The Queen || ✔

Chapter 44: Battered and Beaten and Bruised

Blade

"Do you want to die young, you fucking piece of sick shit?!" I growled angrily at Zeus while holding him by his leather jacket. He coughed out blood violently while losing consciousness. I couldn't let that happen, I needed him alive so that Claudia could kill him herself.

"Blade! Let him go!" She screamed loudly while trying to pry me off of him.

I pushed her away, making her hit the hard wooden floor harshly, then she banged her head on the floor. Her groan sent me into a frenzy of emotions, mainly blazing anger. Letting go of Zeus, I advanced on her.

"Hilary, you fucking whore! Claudia was fucking right to try to kill you! First it was Charles, now it's Zeus?! You whore!" I screamed at her, while spitting, and suddenly Zeus pushed himself onto me and attacked.

While on me, he hit me square in the face with a nasty left hand, then went straight for some very hard stomach punches. I felt my body go numb, but I tried to hold him back. It wasn't working though, Zeus was powered by some rage which started to scare me, he looked like he wanted to kill me.

"DON'T... FUCKING... TOUCH... HER!" He aimed for my nose this time, and didn't miss. He successfully cracked my nose and made it audible.

My breathing slowed down and my eyes started closing down. The pain I was feeling was inhumane and I knew what it felt like to be continuously hit with a sledge hammer. My mind started numbing down, and I still felt the need to fight back. Zeus may have not been much of a fighter, but that didn't mean that he wasn't strong, he was Claudia's son after all.

"Zeus no! You're killing him!" Hilary pulled him off of me, but Zeus didn't what to give in. Finally, she managed to pry him off of him and he breathed in heavily. His knuckles were still covered in blood, and I groaned at the sight of my blood on his hands.

"DON'T YOU EVER TALK TO HER LIKE THAT! I'M NOT MY MA, I WON'T FUCKING SPARE YOUR ASS!" He yelled at me, with Hilary's hand still in his.

She looked uncomfortable with tears streaming down her face and her body shaking in his arms. I saw a large bruise on her left arm just as she had turned her back on me to hug Zeus, and I soon after blacked out.

==*==

I woke up, but didn't open my eyes. I couldn't, my head was hurting me unapologetically.

"Dad, calm down. Don't push yourself too much, just keep still." I heard my daughter say and I felt better. I wondered why she sounded so worried though, so I opened my eyes.

I expected to be blinded by the daylight, but was instead lying in a dimly lit room. The only lights which were on were the ones across from the bed I had been lying on, on the nightstand, which were actually candles. I recognised the room, it was mine, but didn't know why candles were on instead of actual electric lights.

Lizzy came running back, and Dr. Indurjeeth followed in pursuit. She looked exhausted, what time was it?

"How are you feeling? Any pain? Headache? Dizziness? Sleepiness?" She asked me while checking my heart rate and blood pressure. I shook my head to all of her questions, then she asked me another question with an angrier tone this time, "What were you thinking?"

"Excuse me?" I tried to sit up, but the pain in my stomach came banging on me, making me growl loudly.

"Yeah, stay down boy. You're midsection is badly bruised, and he had managed to break a few ribs. I'm surprised you're not screaming in pain right now after that stunt."

"I'm Blade King, son of Baxter King, there's no type of pain I can't take." I said pridefully, but secretly, I felt like shit.

Everything hurt terribly, my head was still drowsy and I still couldn't believe the damage Zeus was capable of causing me. I was hurting beyond my wildest dreams, not something I'd want anyone else to be feeling.

"Congratulations." Dr. Indurjeeth sarcastically said, rolling her eyes in the process.

"Why are there no lights?" I asked.

"Some men came at around eight to tell us about problems with the power shortages in the area, it happens seldom."

"What time is it?"

"Midnight." Lizzy said nonchalantly, but I almost bursted.

As though on impulse, Dr. Indurjeeth shushed me harshly right before I could say anything. I looked at her in shock of what she had done and saw only demanding eyes which didn't like to be disobeyed.

They reminded me of my wife's, Jay'lea. Whenever I would stick my hand in a pot she was cooking from, whenever I'd mistakingly say a curse word in front of baby Elizabeth, whenever I'd forget something that she would write down for me, e-mail to me and remind me again before I leave the house, she gave me that look. With raised eyebrows, pouted lips, flared nostrils and eyes as wide as saucers. Yet now, the look wasn't on her face, it was on Dr. Indurjeeth's.

I chuckled on sight, seeming like a crazy person, but they wouldn't have understood. The memories of Jay'lea were still fresh in my mind and revisiting some of the amusing ones was a nice thing for me to do.

"Did Zeus manage to crack your brain or are you naturally just out of your mind?" Dr. Indurjeeth said confusingly, and I shrugged with a smirk on my face.

I then looked down at my hands and saw the bruised knuckles covered in bandaged. I had plasters around some of my fingers and a nasty cut in my right-handed ring finger's nail. They looked like I had been carrying bricks for centuries.

"Where is Zeus?" I asked, wanting to know where my opponent was. I didn't leave him unscarred, in fact, I left him with a huge dent on his forehead and a broke left knee. Though it seemed that I took most of the damage.

"In his room with Poseidon and Hilary." I cringed when I heard that name coming out of Lizzy's mouth, "Are you ok, dad?" She asked me.

"He just woke up. He could be a bit frazzled. I'm still going to double-check all of your open wounds which didn't need protection, then I'll clean all of your bandages and maybe put a cast around your midsection. It's bruised like hell. I won't be prescribing anything because I'm scared you'll get addicted, and because you seem strong enough to withstand the pain, but I will check up on you more than I check on Claudia."

I tried to get up dramatically, but my stomach wasn't budging. It felt like a million daggers were simultaneously stabbed into my stomach, making me groan loudly.

"I said don't try and get up, or are you that stubborn Mr. King?" Dr. Indurjeeth scolded me while getting up.

"Where are you going?" I asked roughly, she turned around and leaned into her hip.

"I'm going to fetch my equipment. You look like you need to get your leg amputated." She said, lacing her words with obvious sarcasm.

"Why would you want to stop taking care of Claudia when she's the unconscious one, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me because I can take care of myself, worry about Claudia who is..."

"... she's awake." The doctor sighed.

"What?"

"She woke up right after you left. She is still in the hospital though."

I was supposed to be overjoyed, I was supposed to be relieved that she woke up. But the only thing that I could think about was Charles.