Stale smoke and antiseptic greeted her as she became conscious. The blurry ceiling came into view as she blinked gently to suppress the pain at the back of her head. 

Soon, the blurriness cleared and she could see Chloe standing over her. 

"Hey?" Her warm voice seeped through her ears.

"Hey." She replied softly, smiling carefully.

"How do you feel now?" Chloe asked as she moved to touch her forehead.

"I feel like a cat now." Lyne chuckled but regretted it immediately. 

"Ouch. I mean, as lethargic as a cat."

"There's nothing wrong in being a cat." Chloe laughed as she stood up to a metal table by the side that had different medicines and bandages spread out on it.

"I used to have a cat. She lived for only two years before I gave her up to join the army." She stopped talking as if that particular topic dug up a dark part of her. She fiddled with the scissors and needles on the tray.

"I'll just...I'm just going to..."

"When did you join the army?" Lyne asked and she could see the way she tensed.

After a long moment of silence, she turned and faced her.

"I joined the army at the age of seventeen when King Hail was still the King. There were many intruders. They always came in at any time they wanted. It was dark, it was bloody. Every night there were always the screams of dying people and at some point, we stopped coming to their aid. The number of casualties kept rising."

Lyne arched her brow as she wondered if it had anything to do with the protest but it had happened a hundred years ago. Not like Chloe was more than a hundred years old. Isn't she? She stared at the older woman whose eyes stared into space as if she was deep in thought.

She could be more than a hundred years. From what she knows of vampires, they could live a thousand years.

"How old are you?" Chloe looked at her sharply.

"I..." She chuckled. "I'm just thirty-eight. Why do you ask?"

"Oh...it's just...about the temple..."

"The temple?! Was that where you went to?" She straightened.

"Why?" She darkened her gaze as she looked at Chloe whose eyes belied some secret. 

"Hearing is in two minutes," Chloe muttered before facing the window.

"What did you just say?" 

For a moment, she simply stood there as if trying to hide her face from her. Besides the blazing sun, her head was heating as well. A woman in her thirties, with probably dark past events, stood before her, shoulders drooping.

By the time she would turn to face her again, she looked awful. Like she just had a broken nose or worse, an old wound has just been opened. Two blue eyes with paleness around them met her and she rose from the bed as she already knew what she meant.

"You need to rest, hon." Chloe moved to touch her elbow.

Lyne jerked. She felt severe pain in the back of her head for a while and also felt weak but her feet were strong enough to carry her. 

"Um...the hearing is taking place in the courthouse, yes?"

One over-arched eyebrow rose. "You ain't going there looking like this."

"I'm not going there like this."

She scoffed. "Of course. I didn't realize headaches and dizziness could be concealed."

"Luckily for me, I feel none of those. I need to change my dress."

She waved a hand. "All right, My lady. But first, we need to dress the wound again. And girl, you need to have a robe. You shouldn't be walking into the courthouse wearing an infirmary cotton outfit and slides." She pulled a white dress from a box under the bed.

"This is for the royal nurses but it will do. Just wear it like a robe and walk in like a hero."

Lyne blinked. Wear a nurse's uniform to the courthouse?

"What is this? A joke?"

How would she be able to walk into the distinguished gathering of lawmakers and high esteemed people carrying a piece of white cloth around her neck?

"Chloe, look, that I hit my head on the floor doesn't mean I'm running crazy..."

"Well, for a split second I thought you were."

"And I'm not. I'll just grab a robe from the room and rush down there."

Chloe checked the bedside clock as Lyne moved to the entrance.

"They should start any second from now."

She nodded and ran outside.

-----

 Zeidan and Luana had walked into the big room in the courthouse for the hearing and knowing he had announced the hearing hours ago, Lyne should have heard and prepared for it. It's surprising how she didn't even come to ask him about it.

Was she cool with it? Was she giving up already? Impatience clawed at him.

The room was filled already and voices rose when Wikh was led in. How was he going to judge a case where the woman he loved defends a criminal while someone he wouldn't want to hurt was going to prosecute him. What was he not doing that he should have done?

Wikh was placed in the box where he would be questioned, surrounded by the people of vampire city who wants to witness the hearing of one of the oldest subjects in the city.

"What has he done now?"

"He is such a sly snake."

"I don't think he can do this."

Everyone kept making comments as a badly beaten old tall man climbed into the box. 

"So, we've got an accusation going on and I am sure most of you all have heard about it." Luana started to say as she moved around the box, facing the people. "Wikh Wright. Eighty-seven years old. Worked for two former Kings of Vampire city, King Zeidan being the third. He has been accused of a crime which we shall be able to prove today whether it makes him guilty..." She looked at Wikh from the corner of her eyes, "or not guilty."

"However, this hearing might conclude on the former as he does not have a defendant. The council might be forced to cancel the hearing and hasten the trials so he can be proclaimed guilty."

Zeidan clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. Why was he suddenly having a bad feeling about this?

"Hopefully, justice would be served..."

"And what's justice without shedding light on darkness!" A tiny and fragile voice cried in the courthouse and everyone turned towards the entrance.

The King lifted his face and his heart skipped a beat at who he saw. Her golden hair was now pulled up into a ponytail. She was standing the same way he had met her in the forest for the first time. She was wearing a yellow dress covered in a white and black robe. He wondered how she had gotten the robe but as Chloe stepped in from behind her, he raised his brows. 

"I see." He muttered.

"Oooh." Luana wowed as she folded her arms akimbo and walked to face Lyne, meters apart.

"Look who has shown up. Wikh's knight in shining armor."

"Lest you forget," Lyne replied. "You're the damsel in distress."

The two women faced each other with determination on both their faces. One who has caught Zeidan's feelings and one who has found a way into his soul. Sadly, he had to let justice reign. But this has to be done carefully between the two enemies.