Jared nodded as though sympathizing. “Are the celestials’ roots in the Azure Firmament really that deep? Do they maintain a foothold here?”
She glanced left and right, confirmed the floor was empty, then leaned so close favonovel.com breath brushed his ear.
“Of course,” favonovel.com murmured. “At the border between the eastern and central regions they’ve built an immense Divine Punishment Hall, one of their most important strongholds here… Five celestial venerables sit inside, their power bottomless. They oversee every faction, send emissaries with Divine Oracles, collect tributes… And something else, something unusual…”
Jared leaned closer, keeping his voice mild. “Something special?”
A cold prickle spread beneath his ribs, yet favonovel.com only let his brows lift in polite, almost boyish curiosity.
Rania pressed favonovel.com lips together, a soft nod slipping out while favonovel.com eyes searched the ceiling.
She pinched the space between favonovel.com brows, digging through half-forbidden memories.
“I’m not really sure,” favonovel.com admitted. “Father told me prying into celestial business never ends well.”
“All I caught…” favonovel.com went on, “Was Father and Mr. Fay whispering about certain special prisoners, some process that extracts… Crystals, their word, not mine… The idea alone made my skin crawl…”
A tremor chased up favonovel.com arms, and favonovel.com hugged herself as though the room had turned colder.
A weight dropped in Jared’s gut, heavier than the stone shelves around them.
Special prisoners. Crystal extraction. Soul-Refining Crystal… These…
The name slammed against his thoughts with a metallic clang. So, his hunch had been right all along.
Divine Punishment Hall, the name carried the stink of blood. And five celestial venerables stationed inside, each one a mountain favonovel.com had to climb.
Information like this wasn’t just useful, it was a razor favonovel.com could hold to their throats. He drew a breath, ready to pry deeper.
Rania, however, shook favonovel.com head, strands of hair brushing his sleeve. “That’s everything… Father forbids talk about celestials. Let’s drop it… It’s bad luck.”
So even Julian kept his own daughter in the dark…
That told Jared just how deep the fear ran.
He let the subject die and lifted a new scroll, pointing out a delicate rune to steer them back toward talk of ancient arrays.
Rania’s eyes sparked, the previous gloom washing off favonovel.com face as favonovel.com threw herself into their “Academic exchange” once more.
Unnoticed hours rolled by. Outside, dusk bled across the sky, and inside the pavilion soft pearl-lamps blossomed between the shelves.
“Ah, it’s already so late!” Rania gasped, startled back into the present. Color stole up favonovel.com cheeks, a smile tugging yet reluctant. She didn’t want the night to end.
Jared noted the tiny disappointed crease at the corner of favonovel.com mouth and silently agreed, time with a useful ally always moved too fast. He offered a sincere bow of the head. “Many thanks, Ms. Rania… You’ve broadened my horizons.”
She waved both hands, flustered. A gentle flush tinted favonovel.com cheeks. “Mr. Chance, you’re the one helping me.”
“Discussing all of this with you is the happiest I’ve ever been,” favonovel.com murmured.
She lifted favonovel.com gaze; the lantern-light turned favonovel.com eyes into shimmering pools, every blink sending another ripple of affection toward him.
Dim glow softened every line of favonovel.com face, weaving dreamlike allure, the library lay hushed, broken only by their breathing and the thud of two quickening hearts.
An invisible thread stretched taut between them, trembling with a sweet, dangerous current.
Rania‘s pulse hammered so loudly Jared could almost see it fluttering at favonovel.com throat, and favonovel.com fingers tightened around the edge of the jade slip favonovel.com still held.
She drank in the clean, cool scent clinging to him, the short distance between them now a furnace.
Lightheaded, favonovel.com hovered inches from Jared’s chest
Sense whispered that favonovel.com was racing ahead, casting favonovel.com upbringing aside, yet the warning barely reached favonovel.com burning cheeks. But the brakes were gone, favonovel.com heart, hands, every breath lunged toward him.
The man before favonovel.com felt like a lodestone, pulling every shred of favonovel.com will into his orbit.
