Nobody answered him. Not immediately.
The ballroom was still holding its breath. Guests remained frozen in place, champagne glasses suspended halfway to their lips, conversations died mid-sentence. Lady Sarah stood with her palm pressed hard against her own lips, realising in real time exactly what she had just blurted out, and to whom, and in front of how many listening ears.
Leofric looked at her.
"Lady Sarah," he said. His voice had dropped to a quiet whisper, the kind of quiet that felt far more dangerous than if he had started screaming. "What child?"
Lady Sarah opened her mouth. Not a single sound came out.
Ella stepped forward before the awful silence could drag on any longer. "We need to move her," she said, her voice slicing through the room with the focus of a woman who had decided the only thing that mattered right now was the person on the floor. "She cannot stay here."
