Craig didn't move.
Didn't speak.
Didn't even blink.
Everything stopped. Sound, motion, breath, all crushed into a single, burning truth: She kept him away from me.
She didn't want him to be a part of his life, to be a part of her life.
The applause from the hall sounded far away now, blurred, like it belonged to some other universe. The light from the curtain hit her face softly, but he couldn't see her the same way anymore. Something inside him had gone very, very quiet.
Merlina tried to speak, her voice shaking. "Craig, I—"
He lifted a hand, small and slow. "Don't." His tone wasn't angry. It was worse, calm. Empty. Exhausted. "Just… don't."
He looked down for a moment, pressing a hand over his mouth as if he was trying to hold himself together.
His breath shuddered out of him, uneven. Then he looked up again, and the look in his eyes wasn't rage. It was disbelief, threaded through something so raw it almost didn't look human.
