Chapter 172

Sofia. We didn’t go back to the table right away. After the doctor left, the air in the room shifted—like we’d all finally exhaled a fear we didn’t realize had been coiled so tightly around our throats. Relief didn’t rush in like a wave. It came slow. Gentle. A tide lapping at the edges of something bruised but is slowly healing. Aurelio didn’t say anything at first. He just sat there, elbows on his knees, fingers woven together like a man trying to ground himself to the earth. I sank down beside him. “Your brain’s kicking ass,” I offered softly, shoulder bumping his. He huffed a breath that might’ve been a laugh. “Guess I owe it to a tiara and some mop-based prophecies.” “You owe it to yourself,” I said, “And to the part of you that held on even when the rest of you didn’t remember why.” His head turned, and there it was again—that look. Not the blank stare of a man clawing at fog. But the focused intensity of someone waking up inside his own body. “I’m scared,” he said quietly. “I kn