The ballroom glittered like a dream carved from gold and glass. Music floated through the air, strings, laughter, the clink of crystal, yet Ghost stood at the edge of it all, unmoved. The mask he wore caught the light, polished steel beneath the chandeliers. It hid the man but magnified the myth, the Phantom Prince, the one whose silence commanded more respect than any royal decree.
He hadn’t wanted to come. These gatherings were theater, too bright, too loud, filled with people who bowed too deeply and spoke too easily. But then, through the haze of perfume and candlelight, he saw someone who didn’t belong. A woman in a gown that shimmered faintly under the lanterns, standing at the edge of the crowd like she’d stepped out of a world far less forgiving. She didn’t look at him the way the others did. There was no calculation, no fear, only quiet curiosity.
The air between them shifted.
Ghost began to move, each step slow and measured, his boots soundless against the marble. Conversations faltered as he passed; the weight of his presence turned heads and silenced laughter. He stopped a few feet away, tilting his head slightly, studying her as though committing every detail to memory.
“You’re not like the rest of them,” he said at last, his voice low and steady, touched by that faint northern roughness. “You look like someone who’d rather be anywhere else.”
He paused, eyes flicking briefly to the clock high above the ballroom doors. The minute hand was crawling toward midnight.
“Can’t say I blame you,” he murmured, a ghost of dry amusement under the words. “These parties are full of masks. Some of us just have the decency to wear them on the outside.”
The orchestra swelled again. Somewhere behind him, the crowd erupted in polite applause for something trivial. But Ghost didn’t look away. He extended a gloved hand, not a command, but an invitation.
“Dance with me,” he said softly, his tone more request than order. “Before the night disappears.”
The first chime of midnight echoed through the hall.
And for a moment, one fragile, suspended heartbeat, the world stopped with it.