They Called Me Forsaken, Not Knowing I Was the Dragon God

Chapter Seven:

The moment the man’s hand came swinging toward Jace’s face, Aeron caught his wrist so cleanly that the slap never landed!

The sudden stop was so sharp that the entire entrance seemed to freeze around them as the gang member stared at Aeron’s fingers wrapped tightly around his arm.

Aeron did not raise his voice or even bother to look angry, which somehow made the situation more threatening. While the man struggled to pull himself free and the other gang members began closing in around them, Aeron simply held his ground with the same cold expression he had worn when he first stepped into the arena.

“Don’t touch him.”

The gang member’s face twisted with humiliation as he pulled again, but Aeron’s grip did not loosen. When he finally shoved the man backward, the force sent him stumbling into two of his companions and immediately turned the mocking atmosphere around the entrance into something far more dangerous.

“You little—”

“Enough.”

The single word came from behind them, quiet enough that it should have disappeared beneath the noise of the arena, yet every man standing nearby stopped as though someone had pulled a string attached to them.

Aeron turned. A young woman was walking through the crowd.

She did not hurry, and she did not need to, because the men blocking her path moved aside before she even reached them.

At the same time, conversations died one after another and several fighters who had been arguing near the entrance suddenly lowered their voices.

Ria Voss had that effect on people.

She was around Aeron’s age, perhaps a little older, with long dark hair falling over one shoulder and a thin scar running close to her eyebrow, but what made people step aside was not her appearance or even the weapon hanging at her waist; it was the reputation she had built inside the underground arena.

The lady had fought people stronger, older, and far more experienced than herself and walked away from every serious battle as the last person standing.

She stopped in front of the gang member and demanded immediately, “ What happened?”

The man immediately pointed toward Aeron and claimed, “He attacked me without reason.”

Jace opened his mouth, but Ria looked at him first.

“You?”

“He was going to slap me,” Jace said, trying to keep his voice steady despite the way his shoulders had stiffened. “Aeron stopped him.”

The gang member quickly interrupted, “He was provoking me.”

Ria’s gaze shifted back to him, and the faintest change in her expression made the man swallow the rest of his excuse.”You raised your hand first?”

The man hesitated, not knowing how to answer.

“ I asked you a question.” Ria’s eyes narrowed, clearly getting impatient.

“Yes.”

“You were wrong.”

“Boss, I—”

“I don’t like to repeat myself,” she reminded, her voice remaining calm as she looked at him with the kind of cold disappointment that made arguing seem far more dangerous than obedience.

“Apologize.”

The man clenched his jaw, but he lowered his head.

“Sorry.”

Ria dismissed him with a small movement of her fingers before turning her attention toward Aeron, and for the first time since she had entered, her eyes settled fully on the tiny snake curled around his arm.

“That is your Guardian Beast?”

Aeron looked down briefly. “Yes.” He was already tired of many people asking him that!

Ria studied Valeor for another moment before returning her gaze to Aeron, and there was a flicker of curiosity in her eyes because she knew exactly who stood before her, just as everyone else in Valerius did.

“You’re Aeron.”

“And?”

The answer was so indifferent that Ria’s eyebrows lifted slightly.

“You really are the Forsaken.”

Aeron’s expression did not change.

“I suppose people still enjoy talking about me.”

“They do when they think you’re dead.”

Before Ria could say anything else, a familiar voice drifted through the crowd.

“Well, Ria, I leave you alone for one afternoon and you already find yourself entertaining guests.”

Aeron knew that voice. He turned slowly….

Cassius entered the arena with two royal attendants following several steps behind him. The reaction from the people around him immediately exposed his status, because men who had been shouting moments earlier stepped aside without being asked while gamblers lowered their heads and even some of the fighters stopped what they were doing to acknowledge the prince.

Ria looked at him and gave a small shake of her head.

“You are late.”

Cassius smiled. “ You started without me.”

There was an ease between them that Aeron had never seen Cassius display with ordinary people, and it made sense because Ria was not merely someone Cassius happened to know; she was his cousin, the daughter of his father’s elder sister, and one of the few people outside the palace whom he had remained genuinely close to since childhood.

Cassius visited her arena countless times, sometimes to watch her fight, sometimes to place bets, and sometimes simply because the rough world she controlled gave him a freedom that the palace never could.

His eyes eventually settled on Aeron. The amusement on his face deepened.

“So this is what caused the commotion.”

Ria glanced at Aeron. “He stopped one of my men from hitting that boy.”

Cassius looked at Jace, then at Aeron.

“Of course he did.”

The amusement in his voice carried a thin edge of contempt.

“Surviving an execution for a few hours has clearly done wonders for his confidence.”

Elara entered behind him, appearing refined.

She wore a pale dress that made her look almost delicate against the dark, rough interior of the arena, and when her eyes found Aeron, her lips curved into a soft smile that would have looked caring to anyone who did not know her well enough to recognize the calculation hiding beneath it.

“Aeron.”

He looked at her calmly, hiding whatever emotions surging in him.

She waited. However, he did not say anything.

The smile remained on her face, but the muscles around her eyes tightened.

“You aren’t even going to greet me?”

“I didn’t know I needed to,” Aeron remarked coldly.

A few people nearby exchanged glances.

Elara gave a quiet laugh as though his answer had amused her.

“You really have changed.”

Aeron said nothing again, deciding not to bother with her.

She stepped closer, lowering her voice until it sounded almost intimate.

“You haven’t even asked why I’m here.”

“Should I?”

For a fraction of a second, the pleasant expression on her face cracked, revealing the irritation underneath, but she quickly covered it with another soft smile.

“You used to care about everything I did.”

“That was before.”

The answer was simple, but the way Aeron delivered it made Elara’s fingers tighten around the edge of her dress.

She had expected anger or even resentment. She wanted him to look at Cassius and remember everything she had done.

Instead, he looked at her as though the woman standing before him had become completely irrelevant.

Elara despised that! She hated it far more than she would have hated an insult!

Still, she refused to let anyone see it.

“You nearly died this morning,” she said gently, turning her concern into something that sounded almost genuine. “I know you want to prove that you aren’t useless anymore, but there is a difference between being brave and refusing to accept your limitations, and standing in this place with that little snake will not suddenly turn you into someone you are not.”

Her eyes moved deliberately toward Valeor.

“You have already embarrassed yourself enough today, Aeron, so why make everyone watch you do it again?”

Jace’s face tightened, but Aeron remained completely still. Then he looked at Elara.

“You seem very concerned about my embarrassment.”

“I am concerned about you.”

“No.”

Her smile froze.

“You are concerned about how I make you look.”

The words struck deeper than Elara expected, and for one brief moment the warmth disappeared from her eyes. A second later, she smiled again.

“You always were good at misunderstanding kindness.”

“And you always were good at pretending it was kindness.”

Elara’s fingers curled!

Cassius’s expression changed almost instantly!