In the broadcast booth, Hosk visibly struggled for words.
"That's... I have to say, that was incredibly brutal. Regardless of the circumstances, she's still a young girl, and the way he just—"
"I'm done," Vera cut in, voice tight. "Whatever goodwill I had for that boy after his performance earlier, it's gone. That was excessive. Completely excessive."
The crowds reacted with similar unease, the earlier split now tilting harder against him, murmurs of discomfort spreading through every screen the broadcast reached.
...
With Sera left where she'd fallen, Leon turned and approached Talia.
She'd already gone still, wind no longer gathering at her fingertips, her stance loosening into something closer to surrender. She didn't need to be told twice. Watching what had happened to Cedric, to Julian, to Sera, had been more than enough demonstration. If she hadn't understood the gap between them before, she understood it completely now.
Leon stopped in front of her.
