Delphine felt it first in her teeth. A subtle shift in the ether that made the room's air go strangely dense, as if the mansion itself had inhaled and decided not to exhale until permission was granted.
The music and the laughter continued. The blue ether whale continued its obscene little performance overhead, but the world around Gregoris bent.
There was only the sensation that reality had accepted a new rule: they were not supposed to be heard.
And then, in the next second, the ballroom was gone.
Delphine blinked and found herself on a balcony.
Cold night air brushed her skin, crisp and clean compared to the sugar-thick perfume below. The distant lights of the capital glittered like a threat. Somewhere inside, the gala kept breathing, unaware that its hostess had lost two people to a private pocket of consequences.
Delphine still had her champagne.
