballroom. Peter was there, along with her sisters and their men. "Selena, you look divine," Peter said as she paraded down the stairs.

"Thank you," she replied graciously, taking his arm.

The night began well enough; Peter danced like a dream. He was attentive and made Selena laugh. However, as the night wore on, she began to have suspicions. Peter kept steering towards Annemarie, though Selena came up with many reasons why they should stay at the other end of the hall. She tried to tell herself she was being paranoid, but she caught him too many times looking over her shoulder at her sister. Selena couldn't take it. "I need to sit down," she told Peter at the end of the song. He led her to the chairs by the wall, and sat near her for a few minutes. The musicians began to play a lively tune fit for the spring festival. to Selena's outrage, Peter got up and began dancing with Annemarie! Annemarie's partner began to protest, but she silenced him. This disreputable behavior continued for the next three dances. Selena got more and more depressed and shrunk into the darkened corner. A group of courtiers walked by. They didn't notice the abandoned girl and continued their conversation.

"Really, I should think Selena could hold onto a man a bit longer than this," the first said.

"Well, I don't blame her," the second replied. "She'll never be as stunning as Annemarie. Gods, she's gorgeous."

"I wonder how they'll ever get Selena married off," the first commented, and walked out of earshot.

Selena couldn't take it any longer. With one last look at Peter and Annemarie, she ran from the room, struggling (and failing) to hold back the tears.

Selena burst through the doors of her room, tears running down her face. She sorely wished Eric was still there, but he had left hours before. Still she couldn't resist the urge to just check. Sobbing, she opened the doors and went out into the night. Blinded by her tears, she walked right into his arms.

"Eric!" she exclaimed.

"Shhh," he said. "Let's go inside." They sat down on the bed. "What happened?" he asked.

"It was awful," she said into his chest. He held her close while she got her sobbing under control. "Peter... Peter left me for Annemarie, right there, right in front of everyone!" She felt Eric stiffen. "What do I do to deserve this rejection? Am I so awful that no man wants to be near me?"

"No," Eric said immediately. "Shh. No, of course not. You're a beautiful, charming young woman."

"Then why do they always leave me? Why do they lose interest so fast? Is Annemarie that much more gorgeous, more charismatic, than me?!"

Eric continued to offer words of comfort and held her until the tears stopped.

Selena never thought to wonder what he was doing there in the first place.

Two days later, Selena heard the awful news. Peter had been murdered.

"But, how did it happen?" she tearfully asked her brother Sean.

"He was found dead in his bedroom. Are you sure you're all right?" Sean asked, concerned.

Selena nodded. "Tell me the rest."

"His... his head was cut off. The assassin must have come in through the unlocked balcony, as Peter's bedroom door was locked."

Selena looked down, quite disturbed.

"We have no clue as to who the assassin was or what he might want, so I suggest you be sure to lock your balcony doors, just to be safe."

Selena had no intention of doing that; she wanted to see Eric. But she nodded for Sean's benefit and left the room.

The rest of the day was spent in mourning for the departed Peter. Annemarie cried very hard, to Selena's annoyance. When night fell and Selena met Eric as usual, he couldn't understand why she mourned.

"But, he left you! He betrayed you! I should think you would be glad he's dead."

"Eric, it doesn't work like that! I cared for him and he forsook me, yes, but it's still a tragedy that he was murdered in his prime!" A thought occurred to her suddenly. "Did you see anything that night, Eric?"

He hesitated for a second. "No," he said suddenly. "Nothing at all."

After Peter's mysterious death, rumors were rampant on the streets of the city. The superstitious townsfolk all knew about the events at the ball, and some were favoring the idea that Selena was a witch and had killed him with her magical powers. Everyone began treating the royal family more carefully, and Annemarie got mad at Selena because "her men" were walking on eggs around her. Selena suspected Annemarie thought she was a witch as well. Her parents, wishing to avoid scandal, relegated Selena to taking care of her half-brothers, Terrence and Sydney, respectively seven and six years of age. They were hyper little children and the nurse in charge of them exercised her power (over Selena as well as the children) by making the poor girl chase them wherever they went. It was quite exhausting work, and Selena began to feel very alone. Her only comfort was the coming of the night when Eric would come.

After her first day of such labor she raced to her room. She waited past the usual time, but Eric still hadn't come. Disappointed, she realized he probably wasn't coming and went into her bedroom to change. She put on her nightgown (white sleeveless silk) and began brushing out her hair. Suddenly there was a rapping at the window. "Eric! You're late!" she said as she went to open the balcony doors.

Eric almost fell in. Blood was trickling down his face.

"What happened?" she exclaimed. She grabbed a handkerchief off her dresser and put it up to his head. "Here, sit down." She pulled him to the bed. "What happened?" she repeated.

"I... wasn't watching where I was going. I hit a tree, I guess." A blatant lie, but Selena let it pass.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" she asked, concerned.

Eric sighed. "No."

"Well, I've gotten the bleeding to stop, but you should get a... doctor to check it out." Selena had no idea if daemons any doctors; Eric never spoke of his home.

"I don't think so," Eric said with a smile. "Take a better look."

Selena removed the cloth from his head just in time to see the wound disappear, his skin magically healing up.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Eric said, amused. "Selena, how have you been holding up?"

Her face fell. "The commoners think I'm a witch. They think I killed Peter somehow, because of what happened at the ball. Even Father looks at me suspiciously. And now... it feels like I'm being shoved in a closet. I had to watch my half-brothers today. The nurse is a tyrant, and..." she broke off. "I'm scared, Eric. They all are suspicious -- I'm not a witch! But sometimes I wonder. . .I was pretty mad last night. What if... somehow… I did make it happen?"

"Shh! Don't ever say that, Selena!" Eric said violently. "You know you're not a witch! This is just a string of unfortunate coincidences."

Selena looked up at him. "Do you really believe that, Eric?"

"Yes," he said firmly. "No evil could come from you. You're kind, a-and gentle, and I-" he cut off, realizing what he was about to say.

Selena looked up at his eyes--and his mouth. She never so much wanted to be kissed by anyone as much as she did by him now.

Eric gazed at Selena as well. "If I kiss her now," he thought, "I could be signing my - and her - death wish. But... no one has to know," he concluded, and wrapped his arms around her.

It was the sweetest, most tender kiss Selena had ever experienced. She wished the moment could last forever.

But it couldn't. Eric suddenly tensed. "I-I have to go," he stammered. He got up and almost ran to the balcony. "I'm so sorry," he said as he walked outside. Selena followed him. "I never meant to take advantage of you like that," he apologized, and flew off into the night.