Lorelei’s eyes abruptly opened amidst skull-splitting pain. Little green specks danced around her as she blinked several times, her vision finally clearing enough to make shape of her surroundings. It… looked like her bedroom and the soft pillows under her head supported that assumption. Still drowsy and disoriented, she moved a bit under the blanket with a weak groan, a half-formed thought tugging at the back of her mind. What happened in the tower… it seemed like it was all just…

“You are finally awake.”

The familiar voice startled Lorelei. Her eyes darted around and spotted a dark figure contoured by the twilight seeping through the window. Noah stood up from the sill and approached the bed with the silence and grace of a cat. As he came closer, Lorelei could see his chiseled face - a deep crease running between his brows and his lips tightly clenched into a line.

“Your Highness?” she mustered all her strength and managed to sit up. “What are you doing here? What is going on?”

“That,” Noah pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down, “is something I too would like to know, Duchess. We found you unconscious atop the south tower. That was yesterday afternoon.”

Lorelei’s heart sank and her eyes wandered back to the gray rectangle of the window. The light behind the glass facets had grown a bit stronger and a golden sheen was starting to bloom on the horizon. Noah caught her gaze and nodded.

“Yes, it has been half a day already. A chaotic one at that.”

He laid a callused palm over her trembling fists and it was then that Lorelei noticed the fresh bandages around her left hand. The right one too carried some deep scratches but there was no gauze over it. Instead, she felt something hard and cold digging sharply into her fingers.

“You were clenching your fist too tightly to dress the wounds,” Noah answered her unasked question. “We were afraid that we might hurt you further if we tried to pry it open.”

His words grazed past Lorelei’s ears, no more than a wind’s murmur in a deep forest. She stared at her fist like hypnotized while the blood drummed between her temples in painful pulses. The dread of memory and realization threatened to crush her. Her fingers slowly loosened and a red gem rolled between them, falling on the blanket. A tiny scratch crossed its polished surface, its previous light - now gone together with its flawless perfection.

“It… wasn’t a dream!” she whispered but then whipped up her head and stared at Noah. “The castle’s defenses…?”

“Compromised but still in place.” He leaned in, picking carefully the core of the artifact. “The Star made things easier but I will manage without it. Besides, the most important part didn’t shatter.”

Between his palms, the ruby began to glow faintly, illuminating his face with a bloody light and making its fatigue all the more obvious. When Noah’s lips parted again, the words that came out were calm but heavy.

“What were you doing up there? Why was the Star shattered? And why its heart is in your hand?”

“I didn’t break it!” Lorelei shrank between the covers. “It wasn’t me! Believe me, my lord! I didn’t do it!”

“Then who was it?”

“It…it was…”

“Speak. If it wasn’t you, who did it, Duchess?”

“Sh… Shana,” came the almost inaudible reply.

“Shana?!” Noah’s brows twitched, his face becoming darker. “You dare involve my child in this mess?”

“But… she was there.”

Lorelei tried to regain her calm, a nearly impossible task under the glare of those scorching gray eyes. A beast and its prey were locked in a silent standoff. She quivered, wishing to hide beneath the blanket, yet unable to move. The mistrust written on his face made her very soul hurt. Licking her lips, Lorelei forced herself not to avert her gaze. His next words were like a whiplash.

“I never thought you would do something like this… Claiming my daughter was the one to destroy the Star?!”

“But… I am telling the truth, my lord.” Long overdue tears welled up in Lorelei’s eyes but she blinked them away. “When Shana attempted to break the Star, I tried to grab it. I tried to save it!”

“Really? Then tell me, why would Shana do something like that?”

“I… don’t know.” Lorelei shook her head. The fingers of her right hand started scratching at her bandages while her mind was in chaos. “I believe… I heard…”

“You don’t know, Duchess?” Noah’s snarl muted her. “Yet you claim Shana attempted to destroy the hex her birth father put up to protect her and the ones serving her?”

“But…” The anger and pain in his gaze made Lorelei choke.

Noah gritted his teeth and a small vein popped on his jaw.

“The Shadows at the foot of the tower saw you going up that day. Not Shana. Only you! Why are you so pale, Duchess? Did you think there were no witnesses?”

The breath remained stuck in Lorelei’s chest and she just shook her head. Noah dug into his hair, mad listless laughter escaping his lips.

“Do you know why they didn’t try to stop you from going up? Because no soul, living or dead, can touch the Star of Norden. No one, except for Yanosh and me. But here you are, holding onto the hex’s very core as if it is a simple trinket! Tell me, Duchess, who are you? Why can you touch the Star without being harmed?”

Lorelei sat in her bed, her body shivering like an autumn leaf. Why indeed? Was it because she was a saint’s vessel? Because of Yanosh’s magic? Should she tell Noah about it? But he already suspected her of the crime. If she were to tell him… would he hate her even more? Maybe he would see her as an even greater threat? A fatal liability? Besides, she herself was starting to doubt her innocence. The strange dream that brought her to the tower… Had it been a trap? A hex cast by… whom? Or maybe what she had heard was the voice of a Saint trying to sneak into her body? Maybe… What if Noah thought that she was a spy planted by the Red Hands? Worse, what if she really… unknowingly was? Or was she simply going crazy – hearing voices, sleepwalking, and seeing unexistent things?

