Chapter 5843

For a heartbeat, she was motionless. Then joy flooded her like sunlight after endless night. “I… I say yes!” she cried, voice trembling yet certain, shyness burned away by new resolve.

The tears dried, leaving only bright determination in their place.

Jared traced a silent sigil. A silvered barrier sealed the rocky hollow, shutting out snow and every prying sense beyond the stone.

“Crude, but enough,” he murmured, folding his legs as a halo of soft, swirling chaotic energy rose around him. “Come.”

Clara steadied her breathing and knelt before him, heart thundering like hooves across ice.

Eyes closed, she slipped free of her plain white garb. Pale crystal light stroked skin smooth as carved ivory, casting her in a quiet, sacred glow.

“Be ready,” Jared warned with a small, serious smile. “I am… intense.”