The ballroom was alive with colours and noise. Swirling gowns of silk and velvet blurred together on the dance floor as Regulus passed one masked face after the other. He disliked gatherings like this, the noise, the people, the duty to ask ladies to dance.

He could feel his parents glare in his back before they continued their conversation with a noble from overseas. Regulus was wearing a tailored black suit with an elegant onyx mask obscuring half of his face, yet he felt like everyone knew who he was. He melted into the crowd, weaving through it to take a break from the noise on the balcony.