Chapter 19 Kaira
KAIRA
"Again!" Elandra roared from the edge of the field. "Get your ass up, Kaira!"
I wanted to tell her to fuck off. I wanted to show her my middle finger, march all the way to the docks and fucking jump into the cold sea and swim back to the mainland. Oh, how I wanted to ignore them all and disappear, but I couldn't.
The moment she found me standing outside in the freezing rain, she dragged me inside the house and demanded I eat something before our training. Training I didn't fucking understand.
She wanted me to train, to show her what I could do, yet she didn't even try to explain the reason behind this entire exercise.
I expected her to yell at me, to be disappointed when I started asking questions again, but instead of that, she sat me at the table, placed a plate with omelet and fresh fruit in front of me, and disappeared, leaving me there gaping after her.
I was wet to the bone, dripping all over the floor, but she didn't seem to care.
The worst part was, I wasn't even hungry.
I was… I felt nothing as I stared at the breakfast in front of me, trying to wrap my mind around the conversation I had with Hades.
And when Elandra came back, throwing a pair of leggings at me, a T-shirt that definitely wasn't mine, and sneakers that were exactly my size, I did get angry.
But even through my anger, I could see that she was trying to help me. In her own way, she was trying, promising we would have a talk afterwards.
So here we were, in the middle of the forest, at the meadow, with a man she introduced to me after we left the house.
"Do not help her, Lysander!" she screamed at the blond-haired warrior hovering over my body, keeping his hand directed at me. "She needs to get up on her own."
Blue orbs stared down at me, making me wish I could wipe off that little smile off his face. "She's really hard on you," he said, stepping back just as I pulled myself upright. "I mean, I get it, but I do feel bad for you."
"Don't," I gritted out, holding my stomach where he slammed into me during our last fight. One of many.
I had no idea how many hours had passed, or how many sessions we went through, but Elandra was relentless, urging me to fight, to show her what I had.
I had only myself to blame for being too slow, too weak to fight against him.
Before the accident I spent most of my days in the gym and the boxing ring, releasing my frustrations out in a much healthier way than most of my peers.
But since my family died I could barely function, let alone train.
Which was now biting me in the ass.
"What are you waiting for?" Elandra bellowed, making me narrow my eyes at her. "Get to your positions."
Lysander looked at me, then at her, shaking his head.
When we came to this meadow, I didn't think much of the training she mentioned. She already knew my mother threw me into every sport possible since I was a kid, and she wanted to see what I was capable of. She wanted to test me, and I was fine with it. Well, I was fine with it until I saw Lysander.
Standing at six-foot-two, compared to my measly five-seven, he was a fucking giant.
His biceps looked big enough to crush my skull, and if it wasn't for the carefree smile he had on his face from the moment we met, I would've thought he was here to kill me.
Hell, I wasn't so sure he wasn't really trying to kill me, and I highly doubted he was using his full strength.
I was also no fool—I knew he wasn't human.
Ancient energy hummed beneath his skin, slithering to the surface every now and then, but he couldn't hide the golden aura shining around him, or the graceful way he moved.
I fought men before. I won against men before, but this one was on a whole different level.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" he asked, stepping away from me and taking his position. "We can take a break."
"No," I bit out. Taking a break would mean thinking about a certain green-eyed nightmare threatening to take over my mind, and I didn't want that. I didn't want to think about him. About the rejection in his words or the way my heart broke a little more when he disappeared.
I would rather get my ass kicked than try to understand the meaning behind those words.
Widening my feet, I bent my knees just slightly, waiting for Lysander to do the same.
"Kaira!" Elandra called for me, making me turn in her direction.
Her lips were tilted in a smirk I could now recognize very well, and I already knew I wouldn't like what would come out of her mouth.
"You're not a monster, darling girl, but if the other Gods get their hands on you, you will become one.
And if Zeus takes a hold of you, everything you know, and everyone you know, would be destroyed by your hand alone. "
"You're lying!"
"Am I?" She came closer. "You were born to be a killer. You were born to be a God Slayer, Kaira. Your mother fled because the prophecy didn't just speak of the child that would walk among the shadows. It also spoke of the child that would kill a God."
No, she was wrong.
"It spoke of the child that would either set us all free or destroy us all, so which one would you rather be? The savior or the villain?"
I shook my head, refocusing on Lysander who no longer wore the smile on his face. "I'll prove to you that I am neither one of those things."
"To free the island, Kaira, a God must die. An Ancient one. One of the first ones."
"No," I bit out.
"Yes!" she thundered, her voice echoing around us. "A God must die, destroyed by the heir of Death. You're the only thing that could kill a God, Kaira. The only one that could end the terror Zeus had been spreading over these people. Over these poor creatures."
My eyes stayed focused on Lysander, and I would've missed the movement had I not been watching him closely. But I did. This time I did.
He sprinted toward me, aiming for my stomach, but I moved aside. With a speed that shouldn't be possible, he appeared behind me, throwing me down on the ground. I hit the ground hard, losing my breath.
"Think about it, Kaira. Think which Gods are the Ancient ones!" But I couldn't think. I could barely fucking breathe. "Think, Kaira!"
