Twelve – 06

Posted on June 9, 2017 by Erin M. Klitzke

[This post is from Seamus’s point of view.]

“What are you doing out here, my friend?”

Seamus took a slow, deep breath at the sound of Anselm’s voice behind him, though he didn’t turn. “One could ask the same question of you. You coordinate patrols these days. You don’t ride them.”

“Mm. They saw you go by and more than a few recognized the look on your face, old friend. Something troubles you.”

“A lot of things trouble me, Anselm.”

“Truer words are rarely spoken.” Anselm stopped next to him, followed his gaze out toward the lake, its waters rippling in the afternoon sunshine. “That does not change the fact that I am asking.”

Seamus exhaled, his hand curling into fists. Anselm kept staring straight ahead. These were signs the other man knew, recognized, and Seamus knew it.

Silence lingered between the pair for a long while before Anselm cleared his throat quietly.

“There is some whispering among the Hunt about her being here. They wonder how long it will continue and whether it is by choice or by artifice. Some suspect a coming betrayal.” Anselm paused, as if searching for the right words to phrase what he needed to say. “They have not forgotten what she did to the Ridden Druid.”

“I suspect there is far more to the story of her and Cíar mac Dúbhshláin than any of our brothers and sisters have dared to fathom,” Seamus murmured, closing his eyes for a moment. “You can assure them that she is here by choice—her choice—and that she has been welcomed by at the very least one of the Seers and my cousin, who has far more reason to distrust her than any of the Wild Hunt ever could.”

“I can say the words, but they may not believe them,” Anselm said, a hint of sadness to his tone.

“What would you have me do?”

“Do you believe it? Do you believe that she means no harm here?”

Seamus stared at the water, jaw tightening. That was really the question, wasn’t it?

But he’d seen what she’d done on the field and had to trust in that.

“They saw the sacrifice she was willing to make for us. They saw what Matthew did on the field.”

“They saw, but they don’t understand it.”

“Then their questions aren’t for me,” Seamus said, finally looking over at Anselm. “They’re for Matt.”

And powers only know if they’ll believe what he has to say—or if they’ll believe that he is who he is—or, more precisely, who he was.

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Twelve – 05

Posted on June 7, 2017 by Erin M. Klitzke

[This post is from Leinth’s point of view.]

Neve reached for one of the books that stood stacked in front of Leinth. She ran her fingers along its cover, across the words printed on the spine in faded gold leaf. “He said that he’s got a bad feeling,” she said softly, staring at the book in her hands. “It used to be that when my brothers would say things like that, I’d take it with a grain of salt, but now…now I feel like I should brace myself.”

Leinth winced. “Was that why he was out there? Because he’s got a bad feeling?” Damnation, I shouldn’t have told him he woke me with his nightmares. The fact that he can’t remember them is doing worse to him than I thought it would.

“It sounds like it,” Neve said, setting the book down. “He seems distant again. It worries me.”

Leinth took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “I’ll talk to him.”

“He asked if you’d sent me.”

A shiver worked its way down her spine and Leinth sighed, knuckling her eyes. “Did you tell him that I hadn’t?”

Neve nodded. “He said maybe you should have.”

Hell. Her lips thinned and she shook her head. “I’ll talk to him,” she repeated, then reached for another book. Neve put a hand on hers, stopping her.

“What are we going to do, Leinth?”

“I don’t know yet,” she said, rubbing at her temple. “But we’ll think of something. We have to. It’s like I said, I’m sure everything will be fine.”

Neve stared at her hands, chewing her lip. Leinth reached over to squeeze her arm.

“Now stop fretting,” Leinth murmured. “It’s bad for the twins.” She stood up and circled the table, stopping behind Neve to press a kiss to the top of the younger woman’s head. “All of this can wait. Go to Cameron and try not to feed on each other’s worry. He needs your support now, too.”

Neve sighed, looking up at her. “What’s going to happen to us, Leinth?”

“Whatever Fate wills,” Leinth said, then smiled faintly. “Unless we don’t find her plans to our liking, in which case we’ll scotch her plans and find our own way.”

