CHAPTER FOURTEEN #4
I smirked, relishing the flicker of genuine surprise in his expression.
I rose in one slow, fluid motion, scooping up the scrolls and Alayna’s notes with an extra-loud rustle for dramatic effect.
I slung one onto my hip like a sash of victory, my heart still racing but my head finally clear of the fog.
"One point to Ava," I said over my shoulder, not looking back.
The bond flared between us—hot, electric, and pulsing with his sudden, sharp frustration. I left him there, sitting stunned and shadow-kissed in the silence of the Archives.
Let him stew in it. If he wanted to be the darkness, he was going to have to learn that I was the one who controlled the flame.
···
After dinner, Ember crashed early—exhausted from the day's chaos—and I finally had a moment alone. I crossed the room and pulled the drawer open again. The book still sat there like a ghost begging to be opened.
Jax Pyreson.
My brother's name burned like a brand across the cover.
I exhaled slowly, lifting it gently, then sat on my bed and opened the first page—only to frown.
The language… it wasn't Common Tongue. Or Old Fae. It wasn't anything I recognized. The letters shimmered slightly, almost writhing on the page like they were made of starlight or smoke.
"Well, that's weird," I muttered, flipping through a few more pages. Symbols. Runes. Diagrams. Elegant, dancing script that was just barely out of reach for my brain to decipher.
"Looks like a Jules problem," I said to the empty room, sighing as I set the book on my desk. "I'll find her in the morning."
Still restless. Still humming with leftover adrenaline and too many emotions.
I glanced at the time. It was just enough daylight to blow off some steam. I changed quickly into my training set, tied my braids back tight, and slipped into my sneakers.
Aether grumbled from under his blanket but didn't move—he knew I needed the space.
I left the tower, the air warm with dusk and the trees casting long, skeletal shadows over the path. I started with a slow jog toward the forest line, the bond quiet—resting.
But then… it stirred.
It was faint at first, then stronger the more I ran. It felt like a rope tied to my ribs, pulling me forward. My jog quickened, and my heart followed suit. The tug led me deeper into the outer fields near the woods. I rounded a bend and froze, ducking behind a thick oak.
And there he was.
Asher was training shirtless in the clearing like a god of war. Smoke curled around his bare shoulders, and shadows wrapped his hands like lethal gloves.
He was practicing spells I didn't recognize—dark, elegant, and violent. With every flick of his hand, the air trembled. Wisps of magic spiraled upward, casting silhouettes of death across the trees.
He looked terrifying. He looked beautiful. And I was absolutely stalking him like a lunatic.
Then he stopped—perfectly still—and looked directly toward my tree.
Shadows slid like liquid across the grass, coiling with wicked purpose. I spun around with a gasp, swatting at the darkness curling up my thighs like it had no damn manners.
"Get off," I hissed under my breath, batting uselessly at the smoke.
Of course, that didn't work. I turned back toward the field, but he was gone. The clearing was empty. The shadows were silent.
But the bond? It was humming now. With need. With amusement. With pure, unadulterated lust.
I narrowed my eyes at the empty space, my heart pounding like a war drum. "Okay, Bond," I whispered with a smirk. "I'll play."
I tore through the trees like a madwoman, dodging roots and branches, chasing a shadow I couldn't even see.
I didn't know why I was playing this twisted version of hide-and-seek, but the bond was tugging me like a leash, and I—like an idiot—followed. I told myself I just needed air, but we both knew that was a lie.
I needed him. Gods, I hated that.
But ever since the tryouts and that terrifying magic spike, something inside me hadn't settled. And the only person who would truly understand was the smug, shadowy bastard currently sprinting ahead of me.
How the hell was he so fast? His power moved like silk and a storm all at once. Umbra students really were a mystery box—silent, lethal, and always three steps ahead.
I stopped behind a massive trunk, gulping air, my chest heaving. "Where are you?" I whispered, wiping sweat from my brow.
The bond pulsed again—this time, to the left. I turned slowly toward the glowing mist just beyond the outer gardens.
The Moonlit Baths. Of course.
The Moonlit Baths were an ancient elemental pocket, the water magically warmed by fae essence and shimmering as if the stars themselves had liquified across the surface.
I crept closer, the wind dying down to a whisper, the last golden haze of sunset glinting off the steam.
I stepped through the final thicket of trees and nearly tripped over my own damn feet.
