Her voice trembled, soft but striking, a thread of breath that tugged straight at his chest. Cassidy lifted her face at last, black eyes glimmering with a storm of emotions. Vulnerability warred with boldness in her gaze, the two colliding like fire and water yet somehow belonging to the same soul.
Her lips parted, hesitant at first, then the words came, heavy with memory.
"Last night… I thought I would break apart. I've never—" she swallowed hard, lashes trembling "—never felt anything like that. When your essence filled me, it was like fire… no, not fire. Like light itself. The poison in my veins—every drop, every curse that gnawed at me—it was gone. I felt it vanish. And then…" Her voice caught, fragile and breathless, her chest rising against the sheet tangled around her. "I broke through. Second Realm of cultivation. Novice Realm… all because of you."
Her confession lingered in the air, raw, unshielded.
