Page 90 of House Ignis

Fuck.

I stared at him, my pulse skyrocketing. Asher's arms slowly opened, that infernal, dark smirk tugging at his lips as if he were savoring every godsdamn second of my undoing.

I leaned forward, my hands finding the hard, feverish heat of his shoulders. I moved closer—closer than I'd ever been—until my legs slid around his waist, locking firmly behind his back.

Gods. He was a furnace. Solid, muscular, and terrifyingly real.

My arms wrapped around his neck, my breath hitching as his hands settled dangerously low on my hips. His thumbs pressed into my bare skin, right where the gold lace of my waistband ended, pinning me to him. We were so close the air between us was nonexistent, the desire humming off him like a physical drumbeat, low and primal.

And then I felt it.

Through the thin fabric of his ceremonial trousers, his arousal pressed hard and unyielding against me. My body betrayed me instantly—my thighs squeezed his waist on pure, hungry instinct.

His grip on my hips tightened, his fingers digging in.

"Darling," he murmured, his lips brushing the shell of my ear, "don't start something you're not ready to finish in front of the gods."

His voice was wicked silk, laced with a warning that felt more like an invitation. Every inch of me was screaming, heat pooling low in my belly in time with the temple's flickering flames. If we stayed like this any longer, I was either going to combust from the magic or from the sheer, burning need clawing at my insides.

Asher leaned in further, his nose dipping into the crook of my neck. He inhaled sharply, his chest expanding against mine, and then a low, predatory smile curled on his mouth.

"The Earth Prince just had to get his claim in first, huh?" he murmured, his voice so low it was barely a vibration against my skin. "I can smell him all over you, Sparks."

My entire body flushed a violent crimson. I wanted to throw myself into Ignis's eternal flame and beg it to swallow me whole.

Jules stepped forward, the ceremonial chalice glinting in the firelight. The air in the temple felt sucked dry, replaced by a static charge that made the fine hairs on my arms stand on end.

"It is time," she said, her voice dropping into a solemn, ritualistic cadence. "We begin the blood sharing."

She unsheathed the ceremonial dagger, the rubies in its hilt glowing like banked coals. I offered my hand, my breath hitching as the blade dragged across my palm. It was a clean, biting line of heat. Red welled instantly, hot and thick.

Asher didn't even blink when she cut him. His expression remained a mask of silver-eyed focus as our hands were brought together. The moment our palms met, the slick friction of our mingled blood acted like a conductor. Jules pressed our joined hands over the rim of the chalice, the droplets falling in a heavy, rhythmic pulse.

She turned to the sacred pit before the towering statue of Ignis and tipped the vessel. The mixture of our blood hit the eternal flame.

It didn't just burn; it detonated.

A column of fire roared upward, turning a blinding, celestial white-gold. The flames twisted into a double helix, dancing with a sentient, roaring approval that shook the very foundations of the temple.

Jules's voice rose above the crackle. "The roots take hold. Through spirit, through blood, through soul—be bound!"

The moment the decree left her lips, it hit me.

A surge erupted from deep within my core, radiating outward like a supernova. It wasn't just a sensation; it was a second pulse. A shadow-dark heartbeat thudding in perfect, agonizing sync beneath my own.

I gasped, my head snapping back as the sheer scale of the intrusion overwhelmed my senses. I had to close my eyes. It was too much.

I could feel him.

Asher wasn't just in front of me anymore; he was in me. Every fiber of his presence wrapped around my nervous system like electrified wire. His power danced along my veins, sharp and cold as starlight, clashing beautifully with my own heat. My body reacted before my mind could—my legs locked tighter around his waist, grounding myself against the sheer force of the merging.

He pulled me flush against his bare chest, one hand sliding up the curve of my spine while the other crushed my bleeding palm against his. I felt the ripple of his muscles, corded and tense with a restraint that felt like it was about to snap.

And then the floodgates opened.

His emotions hit me like a physical wave, nearly drowning my own. A searing flash of raw, unadulterated lust. A hunger so deep it felt ancient. The iron-clad purpose of a protector. And beneath it all... a vast, swirling darkness that felt like the edge of the universe.

My eyes snapped open, searching for him.