Page 260 of House Ignis

“Asher sends his regards,” she said softly, her voice carrying a weight that made the room feel suddenly smaller.

“He says he cannot wait to see you.”

My heart seized so violently I nearly forgot how to breathe. The mere mention of him was a physical blow to my chest, a reminder of the void where our bond should have been.

I forced a polite smile into place, though I felt it tremble at the edges. “Thank you for coming, Queen Sailene. It is an honor to finally meet you.”

Her gaze lingered on me for a moment longer, as if weighing the truth of every word I’d spoken, before she turned gracefully toward my mother.

My father followed, their voices already blending into the low murmur of politics and strategy, as though our exchange had been nothing more than a minor opening move on a very large chessboard.

I was still trying to steady my pulse when another voice slid across the space beside me.

“Princess Pyreson.”

The voice was like silk dragged across serrated steel. I turned. Kieran Duskbane stood there—devastatingly beautiful and utterly lethal. His black hair fell carelessly across his brow, and his lilac eyes gleamed with an amused hunger as they flicked over me, then moved beyond.

His smile deepened, turning into something sharper.

“Ember,” he said smoothly. “Good to see you again.”

Everything inside me went very still. Because I felt it—the shift in Ezra. He was standing beside me like a storm about to break, the air around him growing cold and heavy.

Ember stiffened almost imperceptibly before schooling her features into that careless, dangerous smile she wore like armor.

“Kieran,” she replied, her voice cool.

He stepped forward without a hint of hesitation and took her hand.

It wasn't polite or formal. It was deliberately intimate.

He lifted it to his mouth and pressed a slow, deliberate kiss to her knuckles, his eyes never leaving hers.

I saw Ezra’s jaw tick hard. I saw the cogs turning behind his sunset-orange eyes, the shadows at his feet beginning to writhe.

Then Kieran grinned—sharp, reckless, and entirely too confident.

“I suppose I’ll see you in my chambers again this year, then?”

The words had barely left his mouth when Ezra moved.

It was fast. It was violent. It was beautiful in its absolute brutality. Ezra’s fist connected with the Crown Prince of Umbra’s jaw with a crack that echoed through the vaulted silence of the ballroom.

Gasps exploded from the surrounding nobles. The music faltered into a dissonant mess.

Every glass in the room froze mid-air as the court of Solkaris watched the Umbra Prince.

Even the flames in the chandeliers seemed to hesitate.

Kieran’s head snapped sideways with the force of the blow—but he didn’t fall. He simply straightened slowly, his hand coming up to touch the corner of his mouth... and then he laughed.

Actually laughed. He rolled his jaw once, his lilac eyes glittering with pure delight rather than anger.

“Well,” he drawled, the sound smooth as silk. “I see Ignis females truly do love Umbra males.”

Guards were already rushing forward from the edges of the room, weapons drawn and magic flaring in a chaotic hum of steel and sparks.

I lifted my hands immediately, my power surging just enough to make the air around me shimmer with heat.