Page 132 of House Ignis

"Breathe, Ava," he murmured into my hair, his voice a low hush. "Everything's going to be fine."

I nodded against his chest, letting myself believe the lie just for a single heartbeat. Then he pulled back, his thumb catching a stray tear on my cheek.

"We'll come back in the morning," he said gently. "Give him some time to rest. Give Maddy time to breathe."

I followed him out of the room; my fingers intertwined with his. The magic between us sparked faintly, a familiar hum of electricity that flowed softly under my skin, grounding me as we walked in silence back toward House Ignis.

The Academy was a ghost of itself, the torches dimmed and the stone corridors sleeping beneath the heavy weight of the moon. But as we walked, I felt the shift.

Asher hadn't spoken a word since we left Ryven's door.

His strides were rigid, his body taut beneath his vest. His jaw was flexed so tight I could see the muscle leaping, and his eyes were distant—so far away I wasn't sure he even realized I was still there.

We climbed the winding stairs to my dorm in a suffocating quiet. The clock in the hall read just past 2 a.m.

I was aching in places I didn't know could hurt. My soul felt bruised.

I pushed open the door.

Aether and Zya slipped past me immediately, their paws silent as they padded onto the balcony to curl up together in the moonlight—a pair of silent, protective sentinels.

A small, weary smile tugged at my lips.

But when I turned back, Asher was still standing at the threshold.

He was frozen.

He made no move toward the room, just stood there with that same empty, haunted expression. His walls were up—higher than I'd ever felt them—like iron gates slamming shut in my face. The bond between us went quiet. Cold.

I needed him. Gods, I needed him tonight more than any other. He had saved me from the Burrowwyrm. He had carried Ryven. He held me when I broke. And gods, I wanted him close. Needed him close. His body against mine, solid and real, while everything else slipped through my fingers.

"Come inside," I whispered, my heart thundering against my ribs.

He looked at me then. He stared straight into me—into the very depths of my soul. And then I felt the snap.

The bond went completely dead. He leaned in, brushing a ghost-soft kiss against my lips. It lingered for a heartbeat, tasting of salt and shadows, and then he pulled away.

"Get some rest, princess," he murmured. His voice was gentle, but it was the gentleness of a stranger.

Detached.

I stood there, blinking in the dark, as the bond finally echoed with a sharp, stinging hurt—my own.

From him, there was nothing. Just a hollow void where his emotions had been only hours ago...

He turned and walked away down the hall, his silhouette swallowed by the shadows of the corridor.

He left me standing in the doorway, my heart splitting clean in two in the silence of the night.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A week had passed. And gods, it was a total shit show.

Asher hadn't thawed. Not the morning after we hauled Ryven's near-corpse out of the woods, and not a single second since. His walls weren't just up; they were fortress-high and obsidian-thick. Cold. Every time I looked at him, I felt like I was staring at a statue of a commander I used to know.

And Ryven? Ryven was a wreck.

The violet veins hadn't resurfaced—thank the gods—but his body was paying the toll for the Void he'd invited in. He spent the first three days purging, vomiting until he was shaking and hollow. Solstice never left his side, a golden sentinel perched on his headboard, and Maddy... Maddy looked like she was fading right along with him.