But not Areon. No, Areon saw it. And that flicker of emotion was like a triumph.
"Ha!" Areon chuckled, his voice low and mocking, satisfaction gleaming in his eyes. "Looks like I pressed a sensitive nerve, didn't I?" Finally.. finally the boy who had mocked him, who had acted mad and untouchable all this fucking time, had shown a crack in his mask. The first slip. The first sign that beneath the wildness, there was something to hurt.
The crowd, silent and tense just moments ago, caught the shift. And as if released from a spell, they began to chuckle soft, cruel laughter rippling through the arena. The boy who had defied them, insulted them, mocked their faith he could be wounded after all. A moment of shared victory, and they seized it.
