Page 385 of Axis of Fire

Yet they were preparing for it as though it were the grandest ball of the year.

Every guest was expected to dress formally.

Women in gowns.

Men in tailcoats.

As different as Vuduarus and Istarus were, they still shared one thing in common—

An almost obsessive love for spectacle.

Lost in thought, I stopped paying attention to Aars entirely.

Which was probably why I walked straight into something both solid...

And surprisingly warm.

Gianna's light floral perfume reached me before I even looked up.

I immediately stepped back.

“What the hell made you stop so suddenly?” I asked, rubbing the spot just beneath my ribs where her elbow had struck me.

“Looks like you're dangerous in more ways than one, Fireling.”

The familiar voice made me freeze.

“You've got that fire of yours...”

“…and a habit of wandering so far into your own thoughts that you forget the rest of the world exists.”

I looked up.

Airis was standing outside our studio door.

Black shirt.

Black trousers.

The exact same clothes he'd worn on Ruel's Island.

The memory hit instantly.

His hands.

His touch.

The way his fingers had traced the most sensitive part of my body.

“What are you doing here?” I managed to ask, forcing the memory away.

“Ria,” Aars sighed dramatically, “close your mouth before everyone realizes you're hopelessly in love with that peacock.”

I shut my mouth at once and forced my expression back under control.

“Weren't you supposed to be gone for a week?”

“I decided to improve your social calendar.”