Chapter 15

Tessa’s POV

The day of the Alpha Ball is finally here, but ever since the incident, I haven’t seen Evander at all.

It’s been a week now, and–

Absolutely nothing.

Static.

Radio silence.

I pace back and forth in my bedroom restlessly, staring at my ball gown laid out on the bed and doing my best to untangle the knot of anxiety in my stomach. I can’t do this. I need to see him. I need to at least speak to him–

In a moment of impulsivity, I grab my phone off my nightstand and dial Evander before I can change my mind.

The line rings once, twice, three times…

I can hear the blood rushing in my ears.

Just as I’ve given up all hope of a response, I hear Evander’s voice crackle over the line.

“Hello?” He says, voice muffled.

At the sound of his voice, my heart leaps.

But then I hear Mira’s voice cutting through the background: “Who is that, sweetheart?”

Sweetheart.

I grit my teeth.

I hear jostling, then something muffling the phone–a hand, maybe, or a shirt, like Evander’s pressing the phone to his chest. I can’t hear his response.

My stomach lurches.

“H-hey, Evander,” I stammer out after a tense moment. “I just wanted to double check that everything is good for us to go to the Alpha Ball tonight…?”

“You go ahead,” comes Evander’s cold response. “I have something else to take care of.”

I freeze, holding the phone numbly in one hand.

I know things are shaky right now.

But is he really just… not going to go?

“O-okay,” I say softly. “I…”

Before I can finish my thought, the line goes dead.

I breathe out a heavy sigh and set my phone back down. Nothing to be done now, I suppose. All I can hope for is that he’ll be joining me at the Alpha Ball at some point later on tonight.

I turn my gaze to the ball gown on the bed once more. It’s a beautiful dress, a shimmering silvery-blue that seems to glow as it catches the light. The sweetheart neckline and a-line skirt have been delicately accentuated with ornate embroidery and lacing. The outfit is stunning.

It’s just a shame that I’ll be going alone.

A maid sweeps into my bedroom to help me into my attire for the evening. I suck in a breath as she pulls the heavy dress over my head, then cinches the skirt tightly around my waist and laces up the corset at the back.

Next is hair and makeup–delicate silver threads are braided into my hair, and my eyes are accentuated by smoky pools of gray eyeshadow. My lips are tinted a delicate pink. I stare numbly at my own reflection as the maid clasps a necklace around my neck, and my heart catches.

I wore this opal-and-silver necklace on my wedding day.

It used to be my mother’s.

“Thank you,” I say to the maid once I’m fully prepped for the Alpha Ball.

She nods. “Your limousine is waiting for you outside.”

During the limo ride to the Alpha Ball, I’m a bundle of nerves, staring out the window and trying not to dwell on Evander’s absence. I know what to do. It’s all just going through the motions. I’ve weathered these sorts of events enough times before.

Never without Evander, though.

When I step through the doors and into the vast ballroom, I do my best not to draw any attention to myself, slipping into the background of the vibrant scene before me. Alphas and Lunas and nobles are chatting and mingling, and bright music fills the air. The dancing hasn’t begun just yet, and there’s an air of anticipation hanging over the whole event.

For me, it’s more like dread.

Just as I grab a flute of champagne and start to sip it, a group of noble girls suddenly swarms around me, and I feel myself tense up.

“Well, well, well!” Says a blonde girl in a haughty choice. “If it isn’t Evander’s poor little deaf plaything.”

“Awww, you mean the one he only married so he could take her dead father’s business?" Coos another girl, this one wearing a bubblegum-pink gown.

“And the one he’s going to leave soon, rumour has it,” a third girl chimes in.

The words sting, but I’ve heard worse in my life. I grit my teeth and hold my head high, trying not to dignify their mockery with any sort of response.

“What, can’t you speak?” The blonde girl sneers. “I thought you were deaf, not mute?”

I scowl. “Just didn’t figure you were worth talking to!”

The girl in the pink dress feigns a hurt expression. “Bold words from a girl who showed up to the Alpha Ball without an Alpha,” she points out.

I freeze.

My gaze flicks towards the exit. I can’t be here. I need to leave, I need to go–

But the three girls step into my path before I can make my way out of the ballroom, staring down at me derisively.

“The Alpha and Luna are always supposed to appear as a pair,” the blonde girl says, arms folded across her chest. Her eyes gleam wickedly. “But look at you now, all alone. Your inheritance must have been swallowed up. You’ve become useless to Evander, and now he’s going to kick you out.”

My heart aches, each word stinging more than the last.

For the first time, I wish I couldn’t hear what they’re saying.

It’s not just the words. They’ve brought another crucial, gutwrenching truth to light–Evander’s delay in the divorce has nothing to do with me at all.

It’s all about money and power.

As the three girls continue to jeer at me, laughing amongst themselves, tears spring to the corners of my eyes. Just when I’m convinced things couldn’t get any worse, an Alpha’s teenage son–a known troublemaker–suddenly appears in front of me.

“Hey!” I shriek as he reaches towards me. “Hey, what are you–”

In a single fluid motion, as he smirks like the devil himself, the boy yanks my hearing aids out of my ears with a pop and tosses them towards one of the girls.

My heart races in my chest. The moment I can’t hear anything, new crushing waves of panic set in, crashing down on me over and over again. My eyes track the hearing aids back and forth as I scramble clumsily to retrieve them, but the girls begin tossing them back and forth, back and forth, back and forth and–

“Why are you doing this?” I sob out, wincing as my fingertips just graze the hearing aids before they’re flung out of reach once more.

The girls all laugh. They trade words and no doubt insults back and forth, but I can’t hear any of it. None of it makes sense. They seem to reach some sort of consensus, though, because their gazes shift toward me all at once.

Before I can react, my hearing aids are flung towards me a final time.

But instead of being able to catch them, they land in my flute of champagne and quickly sink to the bottom.

My heart plummets to the pit of my stomach.

“No, no, no…” I stammer out, awkwardly fishing for the hearing aids with my fingers.

But my hands are trembling so profusely that the hearing aids slip right out from between my fingertips and clatter to the ground.

“Shit!” I swear, dropping to my hands and knees and fumbling for them before they vanish into the sea of partygoers.

Before I get the chance to retrieve them, someone picks up my hearing aids, quickly wipes them clean, and hands them back to me.

A face lost in a crowd. A well-tailored suit. A voice I can’t quite hear, but one that carries warmth.

My heart flutters with a glimmer of hope.

Evander?