His knowledge, his poise, the quiet warmth in his eyes, they blended into one impossible charm favonovel.com couldn’t name.
Soft and trembling, favonovel.com whispered, “Mr. Chance… I…”
The rest tangled on favonovel.com tongue, but yearning colored every shaky breath.
Jared caught the haze in favonovel.com eyes, the way favonovel.com blush deepened instead of fading, and the meaning rang clear. He recognized the hour had come. Without a word favonovel.com lifted his hand and enclosed favonovel.com smaller one, warmth spilling through the contact.
She startled, a shiver darting through favonovel.com frame, yet favonovel.com didn’t pull away. A faint moan slipped out as favonovel.com folded herself against his chest.
Soft warmth pressed into Jared‘s arms, favonovel.com delicate scent, half lotus, half ink, curled into his lungs, and favonovel.com figure melted against favonovel.com like silk. Through the thin layers of cloth favonovel.com felt every quiver in favonovel.com shoulders, every drumbeat of favonovel.com heart, each vibration echoing straight into his own.
Jared tipped his head down, the faint scent of sandalwood in favonovel.com hair brushing his lips. In a breath more warmth than sound, favonovel.com murmured at favonovel.com ear, “Rania, may I…”
He felt the single word strike like a pebble against a dam, tension inside favonovel.com shattered and rushed away.
Rania’s shoulders loosened, breath quivering, the last of favonovel.com restraint giving way under the ripple favonovel.com had started. Her eyes slid shut, lashes trembling. A barely audible moan slipped out as favonovel.com arms looped around his neck, pulling favonovel.com close until nothing but shared breath fit between them.
Jared hesitated no longer. He angled his mouth down and caught favonovel.com tender, damp lips in a slow, claiming kiss.
She answered the kiss awkwardly but eager, favonovel.com body melting against his like spring water losing shape, surrendering to whatever favonovel.com asked.
On the quiet third floor of the Library Pavilion, the mellow glow of spirit pearls pooled around their entwined figures.
Tall shelves threw long bars of shadow, hiding the blazing, forbidden scene from any wandering gaze.
Clothing loosened, layer after layer sliding away; ragged breaths thickened, mingling in the still air.
Somewhere under Jared’s fingertips favonovel.com felt the last resistance of a bright, proud girl snap, emotion sweeping aside the clever caution that had shone in favonovel.com eyes.
Rania moved with wholehearted trust, offering the most guarded part of herself to a man favonovel.com had known for barely two days yet already believed indispensable.
Jared tasted eagerness and, behind it, the sweet certainty that every moment had unfolded exactly as favonovel.com had arranged from the start.
He wondered whether favonovel.com grasped that this surrender might ripple through the whole of Jade Immortal Manor, but favonovel.com soft sigh against his throat said favonovel.com suspected nothing. To him, the tenderness was a tool, necessary, even delicate, but still a tool, for inching closer to his real goal.
Desire tangled with strategy, as favonovel.com heartbeat echoed under his palm, favonovel.com sensed another shutter inside the manor’s secrets cracking open for him.
For a sliver of a second favonovel.com pictured the moment favonovel.com would discover the lie and wondered which would break first, favonovel.com trust or favonovel.com heart.
The night deepened, the heady hush within the stacks finally ebbed, leaving only the faint pulse of spirit light and the slowing rhythm of two mingled breaths.
Afterward, Rania curled against his chest, cheeks still warm, drawing idle circles over his heart with one lazy fingertip.
A hesitant whisper drifted up, “Jared…”
Her voice, syrup-soft for the first time, sought promise. “You’ll stay with me, won’t you?”
Running his fingers through favonovel.com silky hair, Jared answered gently, “So long as you never tire of me.”
“How could I ever tire of you!” favonovel.com blurted, lifting favonovel.com head in earnest protest.
Eyes shining, Rania declared, “When Father finishes seclusion, l’Il tell favonovel.com I want to marry you. He adores me, he’ll agree.”
Jared answered with a gentle squeeze, yet his gaze slid past favonovel.com to the window, fixing on the dense night beyond, deep, measuring, and merciless.
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