Chapter 205

CHAPTER 47... VALENTINA The interruption did not come like an ambush. There was no clash of steel, no sudden cry, no violent rupture in the air that screamed danger. Instead, the world ahead of us grew quiet in a way that felt deliberate, as if the road itself had been asked to pause and consider who was allowed to pass. I felt it first in my chest. A slow, unbending recognition… The car slowed on its own, the engines responding to a tension, saying, they can't go further in the forest. The forest around us, ancient and watchful, shifted in tone. Leaves still. The wind drew back. Even the light filtering through the branches seemed to hesitate, suspended between moments. Luciano stirred in my arms. His small fingers flexed once against my sleeve, with the same attentive stillness he had shown when the Concord first reached for us. His silver did not flare. It spread— quietly, patiently, like roots seeking purchase beneath the soil. Andres felt it too. He straightened across from us, hi