Page 334 of House Ignis

He stilled. Then, slowly, he nodded.

Something in my chest broke clean in two.

“You…” My throat tightened until it hurt. “Oh gods. It was you.”

He flinched. “Ava—”

“You…” My throat tightened until it hurt. “Oh gods. Jax.”

Asher flinched.

“The Veyari were connected to what happened to him.” My voice broke. “You knew.”

“Ava, let me explain.”

But the words fell flat. All I could hear was the sound of my heart breaking.

The bite burned.

Not a sting—not even pain—burned. Like fire and shadow had found a home beneath my skin.

I looked down and watched in horror as black veins pulsed from the wound, threading up my arm like something alive.

“Asher…” My voice broke.

He took a step forward, panic flickering in his eyes. “We need to get that checked. Now.”

“You’re staying the fuck away from me.” My voice was hoarse, shaking. Fire gathered at my fingertips, the air around me warping.

“Ava—”

“No!” I screamed, tears spilling over. “Don’t you fucking come near me!”

The veins crawled higher, the skin around them blistering, and every heartbeat felt like an explosion.

“Aether!” I called down the bond, wild and frantic.

His voice thundered back, raw with alarm. “Flame one, run!”

My breath caught. Where are you?

“Zya’s got me,” his voice fractured with a snarl. “She’s stronger than she looks. Run!”

The bond fell abruptly silent.

I lifted my gaze.

Asher was still standing there, every line of him coiled, controlled, waiting.

He already knew what I was about to do. He always knew.

That was what made him terrifying. What made me love him.

The male who had my heart—the male who had just destroyed it.

“How could you?”

My voice cracked in half. The tears came harder, hot and endless. The bond between us pulsed wild with agony, the ache of it nearly knocking me to my knees. “I trusted you. I loved you.”