She gave Neve another squeeze and walked out into the afternoon sun.

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Twelve – 04

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Erin M. Klitzke

[This post is from Leinth’s point of view.]

“Was he out there?”

Neve nodded in response to Leinth’s question, slowly sitting down across from her at the small table in the tent where they’d been sorting through salvaged books. Leinth quirked a brow at her, studying her face for a few long moments.

“You seem tired.”

“I am tired,” Neve said, propping her chin up on a hand. “I’m always tired. I have a feeling that’s going to be my default state of being until these two are at least fifteen.” She ran a hand up and down her distended belly. Leinth smiled faintly.

“That’s possible,” she agreed, setting aside the stack of notecards she’d been writing on. They’d resorted to old-fashioned card catalogues to keep the books straight, but they were still trying to inventory them all before putting them into any sort of real organization. It was a project that Neve and Marin had spearheaded with help from Leinth, Jacqueline, and some of the others, one that Leinth had found particularly relaxing—and enlightening, all things considered.

Truth be told, though, she likely should have spent a little less time getting wrapped up in reading mythology books and a little more time actually helping catalogue what they’d salvaged.

Neve stared at her for a long moment, lips thinning. “Was it like that for you?”

“What?”

“Being pregnant. Were you tired all the time?”

Leinth smiled weakly and shook her head. “It was a long time ago, Neve. I barely remember what it was like.”

The words were a lie, though one that came easily but not without a flicker of remorse, of pain. She had discovered her pregnancy after Seamus had been given to the Hunt and she had made her own escape from her father’s court and a thousand eyes that would have been watching. That had been the easier part of it all.

Keeping herself and the child safe afterwards—that had been the harder part.

But sometimes, hard things are necessary.

“Oh,” Neve said softly, then sighed. “Well. At least I’m close, right?”

“There is that,” Leinth said. She reached across the table and squeezed Neve’s arm.

Neve smiled and she smiled back, giving her arm another squeeze before letting go.

“All will be well,” Leinth promised, her voice soft.

“I hope you’re right,” Neve said.

Truth be known, Leinth hoped she was, too.

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Twelve – 03

Posted on June 2, 2017 by Erin M. Klitzke

[This post is from Seamus’s point of view.]

Shoving his hands deep into his pockets, Seamus began to walk. He moved along the length of the walls, walking north toward the collapsed arch that once marked the gateway to the small Midwestern university whose ruins had somehow become home. The tent city that marked the Wild Hunt encampment on the norther edge of the fortifications was relatively quiet. There was only a little movement, a few of the Hunt moving amidst the tents. It was between patrols; all was quiet.

For now, anyway.

His gaze lingered on the Hunt’s camp. In his gut, he knew that they wouldn’t stay forever, they wouldn’t keep protecting this place forever. That wasn’t the way they were made.

That wasn’t what the Powers intended for them. At the end of the day, it usually didn’t matter what the Hunt wanted. What mattered was what the world needed, what Fate decreed. There were likely some among them that thought that he never should have been released from his duty to them and there had been moments when he himself had begun to wonder if perhaps they were right. He had been apart from the rest of the world for so long, freedom from the Hunt was still surreal.

A shiver crept down his spine as he recalled Leinth’s soft-spoken words.

You can still feel them, can’t you?

He could and maybe—just maybe—he always would. They were still a part of him whether he liked it or not.

There were days he wasn’t sure which was the case.

His steps carried him beyond the encampment, down to the broken asphalt of the roadway, down toward the arch and the roadway beyond. Broken bridges lay to the east and not terribly far to the west he could see the new shoreline of the lake, glittering in the afternoon sun.

Something was out there. He could see it, could feel it.

It made is stomach knot, turn sour. His hands curled into fists.

“Gods and monsters,” he breathed, planting his feet and squinting into the sun. “Now what?”

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Twelve – 02

Posted on May 31, 2017 by Erin M. Klitzke

[This post is from Seamus’s point of view.]

He looked askance at his sister, startled and slightly unsettled. Neve stared back, one brow arching slightly.

