The car left the main road, its silent engines lowering as they passed under a towering arch of intertwined stone and ancient, silver-barked trees. The forest here was different. The trees grew straighter, taller, their leaves shimmering with a metallic sheen even in the twilight. The air grew heavier, charged.
Layla felt the change like a pressure against her skin. It was the hum of old magic, deep and territorial. The pathway curved, and then the woods fell away.
The Valerius estate didn't reveal itself all at once. It emerged from the landscape as if it had grown there, a fusion of stark modern lines and ancient, organic form. Towers of dark glass and polished steel rose beside structures of living wood and seamless, fossilized stone. Lights glowed from within, not the warm yellow of
