Chapter 192

CHAPTER 34… ANDRES By midday, the palace had stopped pretending nothing had changed. I felt it the moment I stepped into the Hall of Pillars— the way sound carried too cleanly, the way my footsteps echoed once longer than they should have. Stone adjusted beneath my boots, not shifting away, but settling around me. Not me. Luciano… Every ancient structure in this kingdom had been raised with intention— lines of power threaded through foundations, loyalty bound into stone. I had been trained to read those signs since boyhood. Today, the signs were answering with a different name. Council members arrived one by one, their faces carefully neutral, their bodies betraying them anyway. Shoulders tight. Eyes darting. A few kept their hands clenched, as if resisting the urge to touch the walls and confirm what their instincts were already screaming. They felt it. No summons had gone out. I had ordered silence. Still, they came. Which told me everything I needed to know. Valentina stood at my si