Page 123 of House Ignis

Our chests heaved in the silence, our breaths coming in wrecked hitches, our magic still humming a frantic, frustrated red beneath our skin.

"Sorry to interrupt—but we just got news," Aether's voice broke through, sharp and urgent, shattering the private bubble of the grove.

Zya's mind joined instantly, her mental tone tighter and more clinical than I'd ever heard it. "Ryven is missing."

My heart didn't just skip; it stopped. The heat in my blood turned to lead in an instant.

Asher's eyes locked with mine. The silver fire was gone, replaced instantly by a cold, lethal obsidian. The soldier had replaced the lover in the blink of an eye. He didn't even have to say it.

"We need to move. Now."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

We ran.

The southern gate felt like the edge of the world. The forest loomed ahead, a wall of tangled thorns and ancient secrets, our bond still vibrating with the phantom heat of the Moonlit Baths. But that electricity was quickly smothered by the cold weight of panic in my chest.

Solstice, Ryven's hawk, circled above with a sharp, piercing screech. Below him, Skye—the small, white-winged fox—darted between Maddy's ankles, her fur bristling with frantic energy.

Maddy turned the second she saw us. "Ava!" she cried, lunging forward and collapsing into my arms.

My breath hitched as I caught her, holding her tight while she clung to me like I was the only thing keeping her upright. "Gods, it's happening again," she sobbed into my shoulder.

"I've got you," I whispered, my heart thundering against my ribs.

"What happened?" Asher's voice came from behind me, low and lethal.

I felt a surge of raw protectiveness unsheathe itself through the bond, sharp as a cold blade.

Maddy pulled away just enough to look at him, her eyes bloodshot and wide. I gave her a small, steadying nod, silently telling her she could trust him.

A beat of heavy silence passed—and then Asher sent a pulse of solemn approval down the bond. He was all in.

Maddy sniffled, wiping her face. "Ryven… he's been an addict. Eclipsa. Since he was eighteen."

I swallowed hard. Eclipsa. The shadow-drug that rotted magic from the inside out.

I told him when he turned twenty-one, just before we came here, that if he didn't get clean, I'd leave," she went on, her voice cracking. "He promised me—he's been clean for eight months."

She broke again, a sob racking her frame. "But last night at the party… I caught him using. I could tell. His eyes were rimmed and dazed with that horrific lilac. And he didn't even try to lie."

I remembered the fight now. The way she had looked at him with such betrayal.

"I was so angry. I left him there. And this morning, during tryouts… he apologized, but he looked worse. Shaky. Distant. I broke it off, Ava. I told him we were done."

My throat tightened.

"I still went to check on him just before—his room was empty. He didn't come back. I asked Skye to send for Solstice, and the moment the hawk flew through his window…"

Her breath caught, a hitching, terrified sound.

"He must have taken a lot… because… gods," Maddy sobbed into her hand, her shoulders shaking so violently I thought she might break.

"What is it?" Asher crouched in front of her, his eyebrows furrowed in a rare display of raw empathy, his hand steady on her shoulder.

"Our mate-bond is blocked," she finished, the words coming out in a strangled whisper.

My heart stopped. I could feel Asher's own heart constrict through the bond, a sharp, sympathetic pang that mirrored my own shock. My eyes widened, the breath leaving my lungs.