Chapter 111

VALERIA’S POV I arrived at the café a few minutes early, scanning the place for Magnar. It wasn’t hard to spot him—he was sitting in the farthest corner, shoulders hunched, eyes trained on his clasped hands on the table. I frowned. Magnar was always so composed, so full of arrogance and bravado. But this? This was different. This wasn’t the same Magnar who sneered at me in training or threw sarcastic remarks my way whenever he had the chance. This was someone else entirely—someone who looked like they were carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. I took a steady breath, pushing aside the unease that twisted inside me, and walked toward him. As I approached, he didn’t even lift his head. His fingers were intertwined, knuckles white from the tension in them. His leg bounced slightly, a restless movement I had never seen in him before. I pulled out the chair across from him, the sound of it scraping against the floor making him flinch. That was odd. To the onlookers, it might