Page 287 of House Ignis

Guilt and pain flooded the connection between us, heavy enough to steal my breath.

"I need to know..." I swallowed hard, forcing the words past the lump in my throat. "I need to know that you won’t hurt me like that again."

"Ava—"

I silenced him with my hand, pressing my palm against his lips. His jaw ticked under my touch, the muscle leaping with suppressed emotion.

"I need to know. Now."

I was deadass fucking serious, and he knew it.

He took my hands in his, pulling them from his face only to kiss my knuckles before meeting my gaze with an intensity that made my heart stutter.

"I’m so sorry for leaving you," he rasped. "I didn't want to. Gods, fuck, Ava—you're my fucking world. I don't want to be away from you ever again." He shook his head, his eyes fluttering shut for a moment as if the memory were a physical weight. "But that night..."

He opened his eyes, the silver clouded with a dark, haunting shadow. "That night, something changed. I wasn't myself. It was like my power took over—a primal hunger. To protect. To destroy."

My heart hammered against my ribs. That night had been horrific; the images were seared into my mind, a nightmare I could never outrun.

"I was fucking ashamed," he confessed, his voice dropping to a low, broken whisper. "Zya was... gods, she couldn't even look at me. She forced me to leave."

My eyes widened. "She did what?"

"She didn't want me to hurt you. Or Aether." He looked down at the water, the flower petals swirling around his waist. "When she said that... when my own fucking boundling told me I was a threat to the person I loved most... I knew. I knew I needed to go."

My heart bled for him. I wanted to reach out, to pull him into me and kiss the pain away, but the scars on my own soul were still too fresh.

"So I went back to Umbra," he continued softly, his eyes searching mine. “To face the consequences of my actions. To heal myself and the bond.”

“Zya punished me every single day. I had to work to earn her trust back. And now, I’m back to earn yours.”

I didn't speak; I didn't know what the fuck to say.

Instead, I let the bond do the talking, flooding our connection with every ounce of love and undying loyalty I had left in my soul.

He smiled, a single tear tracing a path down his cheek, and gods, seeing him break like that absolutely destroyed me.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and crushed my lips to his, kissing him with a desperate, raw intensity.

He growled into my mouth as I grinded my heat against him, the friction in the water sending sparks through my nerves.

He waded forward, the water sloshing around us until my back hit the cool glass of the window.

I gasped, pulling away just enough to breathe.

He looked out at the lights of Zymarra, his silvern dark and predatory.

"I want to fuck you in front of your city," he mused darkly, his voice a lethal rasp.

Before I could even find my voice, he pulled back and thrust his entire length inside of me in one brutal, singular motion.

I screamed in pleasure, the sound echoing off the bronze and gold walls, and gods,

I let him fuck me into the night while my kingdom watched from below.

CHAPTER FORTY

The next day found us back at the Academy, though my legs still felt like jelly.