CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
After getting ready for the party, we headed out of House Ignis and made our way toward House Ventus.
I wore a short black dress with a tight bodice that flared softly at the hips and white high socks hugging my calves above my worn-in sneakers. I’d pinned half my hair up with a black bow clip, letting the rest fall in loose strands to frame my face.
Ember had opted for her usual brand of chaos—high-waisted jeans and a red crop top that showed just enough skin to be dangerous.
Ezra walked beside her in a loose black button-up, the top two buttons undone as if he were personally offending the concept of modesty.
Grey shorts sat low on his hips, and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, dark tattoos curling over his forearms and disappearing under the dusting of freckles on his skin.
Aether prowled at my side like a shadow with claws.
Behind us, Luna padded lightly while Ezra’s massive two-headed bloodhound lumbered behind us, Ruin and Havoc drawing wary looks from passing students who wisely kept their distance.
The moment we reached the courtyard of House Ventus, I stopped dead. My mouth dropped open.
“Oh my gods,” I breathed.
It was… breathtaking.
The Air Kingdom was already known for its elegance—pale marble cities carved into cliffs and wind-swept towers touching the clouds—but their House at the Academy was something else entirely.
White and blue towers spiraled upward like ribbons caught in a storm. Banners floated and twisted midair without any visible tether.
Entire gardens hovered above us—islands of flowers and crystal fountains suspended in the sky, connected by thin arched bridges that swayed gently in the wind.
Light refracted everywhere, turning the air into a prism. Music drifted down from somewhere high above, and students laughed as they crossed floating walkways like it was the most normal thing in the world.
“I do not like heights,” Aether muttered darkly beside me, his tail lashing.
I snorted. “You’re a divine beast, Aether. Gravity is a suggestion for you.”
“Ava! Ember!”
Maddy’s voice pierced the air before she came sprinting toward us in a blur of blue and white.
She looked stunning—a fitted jumpsuit that flowed like the wind itself, her curls bouncing wildly as she launched herself at me.
“Mads!” I laughed as she crushed me in a hug.
“How are you?” she demanded, pulling back immediately to grip my shoulders. Concern flooded her bright blue eyes, searching my face for any trace of the morning's flare.
“I’m fine,” I said quickly, nodding and offering a smile. Always smiling.
“Hey guys.”
Ryven appeared beside her like he’d stepped straight out of a dream. He wore loose white linen—shirt and trousers—his skin glowing gold in the afternoon light, his hair caught in the breeze.
He looked… ethereal. And better. Gods, he looked so much better. Relief punched the air from my lungs.
“Ryven,” I breathed.
He didn’t even hesitate.
He opened his arms and swept me into a massive hug, lifting me clean off the ground and spinning me once.
Laughter burst out of me, real and light.
When he set me down, his ocean-blue eyes were clear. Alive. He was okay.
“Okay,” Ezra announced, clapping his hands together with dangerous enthusiasm. “Shots. Shall we?”
“Yes!” Maddy laughed. “But the actual party is up there.”
She pointed, and I followed her finger—and nearly choked.
A massive glass dome floated high above the courtyard, sunlight catching against its curved surface while the silhouettes of dancing students moved inside like shadows in a lantern.
Aether’s entire presence beside me went very still. “Absolutely not,” he said flatly.
“There are floating staircases,” Ryven added helpfully, pointing toward a shimmering structure drifting slowly toward us.
Students stepped onto it one by one as it carried them upward through open air toward the dome.
“Sweet,” Ember said immediately, already pulling Ezra toward the platform. “Let’s go.”
“The rest of the group is already there,” Maddy added as we started walking toward the staircase.
“Ava,” Aether demanded through the bond, pawing sharply at my leg with a retracted claw. “This is an affront to the earth.”
“You’re fine,” I muttered, swatting him away.
His golden eyes narrowed with pure betrayal, but he stayed pressed against my side as the staircase began its ascent into the clouds.
“I will never forgive you for this,” Aether seethed through the bond, his voice a low, vibrating snarl in my skull.
He was currently draped over Ezra’s shoulders like an oversized, deeply offended obsidian scarf.
Maddy, Ryven, and Ember were barely holding themselves together as the floating staircase carried us slowly upward into the sky.
Ezra walked in front of me, grunting slightly under the weight of a fully grown celestial panther clinging to him for dear life. Aether’s massive paws were hooked over his shoulders, and his claws were dug straight through the black fabric of Ezra's button-up and into his skin.
Thin lines of blood seeped through the torn black fabric, but Ezra didn’t complain.
In fact, he looked far too entertained by the indignity of it all.
