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Crimson Vein Arena

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crimson Vein Arena (Chapter 9 and 10)

Chapter 9 – The Space Between Blades

Lira

Three days.

That’s how long the arena lets us rest. Eat. Heal. Train.

Three days without Kael.

Three days with Rael.

He doesn’t ask more questions. Doesn’t press. But he doesn’t disappear either. And that… that unnerves me more than I want to admit.

He’s in the training hall now. Shirt soaked in sweat, sparring against an illusion construct. He fights like someone who’s always had to survive. Efficient. Brutal. Every move counts.

But there’s still a softness in him.

Something that hasn’t broken yet.

And I don’t know whether I envy that… or want to protect it.

“You watching or judging?” he asks without turning.

I blink. “You knew I was here?”

He shrugs, pulling his blade free from the dummy’s chest. “You’re quieter than most. But not quiet enough.”

I step forward, tossing him a water flask. He catches it with one hand, drinks. Doesn’t take his eyes off me.

“You were sloppy on your left side,” I say.

“Was buying time.”

“For what?”

He tosses the flask back. “For you to step in.”

I snort. “You assume I’d bother.”

“You always do.”

The silence after that feels heavier.

He sets his weapon aside, leans against the wall. His hair sticks to his forehead. There's a scar across his collarbone—faint, but recent.

“Was that from the arena?” I ask.

He glances down. “Kael.”

A pause. “I didn't see him land that.”

“You were busy keeping us alive.”

I walk over, close enough to feel the warmth radiating off him. He doesn’t flinch when I reach out, fingers brushing over the scar. Testing. Measuring.

He’s still.

Too still.

“You always let people this close?” I ask.

“Only when I want them to stay.”

I look up. His gaze is steady, unreadable.

Something coils in my chest. I take a step back.

“Don’t,” I whisper.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m still worth trusting.”

His voice softens. “You are.”

I turn away, blades clenched at my side. “You’ll regret it.”

“Maybe,” he says. “But not today.”

Later, we spar. No words. Just movement. Sweat. Contact.

And when his blade almost kisses my throat—I don’t move.

He doesn’t either.

We stay there, breathing hard. Inches apart. Hearts louder than footsteps.

Then he lowers the weapon.

“Next round’s in two days,” he says, voice tight.

“I know.”

He doesn’t look back when he leaves.

But I do.

Because whatever this is—it’s getting harder to fight than any battle the arena throws at us.

Chapter 10 – The Offer Beneath the Blood

Rael

The message comes through the mirror walls.

A flicker of light, a voice without a face:

“Room 17. Midnight. Come alone.”

Lira hears it too. She doesn’t say a word, just raises an eyebrow.

“I’ll go,” I say.

“You’re not going alone.”

“I think that’s the point.”

She crosses her arms. “Then we make a point back.”

Room 17 isn’t a room. It’s a corridor sealed in bone-white stone, runes crawling across the ceiling like veins.

And waiting inside are two figures in obsidian cloaks.

One of them steps forward, hood down.

A girl. No older than me. Eyes like cracked glass.

“My name is Veyra,” she says. “And I know how Kael got back in.”

Lira’s blade is in her hand before the sentence finishes.

Veyra doesn’t flinch. “Put that away, Shadowknife. You’ll want to hear this.”

“Talk fast,” I say.

She gestures to the second figure, who lifts their hood—revealing a sigil carved into his neck.

The Crimson Mark. One of the arena’s original bloodbound. Not a contestant. A keeper.

“Kael didn’t cheat death,” Veyra continues. “He was sponsored back in. The Crimson Vein doesn’t play by normal rules when it sees potential. It reclaims what it owns.”

Lira’s jaw tightens. “He doesn’t belong to them.”

“Doesn’t he?” Veyra steps closer. “You’ve seen what he can do. How he twisted the trial. You think that was his own power? The Vein feeds him now. And it’s choosing sides.”

“And you want us to do what?” I ask.

“Form an alliance. With us.”

I blink. “You’re not even contenders.”

“We were,” the man says. “We won our bracket three years ago. But we refused the final pact. The one that lets you leave with your soul intact.”

“You stayed?” I whisper.

“To burn the system from inside,” Veyra says. “But we can’t do it alone. Kael’s not the only one being groomed for something worse.”

She steps forward. “You two—they’re watching you. Betting on you. You can win. And if you do… you’ll have a chance to tear it all down.”

Lira’s voice is ice. “What do you want in return?”

“When the final blood pact is offered—don’t take it.”

Silence falls like a guillotine.

Lira turns to me. “You believe them?”

I look at Veyra, at the sigil on the keeper’s neck, and then back to Lira.