The second it left his lips, it was like a switch flipping in his mind. A click—a sharp, undeniable realization. This was too much. That world—Laura, the Lamplighter, the way her fingers had brushed against his wrist—could not enter this one.
Felicia stiffened beneath him, her entire body going rigid with tension and a sudden, unanticipated uncertainty. A beat of silence expanded between them. The shift in the air was instant and heavy, transforming the room with a weight that threatened to collapse everything. Just a moment too long. A hesitation that should never have existed. Caspian felt it spreading, like a splinter in glass. He would not allow it. Thoughts of Laura crashed against him, the memory of that other world—its intrusion a specter that loomed large and ominous. It was a fra
