The sounds surrounding him seemed different. It wasn't absent—they could never be—but simply ordered.
His breathing became something she could distinguish from the others. His voice emerged clearly from the chaos, while the rest of the castle remained a bewildering mass of noise.
She clung to it without meaning to. "Vaeron."
His name came out as a whisper.
Something moved in his eyes at the mention of his name. He closed the remaining distance between them.
"I'm here."
It was a strange response. Simply words, spoken in that low, controlled voice of his, as though he were giving her something to hold on to.
Lucrezia's fingers twitched at her sides. "I can't—" She swallowed. "I can't make it stop."
Vaeron went very still. "What can't you stop?"
She shook her head, her eyes shining with the effort of keeping herself together. "The noise."
He glanced briefly down the corridor.
The searching guards had begun to approach, their footsteps growing louder with every passing second.
