Page 335 of House Ignis

“Ava, please,” he begged. His voice wasn’t smooth anymore; it was jagged, splintering. “Just let me explain.”

“No.” I shook my head. “No, you don’t get to explain. Not after this. Not after him.”

He flinched, and I felt it—his guilt, thick as blood in the bond.

“I wanted to tell you,” he whispered. “Gods, Ava, I tried—”

Then he turned his head and whistled.

The infection screamed under my skin, burning, consuming.

“Why?”

He took a step toward me, agony etched into every line of his face. “Because I couldn’t lose you too.”

Before I could speak, a shadow moved next to me from the trees.

A flicker of auburn. Familiar.

“Ezra,” I breathed, hope catching in my throat.

He stepped into the light. Same auburn hair. Same freckles.

But his eyes...

Not molten orange.

Crimson.

“No…” I whispered.

Cold iron cuffs snapped around my wrists, runes flaring across their surface. My magic died instantly, the fire beneath my skin brutally snuffed out.

“I’m sorry, Hotshot,” he said, and the sound of that name—his name for me—broke something deep inside me.

The black veins had reached my shoulder. The infection was pulsing faster, feeding on my panic.

“It’s spreading,” Ezra murmured, horror flickering across his face.

But I could barely hear him. The roaring in my ears drowned everything else out.

My magic screamed inside me, trapped, clawing to get free.

I dropped to my knees. The world went white around the edges.

Fire and poison warred in my veins.

I screamed until my throat tore.

The agony ripped through me in waves.

My fingers dug into the dirt as I tried to hold on—to something, anything.

Strong arms lifted me. Ezra’s. His hands were shaking.

I tried to fight, but my strength was gone. The infection was eating me alive from the inside.

Through the blur of tears and pain, I found Asher.