Page 245 of House Ignis

Zaria, Maddy, and Rhea closed in around us instantly, forming a protective shield that didn't allow anyone near.

They dragged me out of the dome and into the cool, biting air of the floating gardens.

The moment we cleared the threshold, I doubled over. And vomited. Hard.

Tears streamed down my face, hot and humiliating. My whole body shook with the force of it.

“I just want him,” I sobbed hoarsely, my voice breaking over the sound of the wind. “I just want Asher…”

Ember held my hair back, her grip steady.

Maddy rubbed my back, and Rhea murmured something soothing I couldn't quite hear.

Zaria stood guard, looking ready to dismantle anyone who so much as stared.

Footsteps thundered up the path behind us.

Mavrik skidded to a stop first, his lip split and swelling, but the idiot was still grinning like he’d enjoyed the scrap. Rhea immediately rounded on him, rolling her eyes so hard it was a miracle they didn’t fall out.

Ryven followed, his eyes unfocused—until Maddy stormed into his space, jabbing a finger into his chest like she was ready to start a second war.

I barely registered the chaos of my friends.

My eyes had already locked onto Ezra.

His knuckles were torn open, streaked with drying blood.

His lower lip was split, a dark line of blood cutting through the corner of his mouth. But his gaze was still wild, protective, and furious enough to make my chest tighten.

He didn't say a word.

He just crossed the distance in three long strides, crouched down, and gathered me up in his arms as if I weighed nothing at all.

“Got you,” he muttered against my hair.

Something in my chest finally gave out.

I fisted my hands into his black shirt, clinging to him like a lifeline. “I killed him,” I whispered brokenly, the nightmare leaking into reality. “Ezra… I killed him…”

His steps faltered for a fraction of a second. “What?”

“The dream,” I sobbed, my face buried in his neck. “There was so much blood… I had the sword… he looked at me like I betrayed him…” My fingers tightened in his shirt.

“I would never hurt him, Ezra. Never…”

At some point, still clinging to Ezra, I passed out.

The world simply went dark. No dreams. No thoughts. Just a merciful, heavy nothingness that swallowed the ache in my chest.

When I woke again, everything hurt.

My head spun as if the room were still floating somewhere over Ventus, and my mouth tasted like ash and bad decisions. Gods… what the hell had happened last night?

I cracked one eye open.

Morning light filtered weakly through the balcony doors, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air.

And that’s when I saw him.