Margaret watched, confusion and mounting alarm building in equal measure, as the corner of Julian's mouth curved upward into a small, cold smile — an expression entirely inappropriate to the devastating news she'd just delivered, entirely absent of the shock or grief she'd expected to see.
The hallway around them fell into a sudden, heavy silence, the distant sounds of wedding preparations seeming to fade entirely as Margaret stared up at her son, searching his calm, unreadable expression for some explanation that made sense of what she was seeing.
"Julian," she said again, quieter now, uncertainty beginning to creep into her earlier urgent panic. "Did you hear what I just told you?"