Hunter: The Reckoning

Chapter 24

It took me a moment to realise the marks on Tisiphone's face were tears. Faint, silvered lines that glistened across red cheeks. Her lips were tinted black, looking more bruised than the scars from being frostbitten, and the look in her eye was pure desperation. I wondered if she saw that in mine too.

I felt desperate. Determined. Terrified of what this now meant for all of us. Before I could get lost in my fear, the presence of Uranus seemed to taint the air around us, a heaviness weighing on my shoulders that disappeared as quickly as it had come. Cain didn't hesitate like I did, he wasn't distracted and as we all got the subtle earthy tug of Gaia beneath us that seemed to fade into nothingness as Uranus had, Cain hadn't stopped fighting either.

Tisiphone shuddered; she barely managed to brace herself against his silent attack. Reaching out, his power was a flurry of chaos around her shield, and as I also sought weakness in her defence, something became very clear. We didn't get ridiculously lucky by taking down two of the three so quickly, but I knew she'd planned it that way. It was as if I could see her thoughts as if they were my own. I had wondered how Megaera got free, her stumbling towards me a badly planned attack that hadn't fitted their style at all.

In the blink of an eye, I saw Tisiphone push her.

What power and protection Uranus had provided was only hers and the price she paid for it was their sacrifice. Nieve hoarded the powers of the Fates, and now whatever had been theirs was Tisiphones. Had that been her plan with Nieve as well, why didn't they want her dead or at least not until they could be the ones to claim what she possessed.

They or just her?

Hecate's reference to burning as one was starting to make more sense in a different way. Unite what had been divided - it was a twin flame theory all over again yet that was in balance. To be one of three or to contain it all, was not. It's why there had been a fourth. Why Zane had been chosen by Themis beyond his gifting of powers - to create balance.

Zane.

I was not the Empress and I needed to be, Cain needed me to be - everyone outside this room was counting on me right now. This wasn't facing Nieve. This was wandering in the snow, unable to admit my friend, my brother, that infuriating Slayer that first kidnapped me a million years ago and made himself one of the most important people in my life, was dead. I held my stomach, feeling the baby within and the promise of a future I would defend until my last breath. I saw Cain next; my other half. Words I had wanted to scream at Gaia about the unfairness of it all, of the demands placed on my head that no matter what truces I made, the power I gained, allies I created, would never be enough, rise again.

I looked over to where Zane was waiting for his moment.

"No." I shook my head.

"No." It's louder this time; I catch Cain glancing my way.

"No!" I scream it now, and even Tisiphone turns her focus towards me as I go closer.

Cain's attempt to stop me is like a subtle breeze on a hot afternoon. A whisper of relief that doesn't last as each step has the ground trembling and with every attack, I feel my power rise; my black-mouthed silver friend appearing like a ghost as he strikes and hisses at each attempt Tisiphone dare makes on my life. It's suddenly Alfie in full battle mode; spikes on his tail and eyes glowing red as we lose ourselves to everything we know we can't turn away from once we open that door.

There's Annipe, her stripes darker and less vibrant than when she is at home, happily soaking in the river at the back of the Academy. Her spikes pound into the dirt, the enemies invisible as she stops them before they can even rise. How they are there, I don't know but their presence empowers me further.