"Spell? Have you been practicing magic here, Your Highness?"
Tillian carefully brushed the sparkling heap of snow from Aideen's head and covered it with the warm hood of his cloak. The princess turned her pale face towards the Duke and asked, her expression betraying genuine excitement,
"It's the spell that creates an illusion of snowfall, Your Grace! Can you see it? Can you see the snow?"
'Illusion? This doesn't look like an illusion to me.'
Duke Valentine took another brief look around the room, then fixed his glowing red eyes back on the woman before him and nodded,
"Yes, Your Highness, I can see the snow. There is quite a lot of it here, to be honest. I think it's time you took a little break."
He considered moving her closer to the fireplace, only to realize that the fire had been extinguished by the snow as well. Aideen, already turning blue and shaking uncontrollably, widened her eyes and shook her head, rejecting the Duke's suggestion,
