Chapter 16 - 15. The Alliance of Ash and Faith
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Leo waited.
Not with crossed arms or an impatient sigh — but with stillness. An eerie kind of silence that made even the evening wind avoid brushing past him.
He simply stood there, motionless, staring.
Staring at Arnold.
From a distance, it may have seemed like a mundane thing — two men locked in a wordless gaze outside a café. But there was something in Leo's eyes. A cold calculation. A predator studying another predator, wondering whether to fight, flee, or offer meat.
Arnold stepped out of the café, blinking in surprise.
There was a man. Watching him. Not blinking. Not moving.
"...That's not creepy at all," Arnold muttered under his breath.
Still, his instincts buzzed. The café had changed him — awakened something inside. And that something was telling him the man in front of him wasn't just another busybody.
Leo was the first to speak. His voice was flat, decisive.
"Come with me."