Chapter Fifteen
Kael’s POV
My gaze remained fixed on her from the very beginning of the fight, unwavering in a way that slowly beca noticeable even to , as though sothing in my body had already decided she was the only thing worth watching in that entire arena.
The noise around rose and fell in waves, the sound of bodies colliding, the dull thud of impact, the sharp gasps and cheers from the guests, yet none of it managed to pull my attention away from her for more than a second.
There was nothing weak about the way she fought.
Nothing uncertain.
She didn’t move like soone thrown into a ga she wasn’t prepared for, and she definitely didn’t move like soone who had been injured.
Her stance alone was enough to make sothing in stiffen slightly, because it wasn’t wild or instinctive in the way most of them were. It was controlled and well-balanced. She moved like soone who had been taught.
Who exactly was she?
"I expected her to be way weaker than this. She sprained her ankle during a spar with Riven."
Nicole’s voice broke through my focus, and for a brief second, my hand stopped moving entirely.
"What?" The word left my mouth lower than I expected, edged with sothing sharper than surprise, and my head turned toward Riven almost imdiately.
My eyes locked onto him, studying the tension in his posture, the set of his jaw, the irritation that seed to sit just beneath his skin like he was struggling to keep it contained.
"When did that happen?" I asked, my voice quieter now, but far more deliberate, as my shoulders straightened slightly. "And why didn’t you tell ? Since when did we start keeping things from each other?"
He said nothing.
Not even a glance in my direction. Why was he acting clueless right now? What the hell ca over him?
The silence lingered long enough to settle heavily in my chest, and I held his gaze for a mont longer before forcing myself to look away, though the tightness in my jaw didn’t ease.
Of course he would keep that to himself.
He was the one who suggested this entire ga in the first place, the one who insisted on the rules or probably the lack of them. and now he looked like a man watching sothing slip through his fingers.
There was sothing almost irritating about that, not because of him, but because I understood the feeling more than I wanted to admit.
I had felt it before, watching her win when I didn’t expect her to, watching her stand out when she should have blended in, and even now, as I watched her dominate opponents who should have overwheld her, there was a quiet resistance building sowhere beneath my ribs.
"Don’t you think it’s strange?" I said after a mont, my voice calm, though my fingers shifted slightly against the armrest, pressing harder. "She could barely walk yesterday."
Nicole exhaled beside , nodding slightly. "I thought the sa thing. She was limping the last ti I saw her, and now she’s moving like nothing ever happened."
That didn’t sit right with . I need to do a background check on her. I needed to know her full na and her last na. That’d help locate her family who gave her off.
There were eleven of them left.
The fight had dragged on long enough for exhaustion to settle in, visible in the slower reactions, the heavier breathing, the way their bodies no longer moved with the sa speed they had at the beginning. It wouldn’t take much longer now. One more fall, and it would be over.
Everything shifted in the next second.
A scream tore through the air, sharp enough to cut through every other sound, and my head lifted instantly. What was going on?
Another scream followed, louder this ti, layered with panic, and suddenly the arena was no longer controlled chaos but sothing far less predictable.
The girls began scrambling out of the pool, mud splashing beneath their movents as fear spread rapidly, their earlier determination replaced with urgency.
The guests reacted almost just as quickly, voices rising, so stepping forward, others leaning in with a kind of excitent that made sothing cold settle deep in my chest.
My eyes moved across the scene quickly, searching, calculating—
A lady stood upright in the mud, her posture unnaturally steady compared to the chaos around her, a knife clutched tightly in her hand.
The blades had blood dripping off of it. Whose blood was that?
A smirk stretched slowly across her lips as she stepped forward, unhurried, completely unaffected by the panic she had caused.
The reaction from the crowd was imdiate. My fingers curled tightly into my palm.This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
My gaze shifted again, more urgently this ti, searching for her without conscious thought, and when I found her, everything else seed to dull at the edges.
Our eyes t.
Her grip on her tummy was tight, but her hand trembled slightly, and even from where I stood.
I could see the tears gathering in her eyes, the way her lips parted as though she was trying to steady her breathing.
Her body dropped. Her knee gave it away.
The movent was sudden enough to make sothing in my chest pull sharply, my body reacting before my mind caught up as I pushed myself to my feet, the chair scraping faintly behind .
"Call the physician imdiately. Make sure nothing happens to her."
Nicole’s voice cut through the noise, firm and commanding, but I barely registered it.
My attention remained fixed on her as the ogas rushed forward, pulling her from the mud, her body limp in a way that didn’t sit right with .
"Everyone can return to their hos. The ga is over." The words echoed, but they felt distant.
"Seems like she lost already."
Riven’s voice broke through clearly this ti, and I turned my head toward him slowly, the movent controlled, deliberate.
"Soone cheated."
My voice didn’t rise, but the tension in it was unmistakable, carried in the tightness of my jaw, the way my shoulders remained rigid.
"No rule was made, Kael. Not a single rule." Riven stood, brushing himself off as though none of this mattered. "So what exactly are we arguing about? The outco is clear."
I held his gaze, unmoving, the silence stretching long enough to feel heavy.
"We both know that’s not the point."
He didn’t respond.
I exhaled slowly, forcing the tension down, though it didn’t leave completely. "Whatever helps you sleep at night," I said, my voice quieter now, colder. "Do things your way."
I stepped back, my posture straightening as I turned away from him. "But don’t hide things from again."
My eyes flicked toward him briefly, sharp, before I continued walking.
"I hate that."
I didn’t wait for a response.
********
Three days had passed since the incident, yet she remained exactly the sa.
I found myself watching the steady rise and fall of her chest as though it was the only thing confirming she was still alive.
It irritated .
My jaw tightened slightly as I looked away, my shoulders rolling back as though I could shake off the feeling, but it lingered, settling sowhere beneath my ribs in a way I couldn’t quite ignore.
And it reminded of sothing I didn’t want to think about.
My fingers stilled briefly before curling again, the motion subtle but firm, and I let out a slow breath through my nose as I forced my attention back to her.
The last ti I stood this close to her, I hadn’t cared.
A faint scoff slipped under my breath at the realization, my posture straightening slightly as though correcting it.
I didn’t even know her na and I had never asked.
"Princess" was enough. "Or probably my toy."
It was easier to keep it that way, easier to remind myself of what she was and what she wasn’t.
A knock sounded against the door, sharp enough to pull out of my thoughts imdiately.
"Co in." The door opened, and Jas stepped inside, his presence as composed as ever.
"What do you have for ?" I asked, my voice steady, giving nothing away.
"It’s about the lady who stabbed her." He stepped closer, his movents careful. "The knife that was used...it isn’t normal."
My eyes shifted to him fully now, narrowing slightly.
He unwrapped the fabric in his hands, revealing the blade, and the mont it ca into view, my body went completely still. The knife had a design on it that scread, "Power"
Soone planned this! Soone in power wanted her dead. What?
Reviews
All reviews (0)