Page 97 of House Ignis

The morning was officially a dumpster fire, and the gasoline was currently smirking at me.

Their gazes flicked between me and Asher—but the moment they met his eyes, they dropped their heads like prey sensing a predator.

"Hey, Asher," a brunette purred as she walked past, her voice soaked in seduction.

The bond roared—hard. I saw red.

"Ava!" Aether hissed through the bond.

Too late. Flames sparked up my trainers, the heat racing into my bones.

"Darling," Asher mused lazily, clearly enjoying the show.

I blinked—and the girl's face had gone pale. She scurried away, eyes wide with fear. I turned to Asher, whose arms were crossed, looking smug as hell.

"Don't even," I growled, stomping ahead.

But I didn't get far—shadows coiled around my legs, brushing my calves like silk, calming my burning nerves and tugging my heart back from the inferno. Smug bastard.

At the top step, Asher stopped to chat with an Ignis student. I went straight to my door and threw it open. Ember was already inside, perched on my bed like a chaos-gremlin.

"Oh my gods, Ava," she grinned. "How was it with Daddy Darkness?"

I froze. My soul left my body. Because—of course—he walked in right behind me. Silent. Deadly. Ember's smile faltered as she saw all six-foot-whatever of shadow-laced menace.

"…Oops," she muttered, shrinking as Asher's silver gaze flicked her way.

"Ember," he said, his voice like velvet cut with glass.

He didn't stop at the door. He paced toward the vanity, his Umbra leathers creaking softly, his silhouette devouring the morning light. The shadows at his heels didn't just follow; they expanded, licking at the legs of my bed where Ember sat.

"I believe," Asher continued, tilting his head with a slow, predatory grace, "we were discussing the nuances of my nickname."

Ember swallowed hard, her eyes darting to me in a silent plea for execution. "I—uh—it's just a term of endearment! Very respectful! Regal, even!"

Asher hummed, a low vibration that I felt echoing through the bond in my own chest. He leaned against my dresser, arms crossing over his bare, tattooed chest, the sigil on his collarbone pulsing in time with mine.

"Regal," he repeated dryly. He glanced at me, a wicked glint returning to those silver depths. "Is that what you call me when I'm not listening, Firecracker?"

"In your dreams, Maddox," I snapped, though my face was still heating up. I marched past him toward my closet, desperate to put a layer of silk between my skin and his gaze.

"Actually," he drawled, his voice dropping to that intimate register that made my toes curl against the rug, "my dreams are significantly less respectful than Ember's vocabulary."

Ember made a choked, dying noise into her hand. He simply disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door with a soft click. The shower turned on. Ember stared after him, then at me.

"By the gods, Ava," she whispered, clutching her heart. "I've never been more terrified... or turned on."

I collapsed face-first onto my bed. "Kill me. Just kill me now."

Aether padded in from the balcony, tail lashing. "I'm just a celestial panther, centuries of divine power, and now my greatest battle is enduring the two of you."

"I had peace," Aether went on. "Now I share psychic space with a shadow panther who tries to gut me every time I sneeze."

"You sneezed on her tail!" I hissed.

From the balcony, Zya's voice slithered in. "Try it again and I will end you, fuzzball."

Ember was wheezing. "This is better than a gossip scroll."