Chapter 193: The Arena

Karen did not confront Nadia and her girls. Neither did Caelis, and that left her furious as hell.

So when they stepped outside and she saw the ridiculously long luxury sedan waiting for them, with a male serpent shifter already holding the door open as their chauffeur, Karen didn’t waste any time. She pulled her arm free from Caelis’s and strode toward the car, climbing inside before shutting the door behind her.

Even the chauffeur raised a brow, visibly taken aback by the human’s audacity. How dare she behave that way toward their prince? A mere human?

The serpent shifter let out a hiss of disapproval, only for a deeper, far more commanding one to come from Caelis. The male immediately stiffened, although another quieter hiss escaped him in protest.

This time, Caelis spoke.

"Stand down, Onyx."

Reluctantly, the chauffeur straightened, but the look he gave Karen made it clear she might want to watch her back.

Karen caught it and rolled her eyes. Let them try. Her daddy was paying for her safety at this academy, and they’d have to be incredibly stupid to lay a hand on her.

Caelis climbed into the car without sparing Karen a glance. He knew exactly what she was doing and had no intention of giving her the satisfaction. If he’d spent his life entertaining feminine tantrums whenever a woman didn’t get the reaction she wanted from him, he certainly wouldn’t have gotten to where he was now.

Except they weren’t alone. Olivia, Fatima and Liv had followed them outside. Just as the girls were about to climb into the car, Karen, whose mood had only worsened, snapped, "No. I don’t want any of them riding with us."

Caelis lifted a brow.

Karen continued, "You can send them in another car. I don’t want to see their faces."

The girls froze. Humiliation settled over their faces as they stood there in front of Caelis and his chauffeur, publicly discarded by the same person who had ordered them to come in the first place.

As usual, Caelis did not challenge her decision. It was none of his business. Karen was the only human he’d wanted in House Ophidian; she’d brought the others along with her. In other words, they were her baggage. If she wanted to mistreat the only humans who could have been her support system in a place this dangerous, then Caelis would gladly let her dig that grave herself.

He shifted his attention to Onyx. "Send them to Venus." Then he pressed the button beside him, raising the tinted window and effectively shutting everyone else out.

The chauffeur, whom Karen now knew as Onyx, remained outside trying to reach Venus, leaving her and Caelis alone inside. However, the Basilisk Prince didn’t say a word to her. He simply pulled out his phone and began responding to the messages waiting for him.

Karen couldn’t take it anymore and snapped, "You did nothing while Nadia and the others called me a slut!"

Calm as water, Caelis asked, "Did we sleep together?"

Startled by the question, Karen stammered, "N-no."

"Are you a slut?" Caelis asked this time, turning to face her. The dark glasses made it impossible to see his eyes, yet somehow, Karen still felt pinned beneath his attention.

"No!" she blurted out, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Caelis didn’t need to say anything else. If neither accusation was true, then as far as he was concerned, there was nothing worth responding to. He returned his attention to his phone, dismissing the matter entirely.

But Karen wasn’t satisfied. "But you still—"

Caelis turned toward her again, so abruptly that the rest of the words died in her throat. His expression had hardened, whatever patience he’d been extending to her clearly reaching its limit.

"I said you could hang on my arm tonight. That gesture did not include listening to you whine."

It was the way Caelis said it that sent a chill down Karen’s spine. His voice never rose, nor did he need it to. The warning was clear enough without the volume.

Karen swallowed, and that was it. She said nothing more.

Right at that moment, Onyx climbed into the driver’s seat. His eyes briefly met Karen’s through the rearview mirror, and from the slight narrowing of them, he’d clearly sensed the tension waiting inside. He said nothing, started the car and pulled away.

The journey to the arena was easily the most tense ride Karen had ever endured. Caelis’s attention remained fixed on his phone, and he didn’t spare her so much as a glance. Determined to pretend his attitude wasn’t getting to her, Karen pulled out her own phone and began scrolling. Unfortunately, nothing on the screen could hold her attention for more than a few seconds.

Karen just couldn’t understand him. She was pretty as hell, came from money and knew exactly what she had to offer. Caelis should have been all over her by now, yet for some reason, he insisted on playing hard to get. All her life, men had done the chasing. She had never needed to work this hard for anyone’s attention before.

In Karen’s mind, even if she hadn’t gotten her hands on Maverick yet, Caelis should at least have been worshipping the ground she walked on. He was a prince, yes, and dangerously powerful, but that didn’t suddenly make her any less of a catch.

The arena was quite a distance from House Ophidian. At one point, Karen even caught a glimpse of the old human residence through the tinted window before it disappeared behind them. They continued farther across the academy grounds until the sedan finally began to slow, and when Karen looked ahead to see where they had arrived, her irritation with Caelis was momentarily forgotten.

The arena looked like something dragged straight out of the ancient world and abandoned to time. Massive stone columns surrounded the open structure, several cracked or partially broken, while wide tiers of stone seating rose around a sunken ground at its center. Parts of the outer walls had crumbled away, giving it the appearance of an ancient Greek temple mixed with a gladiatorial arena. Except Karen suspected very little of the damage was actually due to age.