Chapter 200

CHAPTER 42… VALENTINA I did not learn what Andres had done from a report. I felt it the way a body feels a wound before the mind can name it. It began as a pressure change— subtle, almost polite. The kind of sensation you might mistake for fatigue if you didn’t know better. The palace light dimmed by a fraction, not because the sun shifted, but because something far beyond the walls had been forced to give way. I froze where I stood… Luciano was cradled against my chest, his small hand curled in the fabric of my sleeve. He had been half-asleep moments before, heavy and warm, his breath was even. Now his fingers tightened sharply, in response. His breathing hitched once, then steadied again, slower than before. Too deliberate for a child. The silver beneath his skin flared— brief, restrained, unmistakably controlled. That was when I knew. Andres had crossed a line. With intent sharp enough to carve consequences into the world. The palace answered immediately. Stones did not tremble. Wor