Page 83 of House Ignis

The moment we hit the landing, I spun on my heel and slapped him. Hard.

The crack echoed down the long corridor like a gunshot. His head snapped to the side, and a sharp, angry red mark bloomed across the high plane of his cheek.

Zya hissed instantly, her sleek body tensing into a spring, silver eyes flaring with predatory light.

Aether stepped forward, a wall of living muscle, flames curling from his ears in a silent, lethal promise. "Try it," he warned, his voice a low vibration in the stone.

But Asher? Of course, he didn't snap. He didn't even snarl. He slowly turned his head back, his fingers tracing his split lip, thumb brushing away a faint, dark smear of blood.

Oh, darling,” he drawled, his voice dropping into a register of pure velvet sin "You could've just told me you liked it rough."

"What the fuck did you just do?"

The smirk didn't disappear; it just sharpened.

"Answer me!" I snapped.

His eyes shifted, the silver turning to cold, hard steel. "I saved you," he said, the teasing gone, replaced by a cutting edge. "Standard protocol usually involves a 'thank you' or two."

He turned to walk away. Just like that. Like he could simply pivot after detonating the architecture of my entire life. I lunged, my fingers digging into the hard muscle of his arm.

"Do you even understand what you've done?" My voice trembled with a frantic, dangerous edge of panic. "We'll be blood-bound, Asher. That's not a title. That's permanent. You just tied your very soul to mine."

He spun back so fast I nearly lost my footing. He closed the distance until we were toe-to-toe, our breaths colliding in the narrow space between us.

"Oh, gods, Ava," he murmured, his voice low, reckless, and vibrating with an intensity that made my skin prickle. "I do understand."

He leaned in, the heat radiating from him matching my own. Shadows slid over his collarbone like living silk, reaching for me.

"And I can't imagine being bound to anyone else."

I couldn't breathe. The air was too thick, too hot.

"May Veyros flip the coin," Aether muttered dryly through the bond. "And may he flip it hard."

I stared up at Asher—beautiful, infuriating, and utterly impossible. "Why do you care?" My voice cracked, the fire in my throat turning to ash. "You barely know me."

My lips were bone-dry. I wet them without thinking, and I saw his eyes drop instantly, tracking the motion with a hunger that made my knees weak. Heat flared behind his silver gaze—dark and concentrated.

He stepped even closer, until I could feel the thrum of his heart against my chest. "I already do," he said, the games finally falling away. "I've watched you since day one, Princess. You don't bend. You don't break. You burn."

His shadows rose in a restless tide behind him. "You challenge every god-forsaken thing in front of you. You don't ask permission to exist. You just take the space you want."

A flicker of something raw and almost vulnerable crossed his face, stripping away the mask of the elite shadow-wielder. "You are exactly what this continent needs."

It wasn't a compliment. It was a vow.

Aether went silent beside me, sensing the tectonic shift. And gods help me—I was unraveling. I didn't know if I wanted to slap him again or fist my hands into his hair and pull him down.

The bastard smiled—slow, dangerous, and perfectly aware of the effect he was having. He leaned in just enough for his lips to brush the shell of my ear, his voice a ghost of a whisper.

"I cannot wait to see you at the Temple tonight," he murmured. "Ignis favors the flame... and you wear it far too well."

His voice dipped even lower, vibrating against my skin. "Try not to set the altar on fire before we finish."

Then he stepped back, the shadows coiling around him like obedient, dark creatures. He walked away with a casual, predatory grace, as if he hadn't just shredded every defensive wall I had left.

By Ignis's flames—I was so royally screwed.