Bad blood

Ryan was busy with his own thoughts of refining and implementing the malevolent plans in his mind so that they could become a complete reality as soon as possible. This was when he heard David's voice and realised that the intensity with which the scenario was unfolding in reality was even beyond his imagination of his dreams coming true. 

Because no matter whatever David was saying or however he was trying to portray the situation to be, he had already sensed a soft gaze in David's eyes for Nora. After all, regardless of the bad blood between them, they once used to be best friends - and who can know a person more than a best friend?

While it is true that no one can know you more than your best friend, no one can be more dangerous than your own best friend, either. They are indeed the best till the time they wish to remain friends; but once they decide to become a foe, no one can be deadlier than them. Not only are they armed with the knowledge of all your secrets, but they also have the access to the facial expressions of fear that are a manifestation of your raw emotions, because they have observed you very closely.

And Ryan had surely observed David very closely, as he used to be his only friend because he had not found his beta yet. So naturally, he was already familiar with his sharp brain but short tempered nature, and this was the spot he was currently aiming for and hitting.

Thus, his arrival hadn't managed to shock him even for a second, but still, the surprise was real which was evident in his speech.

"Ah, I hadn't expected your presence at my Palace, at this time on such a pleasant day! Are you here to invite me to tea or something, like the old days?"

He purposefully ignored the question that David had already placed in front of him as soon as he had stepped foot within his range of hearing. He really wanted to push David's buttons to the point where he would use his Alpha voice for the challenge; this would not only give Ryan the proof about David being the one to challenge him for the fight, but it would also leave David without any chance to back out of it.

But contrary to his assumption, David spoke in his normal voice once again, even though he was repeating the same question as earlier.

"Umm! I guess I have a suggestion for you, Ryan. Before the fight, you should really get your ears checked out, or else I might face the additional blame of rendering you deaf, too. And because you have not heard me properly the first time round, let me say it once again. I am here to challenge you for a fight, and now it is up to you if you again wish to deny the challenge and accept your defeat in advance!"

"Me? Accept my defeat in advance? Hah! Have you forgotten who is the real coward here? The one who didn't even have the guts to accept the truth of friendship in front of his own parents -"

"Don't speak about my parents!" 

David spoke, raising his tone once again and grabbing Ryan by his collar.

"Then stop bothering Nora, and it's a warning to you! The last warning!"

Ryan also spoke in a loud tone to match David's aggression, before he shrugged David's hands off himself. He then made a show of dusting off some filth from his shoulders, and added to his previous statement while adjusting his shirt to restore it to its previous state.

"And now, if we are clear on everything, you can leave as I have very important work to do."

Saying this, Ryan walked out of his own palace without letting David say a word. He headed towards the dorms, while the fumes of anger turned into lava inside David's stomach as he started walking behind him.

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David POV :

No matter how often and how seriously I tried to think that this Nora Rovery was not really like other Riverines and that she was indeed as innocent as she looked, every single time so far, I have been forced to admit that I was wrong… completely wrong! Because she not only had Robin, Myron, and Louis wrapped around her fingers, but also Ryan?

Ryan!! Who literally had zero interest in anything or anyone apart from himself!! 

I was not hesitant to admit that I knew him, in fact, I knew him well enough to know that Ryan had never been interested in the throne, not till the end of elementary school. And I did remember still, that he was the person who formerly held the place of my best friend, but this throne had already cost me a lot and I could not really afford to lose it anymore : not at any cost!

To be honest, Ryan was right : I was weak. I was weak because I never had the guts to accept our friendship in front of my own parents. But another facet of this truth is that I was left with no choice, because I could never put myself in a position where the world would have blamed me for something that I had never ever considered in the first place. When my friendship was innocent, how could I let everyone make me the culprit of manipulative behaviour, by accusing me of befriending Ryan so that I had one less competitor for the throne!

One thing had been clear to me throughout : I was not going to let anyone have the chance to blame me for my friendship being based on the greed of getting the victory to myself, and keeping Ryan off the Arena. 

It was not like he was going to face the same allegations, because everyone was aware that I was not good at Archery back then, and there was no chance that I would have won if I was pitted against Ryan! 

So I had decided to break his friendship instead of tolerating the comments, when I had no other way of proving them wrong. And now, I wanted to give Ryan a chance to fight, knowing that all the comments undoubtedly held some truth to them : that Ryan would really have stepped into the Arena against me.

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