"Zeus," I wheezed, pulling myself up. "Poseidon." I rushed toward Lysander when I stood up, slamming into his middle and sending him down to the ground now. "And," I stammered, finally realizing, "Hades." My voice was a whisper carried by the wind surrounding us. "No."
"Yes, Kaira. Hades is one of the Ancients. Hades is one of those whose blood would be able to set us all free."
Lysander threw me off of him, making me stagger on my feet as we both straightened up.
"I would never kill him."
"You wouldn't," Lysander said, "but Zeus and Hera are capable of making you do what they want you to." He slammed his fist into the side of my face. "They're able to control people. They're able to control immortals."
"No." I blocked his next attack, ignoring the ringing in my ears. "I wouldn't kill him." My heart clenched painfully just thinking of destroying him. Of killing him. "I am not a killer."
"You're not a killer yet." He landed another jab, just to the left side of my head. "But you wouldn't be able to control yourself. You wouldn't be able to control any of your actions."
A roar erupted from me as I landed punch after punch into his plexus, my fists slamming into the wall of muscle. "No!"
"If you don't learn how to control yourself," he pushed me back, "you're a danger to us all. You're a danger to him, to me, to Elandra, to your aunt—every single being on this island."
"I wouldn't hurt him," I breathed out. "I couldn't."
I couldn't even imagine it. But Lysander didn't wait for me to catch my breath. He didn't wait for me to stop thinking about the possibility of killing Hades.
He ended up standing behind me, wrapping his arm around my neck.
"Just imagine, Kaira," he murmured against my ear.
"Him, standing in front of you, powerless, beaten up.
Completely at your mercy, waiting for the execution you would never be able to stop.
Just imagine," he added, squeezing tighter, "you killing the man that would give his life for you.
A God that no longer wants to live. Just imagine, your own hands spilling the blood of an Ancient that never wanted to be a part of this game. Just imagine—"
But he didn't need to say anything more, I could imagine it. I could see it.
The lack of light in those green eyes.
The lack of shadows surrounding him as he begged me for mercy, for me to stop. As he begged me to remember. I could see it as clear as day, my own hands wrapped around his throat and squeezing until nothing but a corpse laid in front of me, staring at me with a million questions and so much sorrow.
I didn't fucking have to imagine.
My vision turned red. The edges darkened, until the only thing I could see, the only thing I could feel, was the fury coursing through my veins. Just like yesterday when I attacked Hades.
My fingers dug into Lysander's forearm. Energy surged beneath my skin, rushing toward my fingertips—and then I pulled.
I could see the inside of him, the golden core shining brightly in the center of his body, giving life to the rest of him.
I could see the essence of who he was, of what he was, and then I dug.
My fingers dug into the golden orb, pulling his energy as if it were my own.
"Holy shit!"
My body awakened, roaring with life as I took and took and fucking took.
"No one is to harm him!" I bellowed, turning around as Lysander's hold on me weakened. His arm fell next to him and before he could take a step back, my hands landed on his cheeks, fingers digging into his temples. "No one."
I couldn't recognize my voice. I couldn't recognize anything anymore but the need to eliminate the threat. And he was a threat.
He threatened him—Hades. He dared to threaten him.
Lysander screamed, his voice echoing around us.
"Kaira! No!"
"No one touches him."
"Fucking hell!" came from somewhere behind me. "Stop!"
Lysander's eyes turned white, that golden orb I could see as bright as the day, started dimming, until—
"Let him go, Kaira," came from behind me as the familiar arms wrapped around my middle, lifting me off the ground. The scent of rain wrapped around me and my hands dropped from the temples of the threat in front of me, breaking him free of my hold.
Lysander dropped to the ground with a painful thud, his eyes closed and his chest barely rising.
"Oh my God," I shrieked, dropping down next to him. But before I could touch him, I was lifted up again, held against a much stronger chest. "Let go of me!"
"Shhh, it's okay." But it wasn't. It wasn't fucking okay.
Elandra ran toward us, her eyes frantic, wild as she looked at the barely moving Lysander. She crouched next to him, holding her hand above his chest, barely looking at me.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Hades asked, his rage barely contained behind the words. "She could've killed him."
Oh my God. He was right. He was fucking right and I couldn't control myself. I couldn't fucking stop myself.
"I told you this was a terrible idea, yet you insisted."
"Shut up, Hades," Elandra hissed, dragging her hand over Lysander's forehead. "He's going to be okay, but I need to bring him to the temple." She then looked up at me, her eyes filled with a pride I didn't expect to see. But also with terror. So much fucking terror it shook me to my core.
"You did good, Kaira. Better than good. And I guess." She looked over my shoulder at the man still holding me. No, not man. A furious God refusing to let go of me. "I guess we now know how to pull out the real you from its prison."
"You're playing with fire, Elandra," Hades bit out, his own rage barely contained in those five words. Yet I couldn't stop looking at Lysander.
"And it worked," she said, slapping Lysander's cheeks. "Come on, darling. Wake the fuck up. I don't want your sister's wrath if you don't. I promised nothing would happen to you."
She didn't seem concerned, but I was. I was fucking terrified.
Terrified of what I could do.
Terrified of the fact that this man laid at my feet, potentially dying.
Terrified the only thing that could bring me back was the man standing behind me, holding me tightly.
But most of all, terrified I could potentially be the reason for the death of all of them.
And I couldn't fucking stand it.