Page 117 of Destined to Fight

“For the record, I did tell Kade I was concerned, and he said your phone had been disabled and we’d do more in the morning if you weren’t back.”

“And he was being very reasonable.”

Kelly threw up her hands. “Fuck, I made a mistake. I was scared and I knew where they wanted me to go, I put my life at risk knowing exactly what I was giving up in order to save your life. Oh, and for what it’s worth”—Kelly slammed her hands on the table, shaking all the glasses and plates—“they did let you go when I agreed to turn myself over.”

“They planned to let me go the whole goddamned time, Rookie! They have no use for me.”

Kelly stood, beyond done with the conversation, then dizziness overtook her and she sat back down, putting her head in her hands.

Fabian spoke then, as calm as ever. “I do not believe Kelly meant any harm in this situation. She is simply accustomed to the human way of handling hostage situations. We cannot fault her for the way she dealt with it when we did not prepare her for the possibility of these threats.”

She wanted to hug Fabian for coming to her rescue.

Everyone was silent for some time while they ate and drank.

Kelly could tell Ginna was still fired up over everything, but she was trying to let it go.

“All right, Rookie, tell us what happened after you met up with them.” Ginna’s voice still held some annoyance.

Kelly sighed. “I don’t think much of it matters up until the point where I think I stopped time.”

Everyone stared at her.

Fabian collected himself first. “What makes you think you stopped time? What exactly happened?”

Kelly explained the chain of events again, getting tired of repeating herself.“Holy. Fucking. Shit,” Connor said quietly.

That about summed it up, yep.

“It does sound like you succeeded in stopping time.”

“Damn right she did. That’s my girl! I knew you had it in you, Rookie.”

“You will be summoned by the Council again, and soon.” Fabian was visibly worried.

“I didn’t mean to do it. It just happened.”

“Unfortunately, not an argument we can use with the Council. You broke their orders in less than two weeks. Their punishment is likely to be harsh. Connor, do you have any ideas here?”

“No, I don’t. It could be harsh. But with her having such rare powers, I doubt they will strip her of them. They want to see what she can do just as much as we do. No doubt they still have plans for her.”

“We may as well start planning to head back to London. I’ll get everything set up. Nice work, Kelly!” Asta stood and left the room.

Kelly felt overwhelmed with all of it. The last thing she wanted was to go back to London and face those stuck-up assholes.

“What happens until then? I really appreciate everything you all are doing, but I am sick and tired of the attacks and plots to get ahold of me. On top of that, I already feel cooped up. I don’t think Helen of Troy felt this much pressure.”

“We train and do what we’ve been doing since we got home. Ye can work on making a name for yerself too. Ye love to write, and I think ye mentioned reaching more Arcane through a blog. Maybe ye could work on that while we wait things out.”

“Yeah, maybe.” It was hard to feel motivated about anything when she was so exhausted. “I’m going back to bed, though. Yesterday took a lot out of me. Thank you all for coming to my rescue. I can’t thank you enough.”

They all wished her well, and Kade said he’d be in later.

32

Kade

Kade couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with Kelly.

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