Chapter 202

CHAPTER 44… VALENTINA The Concord did not send envoys. They sent instruments. The message arrived without footsteps, without herald, without warning bells. One moment the chamber was quiet except for the slow rhythm of Luciano’s breathing against my collarbone, and the next the air thickened, as if the palace itself had been asked a question it did not wish to answer. Silver script unfolded in the space before me, imposed. Each word appeared with deliberate restraint, elegant and cold, as though whoever authored it believed politeness could soften inevitability. To Her Majesty Valentina of the Unified Crown, Bearer of the Anchor, Custodian of the Threshold Child. My jaw tightened. They never named Luciano. They reduced him to a function. I did not reach for the message. I let it hover, unread past the opening lines, because I already felt what lay beneath it. The pressure returned at the edges of my awareness, cautious now, testing rather than pushing. The Concord was watching not for