The weight bracelets had been on me for so long that I had forgotten what my body felt like without them.
I had been training, fighting, running, swinging a sword that was already heavy enough on its own, all while carrying Kassie's ridiculous weights on every limb. I had gotten used to that slower, heavier version of myself, the one that had to work twice as hard for every movement.
This was the real version.
I clenched my fist and the ground under my feet splintered further from the pressure alone.
'Kassie, you beautiful, terrifying woman. I understand now.'
The Chameleon crashed through two more trees before it caught itself, claws scrabbling against bark. It righted on a thick branch and stared at me. For the first time since this fight began, the grin was gone. Those massive bulging eyes narrowed, and its head tilted sideways in that skin-crawling way, studying me like I was a different person than the one it had been throwing around earlier.
