Page 33 of Hunter's Trial

I’m still pacing the kitchen floor when the front door unlocks and swings open. I grab a kitchen knife from the chopping block on the counter and ready myself for whoever comes through that door. It might not be the best weapon but it will certainly do.

I move quickly toward the door, entering the natural blind spot of the person entering the room.

Horus.

The very last person that I wanted to see.

I freeze mid swing – and he spins a moment too slow. I would have had him. He’s getting sloppy. Honestly, it’s a little embarrassing to witness. I can’t stifle my automatic disappointment. Despite not working for me anymore, he could have at least managed to keep up with his training.

Horus reaches for his gun just a moment too slow. His fingers are on the handle, I can see it from the way he spins – I would have been the one to win this fight.

“Disappointing. I taught you better than that.” I say as I shift out of my fighting stance into something a bit less tense.

Horus doesn’t drop his guard so easily. I can see the skepticism written on his face, but he’s not going to attack me. He might have more than one reason to do so – but he won’t. I can feel it in my bones.

“Why are you here?!” Horus demands.

So funny. Him? Making demands of me?

I don’t have to answer anything that he asks me. Not now, not ever. I’m my own man.

Besides, it’s not like I’m just going to spill my guts about the thing going on between Kate and myself. I don’t even have a label for it. Horus was my right-hand man. I used to tell him absolutely anything and everything – before he betrayed me. That trust is gone. I might not want him dead, per se, but I’m never going to let him close to me again.

From the look on his face, he knows that much already.

“I was invited.” I answer, “Kate wants me to be here,” That’s the closest thing to the truth that he’s going to get from me.

Horus scoffs incredulously. I almost expect him to whip out his cell phone and call his boss to report my location. It’s strange that he doesn’t. “Oh, does she?”

What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!

Before I can ask, Kate and Liz walk hand in hand into the kitchen. Kate stops only when she sees the pair of us standing together as uncomfortably as we currently are.

“Horus? What are you doing here so early?” Kate asks. I can tell that she’s very tense about what she just walked in on, even if she’s trying very hard to make sure that her daughter doesn’t feel any of the awkwardness currently between the adults in the room. No, Liz is already skipping over to the fridge and fetching herself a pitcher of juice to place on the table.

She doesn’t even seem phased. She simply starts to set four place settings like this is the most common thing to her in the whole world.

“Can we have pancakes for breakfast?” She asks Horus.

I don’t know why that bothers me.

Horus shifts, his expression no longer stern, to look down at Liz with a gentle smile. Since when is he good with kids?

Oh. He’s likely spent a fair amount of time with Henry as well. Of course he would have gotten better in the time we were away from one another. More skills that I have neglected to foster. I should be the better one in this situation.

But if Liz and Kate weren’t here – Horus and I were both one uncomfortable conversation away from injuring one another. Just because I wasn’t willing to make the first move against the man that I personally brought up from nothing doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t use the fact that I taught him just about everything that he knows to my advantage.

Morality has no place in fights.

But, having the girls here just means that we are both about to endure the most uncomfortable breakfast known to man.

“Actually, I brought sweet rolls!” Horus announces and goes to fetch the box that he had left by the door. Liz squeals in delight, jumping in place and clapping her hands excitedly before dashing off to inspect the box herself.

I kind of hate him for it.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

KATE

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