Chapter 23 Aug 18, 2025 The training yard buzzed like a beehive cracked open. Steel clanged, commands barked, boots slammed the stone with sharp rhythm. Mira stepped back onto the grounds with her jaw tight, spine stiff, and every eye trying too hard not to look. She felt them. All of them. Watching. Measuring. Whispering. But she kept walking anyway. She hadn't planned to return today. Not with the air still thick from Tessan's poison. But Liorith had nearly dragged her here, wings flaring, tail blocking the hallway until Mira gave in. Now she stood at the edge of the ring, arms crossed, heart thudding like it knew something was about to break. Then it happened. The boy-second rank, smug mouth, sharper tongue-sneered from across the sparring mat. "Funny," he said, circling Bastian with lazy steps, "you'd think someone bonded to a goddess-dragon wouldn't need to be so... padded." Bastian moved before anyone could blink. One second the boy was upright, the next he hit the ground with a crack that silenced the yard. Blood hit the floor. His fists came down again, sharp and merciless, knuckles splitting like they welcomed the pain. Mira didn't think. She leapt over the boundary line, boots skidding across the ring as she grabbed his shoulder. "Bastian-stop!" He didn't move. "Now!" she snapped, both hands yanking him back. "Before they throw you out for good." His chest heaved. Eyes wild. But he stepped off the boy and let Mira pull him out of the ring just as the instructors began shouting from the far wall. She didn't speak until they hit the corridor. "What the hell was that?" Her voice trembled with fury. "You can't just go feral every time someone runs their mouth!" "He insulted you." "So what?" She spun on him, breath shallow. "You think I haven't heard worse? You think I need a knight in shining armor every time someone talks about my thighs?" "I didn't do it because you needed me to," Bastian said, low and steady. "I did it because I wanted to." Mira stared at him. The hallway seemed to narrow. She could still hear the training yard, the scrape of bodies, the clang of swords. But none of it reached her. Her fists clenched at her sides. "I can fight my own battles." "I never said you couldn't." "Then why keep stepping in like I'm fragile?" "Because I know you're not." He leaned closer, not touching her, not daring to, but close enough that she could feel the heat pouring off his skin. "And maybe I've spent too long pretending I don't care what happens to you. I'm done pretending." Mira swallowed hard. Her pulse thudded against her throat. "You're still an arrogant bastard." He smirked. "Takes one to know one." Their eyes locked. Not with anger. Not with heat, either. Not exactly. It was something in between. A kind of burn that didn't need oxygen. A tether stretched tight between them, not snapping, just thrumming. Mira didn't know what to say. So she said nothing. Bastian stepped back first. Gave her the space. But he didn't leave. She didn't either. Silence settled between them again. Not heavy. Not sharp. Just present. "Are you going to get in trouble?" she asked, nodding toward the ring. "Probably." "Will you care?" "Not if it was worth it." Mira rolled her eyes but didn't stop the smile tugging at her mouth. "You're impossible." "And yet," he said, dry and soft, "here I am." She should've walked away. Should've reminded him-reminded herself-that they weren't anything. Not officially. Not exactly. But that moment in the hallway stretched longer than it should've. And it felt too real to ignore. "You're not going to start a brawl during Skybrand, right?" she asked, folding her arms again to keep them from shaking. "Not unless someone else insults your thighs," he said without missing a beat. She groaned. "You're the worst." "Then why are you still standing here?" Mira opened her mouth. Closed it again. No answer came. Just that same heat curling under her ribs like something unspoken and undeniable. Before either of them could push the moment further, a sound split the air-deep, resonant, not a bell exactly, but a vibration that rolled through the stones beneath their feet and settled in their bones. Every cadet on the field froze. Mira turned, heart in her throat. The final Trial bell.