Page 148 of House Ignis

"Hey," she whispered back, her green eyes gleaming with a mixture of terror and excitement.

"What's the plan?"

She glanced around nervously, then shoved a bundle of heavy, shimmering cloth into my arms. "We're going around the Ignis Tower. There's a sealed entrance somewhere near the south wall, hidden behind old defensive vines. We'll have to look for the rune markings."

I unwrapped the bundle, feeling the strange, cool weight of the fabric. "What's this?"

"A cloaking robe," she said, a shit-eating grin breaking through her nerves. "Enchanted. Suppresses footsteps and dampens heat trails. Mostly used by upper-year scholars to sneak into the Restricted Section of the library."

I stared at her, impressed. "You've had this the whole time?"

“I have secrets, Pyreson,” she said, flipping her hood up and disappearing into the shadows beside the stone wall.

I grinned, pulling the enchanted robe over my shoulders and feeling the magic settle over me like a second, silent skin.

"Well… let's go break some rules."

We snuck through the Academy undetected. There was a Riftball friendly tonight, which meant half the student body was currently packed into the stadium or pre-gaming for the after-party.

It was the perfect window.

The shadows seemed to lean in, welcoming us as our cloaking robes hummed with a low, rhythmic magic.

We skirted the south wing of House Ignis, slipping toward the skeletal remains of the overgrown courtyard, where moonlight struggled to pierce the thick canopy.

"So," I whispered, my breath hitching, "what exactly are we looking for?"

Jules adjusted her hood, her eyes darting across the ivy-choked masonry like she was reading a map only she could see. "According to the human scholar archives, the entrance is rumored to be near the weeping vines… and a phoenix."

"A phoenix?" I echoed, a sharp pang of grief lancing through my chest.

Solas. My brother's boundling.

She had been a creature of living gold and eternal flame, a queen of the sky who had vanished the moment Jax did. Presumed dead. Grief twisted sharply beneath my ribs at the thought of her.

The bond flared instantly. High alert.

A cold, electric tingle shot up my spine, making my hair stand on end.

Shit.

“You fine?” Asher's voice purred through my mind, dark and smooth.

Gods, this male. He could feel my pulse skip from across the grounds.

"I'm fine," I sent back quickly, forcing my breathing to level out. "Just with Jules… talking girl stuff. Don't bother me for two hours. I need a break from your broody face."

Lying to him felt like swallowing glass. Don't feel guilty, I commanded myself. He'll feel the spike.

"Okay, firecracker." His mental voice was soft, laced with a rare, amused warmth. Then, his end of the bond shuttered off. For the first time in my life, I was actually grateful for those gods-damned walls of his. I desperately needed to learn how he did that.

We kept moving, Aether padding beside me with his tail stiff and his nose twitching at every stray scent.

He stopped near a cluster of thick, thorny hedges at the courtyard's edge. I followed his lead, parting the heavy vines with trembling hands.

And there she was.

A phoenix wrought in tarnished bronze perched atop a crumbling stone bench.