Chapter Six

Blaze didn’t take me back through the main halls. Instead, he pushed open a narrow iron door near the edge of the courtyard and led me into a corridor carved straight into the mountain itself. The air changed the moment the door shut behind us. The noise from the party faded, replaced by the quiet crackle of torches set into the stone walls.

Their flames burned copper and gold. The heat from them should have been overwhelming. But the warmth rolling off Blaze was stronger. It pulled at me in a way that felt almost physical, like gravity leaning a little harder every time I stepped closer.

Neither of us spoke.

Our footsteps echoed softly against the stone as we walked deeper into the corridor. The silence wasn’t awkward. It wasn’t even calm. It was tight. Charged.

Everything that had started on the dance floor still hung between us, humming just under the surface.

Blaze walked a half step ahead of me, broad shoulders relaxed, hands shoved into the pockets of his dark jacket like he was taking a casual midnight stroll instead of leading a girl he’d met three hours ago into the mountains.

Except nothing about the air between us felt casual. Not when every time he slowed, my body automatically drifted closer. Not when my pulse kicked harder every time his shoulder brushed mine.

At the end of the corridor stood a single door carved from black stone. Blaze stopped in front of it. For a second he just stood there. Then he lifted his hand and pressed his palm against a handprint carved into the center of the door. The stone flared orange. A low click echoed through the corridor. The door slid open.

He stepped aside. “After you, storm girl.”

I hesitated exactly half a second before walking in.

The room wasn’t what I expected. It was…bare. Not empty. Just stripped down to the essentials.

A wide bed pushed against the far wall. A heavy wooden desk. A tall window carved directly into the rock that looked out over nothing but open sky and the dark outline of mountains stretching into the distance.

The air inside the room was warmer than the hallway. Ten degrees at least. It smelled like woodsmoke.

And something sharper underneath it. My eyes drifted to the wall opposite the bed.

Weapons.

Blades of different lengths hung neatly on iron brackets. A spear rested in a rack near the corner. Even a bow leaned against the stone like it had been casually tossed there after practice.

This wasn’t a student’s room, it was a warrior’s room.

The door shut behind us with a quiet thud. I turned. Blaze was already watching me.

Not casually. Not politely.

His amber eyes tracked my face with a focus that made my skin prickle. Like he’d been waiting a very long time to look at me this closely.

The silence stretched.

Finally, he spoke. “You should know what this is.”

His voice was lower than it had been downstairs. Rougher. I leaned back against the edge of the desk, crossing my arms.

“Should I?”

He took a slow step closer. “Our elements don’t just attract.” Another step. “They recognize.” The air shifted with him.

“What you’re feeling right now—” his gaze flicked briefly to my hands, then back to my face “—that’s not an accident.”

I held his stare. “I know what I’m feeling.”

Another step brought him close enough that I could feel the heat of him even without touching. “I’m not confused about it.”

Something in his expression changed. Not softer. Just…decided.

“Good,” he said quietly.

That was the last thing either of us said for a while. Because the space between us finally snapped. He closed the distance in two strides. The moment his hand touched my waist, the torches outside the door flared. The flames leapt higher, casting sharp shadows across the stone walls.

I felt it before I saw it.

The heat rushing through my chest. The electric pull racing along my skin. My fingers caught in the front of his jacket as he pulled me closer. His mouth found mine. It wasn’t frantic. It wasn’t rushed. It felt inevitable.

Like something that had been building pressure for days finally breaking open. Every place our bodies touched sparked.The window behind him frosted over in a thin sheet of ice.

Then thawed again seconds later. Blaze broke the kiss just long enough to pull his jacket off and drop it somewhere behind him.

His eyes flicked down to my hand.

“The scar,” he murmured.

I followed his gaze. The thin mark on my palm glowed a steady amber. The same color as his eyes. For a moment we both just stared at it.

Then he exhaled slowly. “Yeah,” he said under his breath. “Thought so.”

I barely had time to ask what that meant before his hand slid behind my neck and pulled me back into another kiss.

Outside the room, the torches roared. Inside, the air shifted between heat and cold in slow waves. The frost on the window melted.

Then returned. Then melted again. When everything finally settled, the room felt different.

Quieter.

Like the air had exhaled. I lay on my back staring at the ceiling, trying to catch my breath. Blaze lay beside me, one arm tucked under his head. For a while neither of us spoke.

The silence this time felt…different. Not tense. Just full.

Eventually he huffed a quiet laugh. “That was one hell of a first night at Aethermoor.”

I turned my head toward him. “That’s your professional welcome speech?”

He glanced over, mouth tilting slightly. “I can redo it if you want.”

“Please don’t.”

His laugh came out low and genuine. Not the rough growl he’d used downstairs. Just a real laugh.

It surprised me. He stared at the ceiling again. “My clan used to say fire recognizes its own,” he said after a moment.

“Guess storms count.”

I traced a small scar along his forearm without really thinking about it. The skin there was slightly raised, the mark thin and pale. A training injury. He watched my fingers move but didn’t pull away.

“You grew up with them?” I asked.

“My clan?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.” His voice had gone quieter.

“Dragon clans aren’t exactly subtle about what their kids are meant to become.”

“Meaning?” He tilted his head slightly toward me.

“Meaning everyone knew what I was built for.” My fingers paused on another scar.

“That sounds…convenient.”

“It was efficient.”

“Not the same thing.”

He snorted softly.

“No. Not really.”

The room stayed quiet for a few seconds. “Everyone treated me like a weapon that hadn’t been pointed yet,” he said finally.

“Not a person.”

I looked at him.

The expression on his face wasn’t bitter, just…matter-of-fact. Like he’d made peace with it a long time ago.

I rested my head back against the pillow, “I was treated like a good girl who hadn’t broken yet.”

He turned toward me slightly. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged.

“Same problem, different packaging.”

For a moment he just stared at me, then he laughed again. Low. Real.

It filled the room in a way that felt strangely warm.

“Storm girl,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re not what I expected.”

“You met me three hours ago.”

“Still.”

His gaze flicked briefly to my glowing palm again before fading.

Outside the window, the sky had begun to lighten slightly.The mountains were still dark shapes against the horizon, but the first pale streaks of dawn had started creeping across the clouds.

I noticed it at the same moment Blaze did.

“Damn,” he muttered.

“Already?”

“Time flies when you’re setting the mountain on fire,” I said.

He smirked. “Technically you helped.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but three hard knocks slammed against the door. Not polite knocks.

The kind that made the wood shudder, blaze’s expression changed instantly.

The relaxed warmth vanished, his body went still beside me. Another knock hit the door.

A voice came from the other side. Low. Controlled. But with an edge underneath the control like a blade wrapped in cloth. “Dragonheart.” Blaze closed his eyes briefly.

“The new Prime didn’t check into her room last night,” the voice continued. “The gargoyle flagged it.”

My stomach dropped.

“You have thirty seconds to tell me she’s not in there,” the voice said calmly. “Before I make this everyone’s problem.”

Blaze slowly turned his head toward me, his jaw had tightened. I mouthed the question silently.

“Who is that?”

Blaze stared at the door. Then he looked back at me. He mouthed two words.

“Raven Blackwood.”