Her head spun and hurt, threatening to split in two. Her stomach turned and she almost threw up. Suddenly, two hands grabbed her shoulders, their touch – more tender than rough, but she still winced.

“Talk to me, Lorelei!” There was not only anger but also desperation in Noah’s voice. “Who… what are you?”

“I don’t know,” she managed to squeeze through her knotted throat.

For a moment, his fingers gripped her shoulders tighter. It didn’t hurt her body, but her soul was in agony and its ache soared the moment those two hands released her.

“You lie.” She lifted her head and could see his burning eyes. “Look me in the eye and say it again.”

“I… don’t know.”

“Again lies!” Noah jumped from the chair, sending it crashing on the floor, and turned his back to her. His hands shook for a moment, then his whole body relaxed and his shoulders slumped down as if crushed by an immense weight. “I don’t understand. Why are you doing this? Why did you try to harm Ildemar? Why are you trying to implicate Shana? I trusted you!”

“I didn’t… I never… wanted to harm… implicate anybody,” Lorelei cried out. Something in her snapped. She sniffled and took a few jagged breaths, her next words sounding hollow. “You... want the truth? I don’t know why I can touch the Star. And I told you what happened – Shana broke it and I tried to stop her.”

Lorelei’s lips twisted up against her will, stretching into a self-deprecating smile.

“As for why she did this, go ask her. But it doesn’t matter anyway. You have made up your mind already, right, Your Highness?”

Noah spun around and their gazes collided.

“You call me prejudiced?”

“You call me an evildoer with no proof.”

“We found you there! Alone!” Noah shouted and combed through his hair. “Bleeding in the middle of a heap of broken glass. And the Star’s heart was in your hand! Tell me, what am I supposed to think?!”

“Whatever I say, it would hardly make any difference.” Lorelei hung her head. She couldn’t tell him about the dream. About Yanosh’s poisonous whispers. He wouldn’t believe her anyway. The situation was bad enough, and a single wrong word could make it even worse. “Go ask Lady Shana, although… I doubt she would vouch for me. In the end, it will be all the same – her word against mine. So do what you deem right.”

Noah’s hands balled and relaxed several times, no sound coming out of his mouth. Then he nodded sharply.

“Rest. I’ll be back later. The Grand Council would like to hear your testimony.”

With that said, he spun around and exited the room.

***

As soon as the door shut behind his back, Noah felt his body swaying. He leaned on the hard wood and closed his eyes. Lorelei’s pleading face didn’t leave his mind. He had been too harsh. He had scared her. But… he was scared himself. Whatever the truth was, it was going to tear away a piece of his heart. What was worse, Lorelei had lied to him. Her rounding eyes, the small twitch of her fingers, the biting of her lip… She had looked him in the face and had lied. How could he believe her?

The pain in his chest increased, the load of hurt and suspicion adding to the burden of the protection hex. Noah could feel his stamina slowly seeping away, the hundreds and thousands of guardian charms trying to crush his soul, pull it apart, shatter it into pieces. It was a huge heavy net, slipping through his wet fingers. But he couldn’t release any of the protections yet. There were foreign shamans under his roof. And … Lorelei – an entity he couldn’t deem safe but didn’t want to acknowledge a threat.

“Lad?” Duncan’s voice reached him. “Is everything alright?”

“She is awake,” he quietly replied.

“Yea, we heard.” The old knight threw a side glance at Gregor and Saya who were standing nearby. “What did she say?”

Noah shook his head and then turned to the shaman.

“Anything new from Rish?”

“She almost trampled the guards attempting to come here.” The Binshi sighed. “She also claimed full responsibility for Lady Lorelei’s actions; said it was her fault the lady wandered up the tower; knelt for hours and cried that the lady is innocent…”

“So nothing. And Milly?”

“Same,” Saya replied. “They both fell asleep and never even knew Lorelei was away.”

“It reeks of a hex,” grumbled Duncan.

“I second that.” Gregor looked at his lord and friend. “And speaking of hexes… How are you holding up?”

Noah waved his hand and straightened his back, trying to overcome a wave of lightheadedness.

“Where is Shana?”

“In her room. All guests and non-essential staff have been confined to their quarters, as you ordered,” reported Duncan.

“Is she alone?”

“Neli is with her, also mother and father. The rest of the Elders are guarding the room on the outside.” The young shaman frowned. “Is something wrong? Did Lady Lorelei mention something?”

"I have… things to discuss with Shana,” said Noah curtly and nodded toward Saya. “Go in and stay with Lorelei. You too, Gerash. The barons and the kush-turgans want to question her around noon. Let her rest until then. Protect her at all costs... even from herself if needed. Duncan, you come with me.”

“As you order!” three voices quietly replied.