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Chapter eight

Lord Darien was angry. He paced his study in front of the three people standing there. " I was so close to having her!" He fumed.

" We're sorry, but there was nothing we could do to stop her." Rei said.

" You were five against one, you could have taken her!" Lord Darien said.

" And risked her finding out what was happening, my lord?!" Jadeite hissed.

" You could have hit her over the head, knocked her unconscious." Lord Darien replied.

" We need her awake if this plan is going to succeed." Zoicite said.

" I was so close to finally having her!" Lord Darien cried. " I don't care what you have to do to get Serena here tomorrow, I don't care what you have to do to her little friend, knock her over the head, feed her a sleeping drug, but get Serena here tomorrow or everything we have worked to hide for all these years is going to be exposed and we are all dead men!" Lord Darien hissed.

" Understood." Rei said.

" You may come out Rini." Lord Darien said, looking expectantly at the door leading into the library. Rini hesitantly walked into Lord Darien's study, her cheeks bright red because she had been caught eavesdropping.

" What was that about, my lord? It sounded like you were plotting murder." Rini asked looking stricken.

" You should not have heard that." Lord Darien said, looking reproachfully into her soft eyes.

" I know, and now that I have I wish I hadn't. I don't want to know that you're plotting murder. I want to think of you as the caring guardian you've always been." Rini wailed, her voice rising steadily. Lord Darien was at her side instantly, shaking her roughly.

" Shhhhhhhh Rini, you're going to ruin everything!" He hissed.

" You're not a murderer.... you're not! You can't be." Rini cried, backing away from him.

" Rini will you listen if I explain it to you?" Lord Darien asked, gently.

" Can you explain it to me? Is that possible? Is there ever a satisfactory reason for taking someone else's life? How can the man I know to be kind and caring, even contemplate murder?" Rini asked.

" Sit down and let me explain what is happening, and you can decide if my reasons for doing what I am about to are good enough for you." Lord Darien said, indicating a chair.

" My parents were part of this?" Rini asked when Lord Darien had finished his story.

" Yes, this is what they died for." Lord Darien said.

" But this war between the nobles and the rebellion... I thought it had only been going on for the last five years." Rini said, puzzled.

" No, that is when it started becoming public knowledge." Darien said. " This war has been going on for over twenty years and it's about to come to a head."

" I don't know if what you are about to do is right, but I will help in whatever way I can." Rini said.

" Thank you. For the moment I think it would be safer for you if I didn't get you involved." Lord Darien said. Rini sighed.

They sat around the table and planned, in hushed voices, the sequence of events that would take place the next day, to bring Serena into the Lord Darien's keeping. Mina was the main problem, but plans for her were quickly dealt with and they moved onto other problems to be smoothed out. The sat up late into the night, and used the early hours of the morning to prepare themselves and set everything up for the quick execution of the strategies they had devised. By noon the next day, Serena and Min would be in the custody of the youngest man ever to head either side of the war of the Lords and the Rebellion.

Really short, I know. Tandem.