Novel Full Chapter 47: Spare A Fair Maiden
Chapter 47: Spare A Fair Maiden
A wise person avoids unnecessary fights. A fool starts them. A beast enjoys them.
~ Rebel Beast.
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After rage-baiting Maverick Nightshade into agreeing to the fight, it was safe to say the Drakhar heir was back to his usual sunshine personality.
This was going to be the biggest fight the Arena had seen so far. Well, aside from the future one between him and Caelis. He could already see that match happening during graduation. Only one of them would be leaving this academy to go live their best life afterwards.
That one fight would finally put an end to the centuries-old feud between dragons and serpents because, naturally, Rhydian saw himself winning. There was simply no version of reality where a worm defeated a dragon.
Anyway, back to his current masterpiece.
The more Rhydian thought about the fight, the more excited he became. He could already picture the Arena packed to the brim with students. The stands would be overflowing. The dragons would be screaming his name. The wolves would be howling for Maverick. The serpents would likely join the wolves just to demoralize him.
Good thing he never needed people to validate him. His confidence came naturally and flowed endlessly.
Money would change hands faster than a cheetah on caffeine. For once, there would be dragons, serpents, and land beasts sitting together in the same place without trying to kill one another.
A thought suddenly struck him. What about the humans?
Rhydian’s eyes widened. They absolutely needed to be invited. How else would they discover who the superior predator truly was?
Maverick Nightshade had been getting away with mesmerizing half the female population with his whole sexy professor routine, but Rhydian doubted that advantage would survive the Arena. Not when they would finally witness real competition and powerful men testing themselves against one another.
There was something primitive about combat. The tightening of muscles beneath the skin, the flex of broad shoulders, and controlled violence. The speed, confidence, and raw certainty that came from knowing exactly what your body was capable of.
Maverick had his brooding professor appeal, Rhydian had no intention of denying him that. But under the Arena lights, stripped down to only pants with sweat glistening over corded muscles and adrenaline pumping through their veins, it would be a completely different game.
Strength would become visible. Power would become tangible. Every dodge, strike, and display of dominance? Yeah, the females would eat it up.
Except another problem occurred to him.
Most human women supposedly weren’t fans of violence.
Well. That was rather inconvenient.
Maverick certainly wouldn’t help matters either. The man was practically hovering around the humans like some overprotective mother hen.
Rhydian would have to ease them into the experience. Perhaps market it as something educational. Or something cooler. Humans loved parties, didn’t they?
Either way, there was no chance he was letting those penny creatures miss the opportunity to witness Rhydian Drakhar in action.
And while they were at it, he would kindly remind them that placing their trust in Maverick Nightshade was a terrible long-term survival strategy. Maverick Nightshade might be annoyingly strong, but he had years on him.
While the Arena technically belonged to Caelis and served as one of the basilisk’s favorite sources of income, Rhydian remained one of its most valuable customers. The worm charged him outrageous participation fees every single time, which was admittedly impressive business.
Yeah, their relationship was complicated.
A bizarre mixture of hatred, competition, mutual respect, and an overwhelming desire to throw one another off a cliff. Almost like one of those enemies-to-lovers stories human females seemed obsessed with writing.
Not that he was judging them.
Not when he was a huge fan of the genre himself. What better way to get into a woman’s head than to know what made them tick?
Anyway, giving the serpents an opportunity to believe they might actually defeat him was one of life’s greatest pleasures. Watching hope blossom in their little snake hearts only for reality to crush them moments later.
Delicious.
Though, to be fair, some had come close — only when they cheated.
Tamara believed House Aetheris should create its own Arena. But that was a terrible idea. Where was the fun in segregation? Where was the entertainment? Besides, why would he willingly deprive Caelis of his biggest source of income?
The worm returned the favor by allowing dragons access to the Arena despite the chaos they inevitably caused. It was business after all. So the arrangement worked.
For now.
The two houses would continue this strange dance of rivalry, competition, and mutual irritation until graduation finally arrived. Then the final show would begin.
"That was a reckless move out there."
"Ugh!" Rhydian made a show of being startled when Caelis Cobryn emerged from the woods, interrupting his train of thought.
Rhydian looked him over.
"I know you, Silver Eyes, are practically obsessed with me to the point of stalking, but I was in the middle of thinking up a very important plan." He pointed dramatically at his head. "Genius requires concentration, you know."
Caelis hissed in a deeply disrespectful manner, making it abundantly clear what he thought of that complaint.
Rhydian made a face.
"Gods, is that the expression you make to your females in bed? Dude, you seriously need sex education. Good thing I’m a master at—"
Caelis cut him off with another warning hiss, sounding dangerously close to reaching the end of his patience.
Then he got straight to the point.
"For someone who didn’t want Aria Aspen dead yet, you certainly didn’t seem concerned about her well-being this morning."
Rhydian sighed and ran a hand through his already disheveled red hair.
"I didn’t know about the attack. How many times do I have to sing that song?"
"Enough times to remind you to get a better grip on your people before they ruin everything," Caelis told him seriously.
Rhydian would have assumed Caelis was simply concerned about the fallout, except the basilisk’s black little heart had never shown much concern for humans before.
Immediately, his dragon senses started tingling.
"Is that why you cornered me out here?" Rhydian asked suspiciously. "To lecture me about properly managing my human extermination schedule?"
Something smelled fishy — and for once it wasn’t the serpents.
Caelis straightened.
"You asked me to spare Aria Aspen and keep her for last. I need you to do something similar for me."
At once, Rhydian perked up. "Well, would you look at that?"
His grin turned downright wicked.
"Tell me, what fair maiden has managed to wrap her pretty little fingers around your cute little snake heart?"