Page 240 of House Ignis

“Ava! Ember!”

Maddy’s voice pierced the air before she came sprinting toward us in a blur of blue and white.

She looked stunning—a fitted jumpsuit that flowed like the wind itself, her curls bouncing wildly as she launched herself at me.

“Mads!” I laughed as she crushed me in a hug.

“How are you?” she demanded, pulling back immediately to grip my shoulders. Concern flooded her bright blue eyes, searching my face for any trace of the morning's flare.

“I’m fine,” I said quickly, nodding and offering a smile. Always smiling.

“Hey guys.”

Ryven appeared beside her like he’d stepped straight out of a dream. He wore loose white linen—shirt and trousers—his skin glowing gold in the afternoon light, his hair caught in the breeze.

He looked… ethereal. And better. Gods, he looked so much better. Relief punched the air from my lungs.

“Ryven,” I breathed.

He didn’t even hesitate.

He opened his arms and swept me into a massive hug, lifting me clean off the ground and spinning me once.

Laughter burst out of me, real and light.

When he set me down, his ocean-blue eyes were clear. Alive. He was okay.

“Okay,” Ezra announced, clapping his hands together with dangerous enthusiasm. “Shots. Shall we?”

“Yes!” Maddy laughed. “But the actual party is up there.”

She pointed, and I followed her finger—and nearly choked.

A massive glass dome floated high above the courtyard, sunlight catching against its curved surface while the silhouettes of dancing students moved inside like shadows in a lantern.

Aether’s entire presence beside me went very still. “Absolutely not,” he said flatly.

“There are floating staircases,” Ryven added helpfully, pointing toward a shimmering structure drifting slowly toward us.

Students stepped onto it one by one as it carried them upward through open air toward the dome.

“Sweet,” Ember said immediately, already pulling Ezra toward the platform. “Let’s go.”

“The rest of the group is already there,” Maddy added as we started walking toward the staircase.

“Ava,” Aether demanded through the bond, pawing sharply at my leg with a retracted claw. “This is an affront to the earth.”

“You’re fine,” I muttered, swatting him away.

His golden eyes narrowed with pure betrayal, but he stayed pressed against my side as the staircase began its ascent into the clouds.

“I will never forgive you for this,” Aether seethed through the bond, his voice a low, vibrating snarl in my skull.

He was currently draped over Ezra’s shoulders like an oversized, deeply offended obsidian scarf.

Maddy, Ryven, and Ember were barely holding themselves together as the floating staircase carried us slowly upward into the sky.

Ezra walked in front of me, grunting slightly under the weight of a fully grown celestial panther clinging to him for dear life. Aether’s massive paws were hooked over his shoulders, and his claws were dug straight through the black fabric of Ezra's button-up and into his skin.