Hunter: The Reckoning

Chapter 16

"Elise, you have to slow down. Stop." Apollo demands, his voice grating on every final nerve I have left. "This isn't doing anything."

"Other than proving no one is ready for what is coming." I point out, tossing my sword onto the dirt beside me.

"I'm not going to lecture, but come on. Think about this."

"I am and I'd do it again. I am done with being constantly underestimated and treated like shit, for what reason? I am the fucking Empress and they need to learn what that means. These idiots chose the hard way."

"This isn't going to end well." He sighed.

My hands are shaking, the cramping had stopped over an hour ago much like the ache in my arms and shoulders. I feel the collective sigh of relief around me, just as parts of my body begin to come back to life from the numbness I sank into earlier. I couldn't get my fingers to straighten, the pins and needles intensifying by the second, right as I realised the icky sensation all over my body was sweat and my clothes were feeling glued on. There was a decent cut on my forearm, more than one bruise and dirt stuck to my damp skin wherever it could.

I kept my hands at my side, not sure how I'd go moving my arms much more than that anyway and hoping to hide them from Apollo's judgement. It hadn't meant to be like this; a small training session with a few of the best these allies had to offer. I said I'd only observe, and well, I lied.

It wasn't completely my fault. These assholes had no clear concept of what exactly my position here was or what I could do. I'd never been able to resist a challenge and after two hours of whatever this apparent takedown actually was, Apollo got to healing the last so-called warrior.

"You should be thanking him, a lot more than what I am hearing right now." A murmur ran through them, eyes kept to the bloodied dirt while some stretched and attempted to move again after nearly meeting whatever maker they believed in. Powers or not, I was done with being underestimated.

"So this is where- What is going on? Elise? Apollo?" Kara's voice got higher with each word, and I closed my eyes willing her to go away.

Instead, her footsteps got louder.

More joined hers.

"Just some training," Apollo answered quickly, standing up as he helped the horned guy from who knows where. Should have cut those off. "Nothing major."

"It does not look like nothing major," Kara whispered while still managing to yell; great, she was super pissed off.

I wasn't in the mood for this.

"Well, it was." I turn, smile and ignore the Valkyrie with her as I move to leave.

Her hand snaps out, grabbing my arm. "Elise,"

"Let me go."

"No. Talk to me, you haven't been yourself since the other night." She inched closer, her eyes wide with worry and something else. "I'm worried about you Elle and you look like it was more than nothing. What happened to just watching?"

"I've never done well with just watching."

"You can't-"

I pull free and keep going, and not risking being followed or bumping into anyone on my way to my room, I skip the trip to go straight to my bathroom. No wonder Kara was upset. I am a mess. Blueberry suddenly moves, drawing me away from my reflection and down to my ever-growing stomach. My hands are coming back to life now and I rest them on either side of him, the adrenaline wearing off as I sit on the edge of the bathtub.

"I love you, little one. More than I ever thought I could but why, why now? Why did you have to choose now to come along?" He was a complication. A risk. A distraction.