Aether’s golden eyes snapped back to me, pure murderous betrayal blazing through the link. “You swore I would be fine.”
“You are fine,” I shot back sweetly, though my own stomach did a little somersault as we climbed higher.
He bared his teeth at me. “If I fall,” he informed me—and everyone within earshot—calmly, “I will drag you down with me.”
Behind me, Ember wheezed, her hand clutching her stomach.
Ryven had both hands over his mouth, shoulders shaking, while Maddy was openly crying from laughter.
The wind rushed around us as the staircase glided higher, the courtyard shrinking below until the students were toy-sized figures and the banners were mere ribbons in the breeze.
Aether tightened his grip on Ezra. Another hiss of fabric tearing. Another fresh trickle of red.
Ezra glanced back at me over his shoulder, his dimples fully deployed despite the claws currently embedded in his back.
“Your cat is very affectionate, Hotshot.”
“He’s plotting your slow and painful death,” I informed him.
“Worth it.”
Finally—finally—the staircase aligned with the floating dome.
Ezra stepped off onto the solid crystal flooring, and the moment his boots hit steady ground, he turned carefully, patting Aether’s massive, trembling shoulder.
“Okay, buddy,” he said, his voice steady. “You’re safe. Solid ground.”
Aether did not move. Not even slightly.
“Tell him he can put me down,” Aether muttered stiffly through the bond.
I cleared my throat, trying to keep my face neutral. “He says… you can put him down now.”
Ezra nodded solemnly, as if he were handling sacred, explosive cargo, and slowly lowered the enormous panther onto the floor.
Aether landed with the stiff, forced grace of someone who absolutely had not just spent five minutes clinging to a man like a terrified kitten.
He stood frozen for a second, every hair along his spine flaring outward. Tail rigid. Eyes wide.
Then—very deliberately—he sat. He flicked his tail once, looking around as if this had all gone exactly according to his majestic plan.
Ruin and Havoc immediately bounded forward, the bloodhound’s massive tail wagging like a propeller, and began enthusiastically licking his face.
Aether recoiled in horror, his paws scrambling uselessly.
“What—stop—cease this foulness!” His head jerked back, his ears flattening as two sets of hellhound tongues assaulted his dignity.
“We do not ever speak of this,” he murmured darkly to me.
I lost it. Full, hysterical laughter exploded out of me, the first real spark of joy I’d felt since the world turned grey.
“Hey—guys, over here!”
I turned toward the voice.
Zaria stood just outside the floating dome in the garden terrace near the bar, her twin ponytails gleaming black-blue in the drifting light. Rhea lounged beside her like royalty,
Darcy was perched on the stone railing with one boot braced against it, and Mavrik leaned against the counter already halfway into a drink.
We headed over as a group, though
Aether stayed a very deliberate distance from the edge of the crystal floor.
It had only been two days since Asher left. Two days. And people still stared. They whispered behind their hands, watching me as if I were a ticking bomb or a tragic play.
Fuck them.
The moment we reached the others, I was swallowed into warm, solid hugs. Real ones. The kind that grounded you when the world felt like it was floating away.
“You good?” Darcy asked, already puffing out a lazy cloud of sweet smoke.
My eyes tracked automatically to her hand, following the movement of the vape. And then—everything inside me went ice-cold.
The metal casing gleamed in the sunlight. Black vines twisted around the mouthpiece. Curling. Spiraling. Sharp.
They were exactly like the ones carved into the wooden sword from my dream.
My stomach dropped through the crystal floor. The sound of the party dulled to a low, underwater hum. The floating gardens blurred at the edges of my vision.
“Ava… you good?” Darcy’s hand landed lightly on my shoulder.
I flinched as if she’d burned me, my skin crawling. Her eyes widened immediately. “Ava?”
Zaria was suddenly at my side, her brow furrowed. “Hey—hey. Where’d you go just then?”
forcing the world back into focus and my lungs to draw in the thin air.
“Yeah,” I laughed, the sound too sharp and way too quick. “Sorry. Just zoned out for a sec.”
Fuck. I was losing it. “I need a drink.”
“Here.” Mavrik handed me a glass before I could even ask.
It smelled like crushed spice bark and liquid fire.
Very strong. Perfect.
I tipped it back without hesitation, the burn tearing down my throat and spreading through my chest like a wildfire.
Gods. Yes.
Everyone went still.
Every single gaze in the circle locked onto me like I was about to shatter into a million pieces.
Maybe I was.
I slammed the empty glass onto the counter and lifted it again, flashing a wicked, reckless grin.
“More, please?”
If I couldn't control my dreams,