Because there he was.
The sun had just dipped behind the horizon, painting the water in bruised gold and amber, and Asher stood at the edge of the spring, pouring water over his head like some divine statue carved from shadow and sin.
His muscles flexed with every movement—ink curling down his arms, water gliding in slow, agonizing rivulets over his chest and across the bond mark.
Those silver eyes were already on me.
The bond roared. Hard. A jagged wave of hunger rippled through the thread between us, so intense it made my knees weak. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't blink. I certainly couldn't look away.
His lips curled, smug and lethal. "Found me, darling," he murmured. His voice was a velvet tease that dragged over my sensitized skin.
My heart skipped. Twice.
Gods help me, he wasn't even trying to cover himself. Lust slithered down our connection like sin given physical shape.
I let my eyes trail down—from his broad shoulders to his carved abs, following the water down to that damned V-line—before the rest of him vanished beneath the glowing surface of the pool.
"Care to join me?" he drawled, his voice thick with heat. A slow smirk tugged at his lips. "But I do warn you... the water isn't the only thing that bites and if you get in there's no coming back."
He was playing a dangerous game, and the absolute bastard knew he was winning.
He expected me to blush. He expected me to stammer an excuse and bolt back to the safety of my dorm.
But I was done playing games. I was done being the prey.
"Sure," I said simply.
The bond snapped—a chaotic collision of shock, raw lust, and dark pleasure. I didn't break eye contact as I reached for the hem of my training shirt.
"But I warn you, Maddox," I added, my voice dropping to a low, smoky register that matched the mist rising from the water. "I don't play by the rules."
His smirk faltered for a fraction of a second, replaced by a look of predatory hunger so intense it felt like a physical touch. He stayed perfectly still, chest heaving slightly, as I stepped toward the edge of the steam.
The game had just changed. And this time, I was playing for keeps.
I hooked my thumbs under the elastic band of my sports bra and pulled it up—slowly, agonizingly so.
His eyes stayed locked on mine.
He didn't drop his gaze; he didn't dare. But I didn't need him to look down to know I had him. I felt his control slipping through the bond, a frayed rope snapping strand by strand.
As the cool night air brushed my bare skin, my nipples hardened under the sheer weight of his stare. My power hummed just beneath the surface, a low-voltage current vibrating in time with my racing heart.
Asher exhaled—a sharp, ragged sound, like I'd just punched the air right out of his lungs.
He didn't move. He didn't speak. He just watched me with a terrifying intensity, as if he might shatter into a thousand shadows if I vanished from his sight.
Then, I reached for the waistband of my running leggings.
I slipped them down, inch by inch, letting the night chill kiss my thighs and my hips.
It was freezing everywhere his eyes weren't burning.
I never stopped staring at him. Not once.
Not even when I stepped out of them entirely and stood before him, completely unmasked.
I could feel his restraint fraying—that feral, predatory need clawing just beneath the surface of his skin.
It crackled through the bond like lightning in my veins, and gods… it turned me on. The way his jaw clenched so hard the bone jumped.
The way the shadows behind him pulsed with a violent, rhythmic life of their own.
I took my time.
I padded toward the edge of the spring, my bare feet meeting the cool, smooth stone.
I dipped my toes into the steaming water, and a sharp, fractured inhale cracked through the silence behind me.
His eyes roamed over me then—slow, possessive, memorizing every curve, every freckle, every inch of me as if he were carving me into his soul.
And then I heard it. A growl.
It was low, rough, and entirely unforgiving.
Keeping my eyes fixed on his, I stepped in deeper. The heat of the water swallowed my ankles, then my calves, then my thighs, rising higher with every breath I drew.
He still hadn't moved from his spot in the center of the pool, but the air around him was vibrating.
His control? It wasn't just slipping anymore.
It was gone.
The water enveloped me, a silken, magically-charged heat that contrasted sharply with the cool night air biting at my shoulders. I moved with a deliberate, agonizing slowness, letting the golden-amber surface rise to my waist, then my chest, until I was submerged up to my collarbone.
The steam curled around us, weaving a veil of privacy in the heart of the woods.
Asher hadn't moved a muscle, but he looked like a man standing on the edge of a jagged cliff, waiting for the wind to push him over.
His throat bobbed as he swallowed, his silver eyes dark and dilated until they were almost entirely black—obsidian pits of raw, unfiltered hunger.