Across the room, Xavier lifts a hand to his ear.
"Baby," his voice crackles faintly through the pin. "Respond."
I don't hear it.
Not really.
It comes through distorted, like it's underwater. Like someone has wrapped the sound in cotton and shoved it deep into my skull.
"…respond. Do you copy?"
I frown slightly.
I'm aware something is trying to reach me.
But it feels far away.
Unimportant.
Like it belongs to a different world.
Then a voice cuts through everything.
"Baby."
Sharp. Controlled.
Real.
I stiffen.
Xavier is in front of me now, eyes hard.
"What are you doing?" he demands.
I don't answer.
Because my ears are still ringing.
Not from the music.
From a voice that isn't there anymore.
My gaze flicks behind him.
"I'm talking to you," he says, sharper.
I blink, forcing myself back into my body.
"I… nothing. I was just—"
"Distracted," he cuts in. "Clearly."
His jaw tightens, anger restrained like a leash pulled too tight.
"This isn't a game,you don't drift off like that
... Stay alert."
His gaze shifts, scanning the room like he's counting threats.
"Focus on what matters. Your assigned Moroi is halfway out the door with trouble in his arm."
The words land.
They should sting.
They don't.
Not enough.
Because part of me, a quiet, dangerous part, is still listening.
Waiting.
For a voice that isn't there anymore.
Xavier exhales sharply, already turning away.
Then he freezes.
His whole body goes still.
"Sameen?"
Something cold drops into my stomach.
His head snaps left. Right.
Scanning.
Fast.
Too fast.
"She's not…" he mutters, voice lowering, disbelief turning into something else.
The crowd keeps moving.
Laughing.
Dancing.
Masks turning.
As if nothing has changed.
But Sameen is gone.
Not anywhere.
Not near the dance floor.
Not near the Colun matriarch.
Not even in the shadows.
Xavier's hand clenches.
His eyes flick to me, sharp as a blade.
And in that look I understand something I shouldn't have needed to be told.
It's probably my fault