“I surprised you,” she said softly.

“A little,” Seamus admitted, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. “You’re usually the one that counsels caution, not to listen to bad feelings that may not have basis in reality.”

She snorted. “Something tells me that your bad feeling probably does have basis in reality. You’ve seen more of what we’re going to end up facing than any of us, I think except for maybe Phelan and maybe Sif—and I’m not confident that either one of them have a better handle on what’s out there and may be trying to target us than you do, Seamus.”

He sighed and wrapped his arms around her, tugging her close to his chest and holding her for a few long moments. Neve leaned against him, wrapping one arm around him and squeezing.

“I’m here if you need me, Seamus. I know it’s been a long time since you had someone close to lean on and I know you have Leinth, but…”

Seamus pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I know what you mean, Neve. I know there’s things that I would rather not burden her with, but at the same time, I’m not certain I want to burden you with them, either. You and Cameron have enough to worry about as it is without adding any issues I may or may not have to the mix.”

Neve laughed a little and shook her head. “We have fewer problems on our own than you think, really. Mostly, we have the same problems as everyone else, though I think sometimes he considers taking me south to the other settlement, as if it’s safer there than it is here. I don’t think he’ll follow through on that thought process, though. At the end of the day, we’re safer here. I know that for a fact.”

“You sound very certain.”

“That’s because I am.” She gave him another squeeze before she gently extricated herself from his embrace. “When you want to talk about it, you know where to find me.”

Seamus didn’t stop her as she stepped away from his side and headed back toward the safety of the walls. He watched her retreating back, his heart giving a painful squeeze.

Something was coming, and he feared that he would be powerless to protect her and everyone and everything else he was coming to hold dear.

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Twelve – 01

Posted on May 29, 2017 by Erin M. Klitzke

[This post is from Seamus’s point of view.]

“You look like you’re a thousand miles away.”

Seamus turned toward the sound of his sister’s voice, managing a slight smile. He’d lingered beyond the walls even after Thom had headed in, lost in his own thoughts, turning things over in his head. “Maybe I am,” he said, looking away again, watching the western sky. “Just getting some air.”

“Mm.” Neve came to stand beside him, idly rubbing her hands over her distended belly. Seamus glanced sidelong, studying her for a few seconds. All of his healer’s training, long in the past but hardly forgotten, told him that she wouldn’t be much longer before she gave birth. “There’s plenty of air inside the walls, big brother. There’s something tugging on you. I can feel it.”

“Did Leinth send you?”

Neve laughed and shook her head. “Should she have?”

He allowed himself a brief hesitation before answering, his guts suddenly churning. “Maybe,” he finally said, then sighed softly, chafing his hands over his arms. “Maybe she should have.”

Her tone gentled, voice growing soft. “What’s the matter, Seamus?”

“I just have a bad feeling,” he murmured. “I said some things to Thom and maybe I shouldn’t have, but maybe he still needed to hear.”

“Like what?”

Seamus exhaled a sigh, staring out at the horizon. “I told him not to rely on the Hunt to protect everyone here. I told him that the walls weren’t going to be enough. I shouldn’t have said any of it, Neve. I’ve only gone and upset him and that’s the last thing he or any of the rest of us need.”

Neve was quiet for a few long moments, chewing her lower lip. “Do you really think so?”

“Yes. No. Gods and monsters, Neve, I don’t know anymore. I really don’t. There’s just—I have—I have a bad feeling. That’s all.”

“Maybe you should listen to it.”

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Eleven – 06

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Erin M. Klitzke

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]

A chill shot through me. “Why? I thought she was their prisoner.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” Matt murmured, closing his eyes and leaning against the forge’s doorframe. “You heard her talk about it, about what they did.”

I winced as Thom stiffened slightly. “When was this?” he asked.

“It’s been more than once,” I told him, my voice firm. “She’s my sister and I have every intention of treating her like my sister. Is that a problem?”

