Page 211 of House Ignis

Jeremy was on his knees, bleeding, swaying, one hand pressed to his ribs as he struggled to draw air.

The shadows didn't care.

They surged at Asher's command—or its command—gathering sharp and lethal at his outstretched hand.

A spear of pure darkness was poised to strike, aimed straight through Jeremy's heart.

Zya was there on Asher's other side, hissing at him, her feline form arching in terror.

Her voice slid through the bond, cold as a knife at my throat.

"He's too far gone," she hissed.

"No," I gasped, the word catching on the iron tang of blood in my mouth. "No, I don't believe that."

"Ava, please!" Ezra's voice came from behind me—desperate, breaking—but I spun, flames sparking off my skin in jagged bursts.

With a flick of my hand, a circle of fire hissed to life around me, a blazing ward of white-hot protection.

Ezra jumped back, swearing as the heat singed the air.

"Fuck," he breathed, his eyes flashing like dying embers. "Ava—"

"I need him back!" I cried out, my voice cracking against the rising storm.

I raised my arm, reaching for my power, for the bond that tied me to the male beneath the monster.

My magic flared up from my chest, wild and relentless, licking over my skin in arcs of liquid gold.

Above us, the sky split. The rain came down in sheets, fat drops turning to steam the second they hit my flames, hissing as if the gods themselves were weeping for what we'd become.

With one final, agonizing flare, fire erupted from my palm.

But it wasn't just fire. It was molten—yellow, orange, red—power searing through me as if my veins had been replaced with lava.

It poured out of me in a divine torrent, burning the very oxygen from the air.

"Ava, you'll burn out!" Ezra's voice tore across the pitch, raw and terrified.

I knew he was right. Gods, I knew.

But I couldn't stop.

The fire surged, a living wall of solar heat between Jeremy and the thing wearing Asher's face. Steam hissed into a blinding fog as the rain met the inferno.

And Asher—his shadows hissed against my fire, recoiling like they'd been scalded by holy light.

They retreated, inch by inch, until the last tendril snapped back into his skin.

He fell to his knees with a guttural groan, his chest heaving. His head jerked toward me, the black voids of his eyes blinking once.

And then—silver.

The silver I'd fallen in love with. The silver that meant him.

"Ava, STOP!" Ezra bellowed again, absolute panic breaking his tone.

I couldn't.