Fervent Sorrow {Completed}

The Picture

Chapter 21

"Can't you do a simple triple side kick?!" Hansel yells at me.

It's been three days since the Angels came from above and three days since my duel with Hansel. If I thought that after that the water would be clear between us, boy was I wrong. Things only got worse.

He yelled at me more often. No, he wouldn't do it in front of the army during training. He wouldn't risk wanting to come off as unprofessional. He would wait until we were alone and then insult me for my lack of enforcement on my portion of the army. He thought I went too easy on them. And if he wasn't judging me on my training skills, he would judge me on my battlefield skills. He would always find a fault in every move I made.

Suddenly I felt like I was my 13 year old self and Hansel was my father. Me, oh so complying to try to get approval from my father and he just giving me glares and a shake of his head as a symbol of his disapproval.

But on the bright side, at least he stopped trying to kill me.

Well, at least until now.

"I've had enough," I hissed getting up from the floor again, crouching slightly from how painful that slam was.

After the second training session was over, Hansel pulled me to the side. I knew a critique was coming as soon as I saw the glare in his eyes. And yep, he judged me on my triple side kick. First he said it was too weak, and when my kicks got harder, he said that my moves were too slow. Correction, he didn't just correct me on my faults, he yelled them to me. Almost as if I wasn't standing right in front of him. Luckily for him, and a true misfortune for me, we had the whole field to ourselves. Everyone was out on their lunch break. At least if people were around, he wouldn't be yelling so much.

"And I say that you haven't had enough! Now get into position and let's try this again! Hopefully you get it God damn right this time!" He barks, lifting his hands back up.

"No! I need a break! I'm tired and I'm starving! I haven't fed all day and we've been going at this for forty minutes now!" I yelled back.

"I'm sorry, I don't recall asking you if you had fed or not! Now stop wasting fucking time and do as you are told!" He growls.

I hiss and get into position again.

I take a hasty breath and charge. When I near him, I lift my right leg and try to kick him in the face, he steps back and pushes my leg to the left. I turn a complete circle and try to kick him again, he does the same thing again. I go for the third kick, this time using my left leg, praying to all the gods out there that he didn't see my move coming.

Nope.

He saw it coming, with bright colors and all.

He takes hold of my ankle and pushes me back with unnecessary force. I land on the ground with a loud thud.

"Another fail! It's not too difficult Catherine! I'm pretty sure my own grandmother can do it better than you!" He growls, dashing to me to yell down at me.

I hiss and push myself off the ground.

"I'm done," I growl, glaring at him.

"And I say you aren't! Now, again!" He hisses, taking a threatening step closer to me.

"No," I say, doing my best to keep my cool, "I have leaves in my hair, my body is sore from being treated like a rag-doll, and like I said earlier I'm starving."

"And if it wasn't clear to you before. I. Don't. Care," he growls each word. His eyes blazing their royal red.

"Now do it again," he orders. I do it again. And I land on my face, again.