Torian fell hard on the arena and he clutched his thigh where Reynold's sword had slashed him. He tried to push himself up, but blood was already dripping from the wound and staining the ring's floor in dark red drops.
Torian face twisted in pain and anger, his cheeks burning red. He had never been humiliated like this in his life, not even in front of the entire academy like this.
Kael also watched from the sidelines, his own expression crumbling into embarrassment as well. His carefully laid plan to use the self-guilt on Reynold did not even work. The other highborn cadets standing close to Kael shifted uneasily, their faces flushed with a mix of shame and rage. Two of their own top representatives for the Quadrant Tournament was taken downed by a lowborn scrub. This was already making their power in the academy to be shaking, and it stung like salt in an open cut.
