Page 174 of House Ignis

But Jeremy didn't hesitate; he slammed into Asher's midsection, the two of them crashing to the stone floor in a chaotic blur of writhing shadows and earth magic.

Mavrik lunged in to pull Jeremy off but caught a stray fist to the jaw for his trouble.

Ryven was instantly in the fray, yanking Asher back by his collar before Zya roared and launched herself at Kora, Jeremy's wolf. Claws flashed in the firelight.

"Zya!" I shouted, running toward them.

"She started it!" Zya snarled as Aether padded in, caught her paw gently between his teeth, and dragged her back like a naughty cub.

"Ava!" Ember called, her voice sharp over the chaos.

I whirled to see two of Jeremy's friends throwing punches at Ezra, and the entire courtyard had gone silent.

Everyone was watching. The future Queen of Lyr’n’dell, the Shadow Wielder of Umbra, and the Earth Prince in a gutter brawl.

I stopped running and just stood there, arms crossed over the sheer lace of my bodice.

"You done yet?" I sent casually through the bond.

“Well, your ex can definitely throw a punch,” Asher replied through the bond, amusement curling beneath the words. “But no, I’m most certainly not.”

Ember gave me a bewildered look. "You're not stopping this?"

I shook my head, my gaze fixed on the way Asher's muscles flexed under his ruined shirt.

She smiled then, a slow, wicked look of approval.

Even Maddy was shaking her head, muttering, "Ryven, you're an idiot," while keeping Skye protectively close.

"Well, I guess I'm taking this black bodysuit off by myself tonight, dark one," I purred down the bond, letting my gaze linger on his.

Heat surged through the bond, nearly making my knees buckle.

Then Asher’s shadows flared, sharpening into blades of darkness as he pinned Jeremy by the throat against the obsidian fountain.

I smirked, shifting my weight and letting my skirt fall open just enough to reveal the black lace garter against my thigh.

Asher's eyes locked on me, darkening with sudden, starving hunger.

He smiled wickedly—right before the ground split beneath his boots.

Jeremy's magic exploded.

Jagged spears of stone spiraled upward from the courtyard floor like the earth itself wanted to gut Asher where he stood.

The courtyard shook, stone grinding against stone as students gasped and scrambled back.

"Oh, you're adorable," Asher drawled, his voice dripping with a cold, aristocratic disdain.

Shadows burst from his skin, coiling around each spear of stone mid-air. One by one, they snapped in half with echoing cracks, stone dust raining across the courtyard. Jeremy’s magic faltered beneath the sheer force of Asher’s power.

He stepped through the falling debris, grabbed Jeremy by the throat with one hand, and lifted him until the Earth Prince's boots were barely scraping the ground.

"I'm going to fuck her so hard tonight," Asher murmured, his voice carrying with a lethal clarity that reached everyone in our circle, "that you'll hear her scream my name all the way from House Terra."

Jeremy froze—just for a heartbeat—but that was all the opening Asher needed.

Shadows slammed him back into the stone floor, pinning his limbs. The ground beneath him groaned, but the darkness held. Absolute.