Page 25 of House Ignis

They curled around my ankles like curious, phantom fingers, a caress of pure void.

Cold seeped through my skin, bypassing the heat of my own fire. But it wasn't threatening.

It didn't have the jagged, suffocating edge it had used on Zorian. It was aware. Searching.

A tremor rippled through me, starting in my heels and climbing to my throat.

They didn't feel angry anymore.

They felt… attentive. Like they were memorizing the shape of me, mapping the pulse in my veins.

Then, as quietly as they had erupted, they retreated.

The darkness peeled back into the furthest corners of the courtyard until nothing remained but the silver moonlight and our shaken, visible breaths.

No one else reacted to the touch.

Every gaze stayed locked on Zorian as he dragged in air in ragged, wet pulls. But I couldn't tear my eyes from the dark.

I watched the way it had withdrawn with such haunting purpose—the way it seemed to bow to the figure

it revealed standing in the mouth of the stone archway—a silhouette of sharp lines and silver eyes that didn't move a muscle.

I couldn't make myself move toward him. I couldn't make myself look away either.

We walked back toward our dorm in a heavy, suffocating silence, the midnight cold pressing sharper against my skin with every step.

The moment the door shut behind us, Ember spun on her heel, the silk of her black gown hissing against the floor.

"Oh my gods, Ava," she breathed, her face pale beneath her auburn hair. She steered me gently toward the edge of my bed, her touch uncharacteristically soft. "Are you okay?"

I nodded numbly, though a frantic buzzing in my skull refused to quiet. My hands wouldn't stop trembling, the phantom sensation of Zorian's grip still burning around my wrist like a brand.

"You look like you're about to collapse," Ember muttered, already darting into our shared bathroom.

"I'm running you a bath. You need to wash that creep's scent off you." Her voice sharpened, raised loud enough to pierce the walls. "And where the hell is Aether?"

I squeezed my eyes shut and reached desperately down the bond.

"Aether."

Silence. A hollow, terrifying void where his presence should have been. Panic clawed up my throat, more suffocating than Zorian's threats.

"Aether!" I said it again, out loud this time, my voice cracking with a raw edge.

And then—scratch.

The sound echoed through my skull, followed by a frantic scraping against stone. My eyes flew open.

I staggered toward the balcony, my heart hammering against my ribs as I fumbled with the cool brass handle.

"Aether?" I shoved the doors open.

Cold night air rushed in, and suddenly, pain exploded through my head. It was lightning—white-hot and searing—splintering across my mind and lancing straight through my forehead. I clutched the doorframe, my knees buckling under the weight of the sensory assault.

Ember burst back into the room, Luna hissing at her heels, her lynx fur standing on end. "What's going on?"

Aether lunged through the balcony doors in a blur of obsidian fur, a low, tectonic growl vibrating through the floorboards.