Page 191 of House Ignis

For Ezra, that was fucking monumental.

"And I freaked out. Obviously. You know me, Ava. I don't keep males around. I don’t give them the chance to hurt me. I leave first.”

There it was. Fear, not fire.

"I almost told him we should end it," she continued, her voice tight. "Keep it casual. No expectations. But he just looked at me like…" She swallowed hard. "Like I mattered."

I moved to sit beside her on the edge of the bed, nudging her shoulder with mine.

"Sometimes the right person comes along," I said quietly, thinking of a pair of silver eyes and the way they looked at me in the dark. "And that's the scariest thing in the world. Because they don't feel temporary. They feel… real."

Luna cracked one eye open and gave a low, approving rumble. Ember let out a shaky breath, staring up at the ceiling.

"I don't want my heart broken," she admitted, her voice smaller than I'd ever heard it.

Something protective sharpened inside me.

I turned toward her fully, taking her chin between my fingers so she had to look at me.

"If he hurts you," I said with absolute, chilling calm, "I will burn him to ash."

Ember's mouth twitched, her eyes suspiciously bright. "I hate that I care this much," she muttered, rolling her eyes, though the fight had finally left her shoulders.

"That means it matters."

"Fine," she said, sitting up. "I won't sabotage it. Yet."

"Good. Because if he breaks your heart, there won't be enough of him left to apologize."

"We would enjoy that," Aether added smoothly.

Her eyes suddenly gleamed with that familiar, wicked light. "And what about you and Daddy Darkness?" Her eyebrows wiggled suggestively. "I can smell him all over this room."

I groaned and threw the pillow back at her.

"I told him I love him."

Ember froze.

“And?”

“He said it back.”

Ember's jaw physically dropped.

"Ava!" She launched at me, wrapping me in a bone-crushing hug that smelled like woodsmoke and expensive perfume.

When she pulled back, her hands clamped onto my arms.

"I am so gods-damned happy for you."

Her joy cracked something warm and fragile open in my chest.

But then her expression shifted, reality creeping back in.

"What?" I asked, bracing myself.

She winced. "This is going to be a scandal, Ava. The betrothal to Jeremy. Your father. The court… it's going to be a bloodbath."