Chapter 7 Oct 6, 2025 The storm crashed in like a drunk god with anger management issues. One minute they were climbing through the bone maze's upper ridge, the next the sky cracked open and literal chaos started falling from above. Lightning forked across the dark ceiling like angry deities were having a knife fight with the clouds. Wind whipped through the open arches and howled down every corridor like it was personally offended by their existence. Mira stumbled over a loose spine and let out a string of curses that would have made sailors blush. "Of course it's fucking lightning! Why not throw in a nice avalanche while we're at it? Maybe some locusts?" "Move," Bastian barked, already pulling her toward a hollow carved into the cliffside. "Now." "I can walk on my own, thanks-" "Not if you're dead from a lightning strike, you can't." Liorith and Vharok huddled tight beside the rock wall, both growling low like the storm had personally insulted their mothers. Their scales twitched with agitation, and even the dragons looked like they'd rather be literally anywhere else. Mira ducked into the narrow space just as another bolt slammed into the path they'd abandoned seconds earlier. Heat burst through the air like someone had opened an oven door to hell, followed by the sharp smell of burning ozone that made her eyes water. Inside the shelter, the air was thick enough to choke on. Heat clung to her like a clingy ex-boyfriend, wet and suffocating. Mira leaned back against the stone, gasping for breath while the storm echoed in her skull like a percussion section having a mental breakdown. Her shirt stuck to her torso like a second skin, outlining every curve and line of her body in damp fabric. She caught Bastian glancing-just for a second. He looked away so fast it was almost comedic. "Don't flatter yourself," he muttered, but his voice had that tell-tale roughness. She raised an eyebrow. "Didn't realize stone statues had functioning eyeballs." He exhaled, slow and controlled. "I was checking the exit situation. Don't twist it into something it's not." "Oh please." She rolled her eyes hard enough to see her own brain. "Your dragon stares less than you do, and he's literally built for hunting." "I don't need to justify where I look." "Good. Then stop acting like you got caught doing something shameful." The storm screamed outside. Mira turned away, trying to calm her breathing and failing spectacularly. Sweat rolled down her back in rivulets. Her skin itched with frustration that had nothing to do with the weather. The cave was barely big enough for two people, but the silence between them made it feel like a coffin. "You always do this," she said finally, because apparently her mouth had decided to declare war on her brain. Bastian didn't move. "Do what, exactly?" "Act like I'm some kind of contamination. Like I got here by accident and I'm ruining your perfect little world." "You think that's how I act?" Mira turned back to face him, chin tilted in challenge. "You hate that I didn't crawl my way here like you did. You hate that it just... happened for me." He looked at her then, really looked, and his eyes were unreadable as storm clouds. "You think I wanted to be paired with someone who never trained for this? Who got dragged in because a dragon took pity?" "Liorith doesn't do pity," she scoffed. "She chose me." "Exactly," he said, voice sharp as broken glass. "She chose you. You didn't earn her." That landed like a physical blow. Mira's hands clenched into fists at her sides, nails digging into her palms. "You hate me because I didn't ask for this," she said, the words coming out quieter than she'd intended. Bastian didn't respond immediately, but that silence was louder than any words could have been. She stepped forward, close enough to see the flecks of silver in his gray eyes. "You walk around this place like the throne's already got your name engraved on it, and the rest of us are just obstacles in your way." "I walk around like someone who worked to survive it." "So did I," she snapped, voice rising. "Just because I wasn't bred for war from the fucking cradle doesn't mean I came in soft." "You've been coddled-" "Coddled?" She laughed once, bitter and sharp. "You think getting mocked every single day is coddling? You think having to prove myself every second is easy?" "I think you've had it easier than you realize." "And I think you mistake 'easy' for 'unworthy.' Which says more about you than it does about me." He opened his mouth, then shut it again, like he'd finally run out of rehearsed insults. Lightning flashed through the narrow opening of the shelter, illuminating his face in stark black and white. His jaw was tight enough to crack teeth. His shoulders were drawn up like he was bracing for impact. "I didn't want this," she said, quieter now but no less intense. "I never planned for any of it. But I stayed. I fight. And whether you like it or not, I keep surviving. Just like you." The words hung in the superheated air between them, heavy and dangerous. Bastian didn't look at her when he spoke. "You're not the only one who didn't ask for their life to be decided by other people." They stood in silence, the storm crashing above them like the world was ending. Mira's chest rose and fell, her breathing somehow syncing with the distant thunder. The heat in the cave was becoming unbearable, but neither of them moved. His eyes met hers then, and for the first time since she'd known him, they weren't cold. Just tired. Human. Vulnerable in a way that made her chest tighten. Her heart thudded so hard she was sure he could hear it. She couldn't move. Wouldn't move. The air felt thick as honey, charged with possibility and danger in equal measure. Lightning struck again, closer this time. The flash lit his features like a photograph burned into her retinas. He stepped closer, so close she could count his eyelashes. Close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from his skin. Close enough that his breath ghosted across her lips. Her pulse roared in her ears, drowning out everything else. He leaned in, and for one suspended second that felt like eternity, it seemed like the entire world had paused to watch what would happen next. Then Bastian pulled back, jaw clenched like he was fighting a war with himself. His voice was low, rough, dangerous. "Don't tempt me." Mira didn't. She backed away from him in the dark of the cave, heart pounding, lungs burning from more than just the climb. They'd survived Phase One of the trials-barely. The Bone Maze hadn't broken them, but it had changed something. The tension between them wasn't just rivalry anymore. It was heat. Unspoken. Unwanted. Unavoidable. They emerged from the maze the next morning, filthy, bruised, and silent. The instructors said nothing. No praise. No punishment. Just nodded once and told them to report to the aerial yard by dawn. Phase Two had begun.