---
Yavri, still and attentive, spoke at last with the correct distance and the correct weight. "My women will hold stillness until this is done," she said. "No one will test your rope. If one does, she will be mine before she is yours."
Silvershadow inclined his head the smallest fraction. "Accepted."
The shell climbed the last span.
When it covered his chest entire, the runes along the curve lit in a slow cascade—left to right, top to bottom. He felt the bindings settle over the Wrath Crown, not caging it, not dimming it, but setting it into a groove so it would not roll when he did not ask for it.
[Ding! Shell Formation: 89% → 94% → 100%.]
[Shell Type: Monarch Chrysalis (humanoid imprint).]
[Estimated emergence (Phase I): 72–96 hours.]
[Do not disturb.]
Glass-dark transparency deepened to a dignified smoke. Within, he was visible the way a man is visible under clear ice: present, not gone, untouched by hands.
The mountain adjusted around him.
