Page 160 of House Ignis

"I know," I whispered. I reached out, my hand resting against his stubbled cheek. "But I wanted to be the one to watch him break."

His grin was slow, dangerous, and utterly wicked. "That's my firecracker."

Aether groaned dramatically, hopping off the bed and padding toward the door. "I'll leave you two to your exhausting tension. Honestly, the bond is vibrating so hard it's giving me a migraine." He slipped out, his tail held high and mocking.

I blinked, finally taking in the room.

This wasn't the warm, gold-and-crimson decor of the Ignis dorms. The walls here were black stone veined with shimmering silver, the arched windows carved with Umbra sigils. Shadows curled in the corners, responding to the presence of the male beside me.

"Wait…" I said slowly, my gaze snapping back to Asher. "This isn't my room."

His smirk turned feral. "Welcome to House Umbra."

I blinked, still slightly woozy from whatever healing draught they'd pumped into me.

"How did I even get here? I'm pretty sure the Headmaster has rules about cross-house sleepovers."

Asher just grinned—that smug, wicked thing he did when he was holding all the cards.

"You passed out in my arms, remember? I wasn’t about to hand you over to the infirmary where I couldn’t make sure you kept breathing.”

I frowned, trying to sit up, but the room decided to do a somersault.

“Ava. Hey, no.”

Asher was already there, catching me before I could face-plant onto the floor. One arm slid beneath my knees, the other around my back, and he lifted me with terrifying ease.

I yelped, my hands flying to his shoulders. "Asher! Put me down!"

“Don’t fight me, princess,” he murmured, carrying me across the room.

He walked across the room and placed me carefully on a plush black velvet lounge near the hearth.

Firelight flickered across the room, stirring the shadows around him, and I shivered as the heat of the flames met the cool silk of the Umbra blankets.

I looked up at him, the silver in his eyes reflecting the firelight, and realized that for the first time since I'd arrived at the Academy, the storm inside me had finally gone quiet.

The bond surged between us, alive and jagged, buzzing with a heat that made the air feel heavy. Shadows danced across the walls like silent spectators, drawn toward the male standing before me.

My muscles ached and my head still throbbed, but it was the look in Asher’s eyes that froze the breath in my lungs.

He didn't sit beside me. He didn't offer a comforting hand.

He stood before me, a silhouette of sheer power. Arms crossed. Jaw locked. His silver eyes weren't just glowing; they were blazing with a lethal, focused intent.

"Why were you lying to me?"

His voice was low and sharp, edged with enough danger to make my pulse skip.

I swallowed hard, the dryness in my throat making it difficult to find the words. "I—um… You don't understand, I was trying to—"

Before I could finish, shadows surged from the floorboards.

They weren’t cruel or cold. They slid over my skin like heated silk, curling around my throat in a phantom caress before pressing against my lips to steal the rest of my excuse.

Gods. I couldn’t help the low, broken moan that escaped against his shadows.

Asher's eyes narrowed, his pupils blown wide. “Oh, I understand perfectly,” he seethed, stepping into the space between my feet.