Some of the tension drained away and Thom looked down. “No,” he said, though there was an undercurrent of nerves and disagreement—and something else, something that might have been fear—that I was able to detect. From the looks on their faces, Matt, J.T., and Phelan had caught it, too. Thom shifted uncomfortably, as if suddenly feeling the weight of our gazes—and our judgement.

“She’s my wife, Thom,” Matt said softly. “She’s my wife and I love her and deciding to stay would be easier if everyone could put aside the past and the bullshit and let her at least try to start over here with us.”

Thordin reached over and squeezed Matt’s shoulder. He looked away, out toward the ravine.

“I don’t want to abandon you guys,” Matt murmured. “But for her sake, I will if I have to.”

There it was, the line in the sand. I looked up at Thom, who had an expression like he’d just been gut-punched.

“I—”

“Don’t say it if you won’t mean it, Thom.”

Thom shook his head. “I’m sorry, Matt. It’s just going to take some getting used to.”

“Work harder at it,” I told him, then shifted my attention back to Phelan. “You were saying?”

Phelan nodded slowly. “I was. Pluton had a strange trust of Hecate when it came to Persephone—at least, that’s what I was always led to believe. One usually escorted the other if he wasn’t anywhere to be found and I know I heard at least one tale of Hecate helping her escape, at least for a little while. I don’t know how much truth there was to that one, though.”

I glanced at Matt, biting my lip. “I’m not sure right now is the time to ask her about that.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, a thread of worry underlying his voice. “Is she okay?”

“That’s why I was coming for J.T.,” I admitted. “She said she is, but I think there’s more going on than she wanted to tell me. I just—it seemed like a good idea to have you take a look.”

J.T. took two slow, deep breaths before he nodded. “Okay. Okay. That I can do.”

He didn’t hesitate further, just started walking down the hill.

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Eleven – 05

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Erin M. Klitzke

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]

“Jay,” I whispered. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.

“I don’t want sympathy. That’s not what I need. I need help, dammit, and I’m not sure who I’m going to be able to get it from. I don’t want to drag everyone here into this.”

“I think it’s a little late for that,” Thom said, his arm tightening around me. “We’re involved now whether we want to be or not. How much was she able to tell you about where she is, there they are? She’s being held with the army, isn’t she?”

“I think so,” J.T. said. “That’s the impression I got, anyway. It’s—I don’t know how to express it. This was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever experienced and I’ve been dealing with some pretty fucking weird shit lately.”

“Pluton wouldn’t have wanted her far from him,” Thordin murmured, his gaze focused on something far away, something I couldn’t identify—if he was actually looking at anything at all. “He never trusted anyone with her, not since…” his voice trailed away and his gaze stayed to Matt, who frowned, his brow furrowing.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”my brother asked.

“Because,” Phelan said softly, “the only person he ever trusted her with was your wife. He trusted Hecate.”

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Eleven – 04

Posted on May 22, 2017 by Erin M. Klitzke

[This post from Marin’s point of view.]

“Shit,” Thom breathed, letting go of me as we both started to move faster, clearing the last few yards up the hill to the forge. “What’s going on?”

J.T. swallowed twice, shaking his head slowly. “I—you guys better sit down.”

“Probably smart,” my brother agreed from the shadows inside. “But probably not in here with the baby. Let me bank the forge.”

I nodded slightly, rubbing Lin’s back as J.T. stepped out into the afternoon sunshine. Phelan emerged a second later, earning a lofted brow from me. “Who else is in there?”

“Just Thordin,” Phelan said as he wandered a few yards away and sat down in the grass. J.T. drifted after him like a ghost, though he didn’t sit, just stood and stared out over the ravine. I watched him for a moment, my heart sinking, joining my stomach somewhere around my knees.

“What the hell is going on guys?”

“Wait for Matt,” J.T. murmured.

Thom settled his arm around my shoulders again and I leaned into him slightly. Lin started to fuss a little and Thom reached over, resting his hand lightly on the back of our son’s head. The whimpery, not-quite-crying stopped and Lin went quiet again, resting his head against my chest. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief and Thom held me a little bit tighter.

My brother emerged from the forge a moment later, Thordin coming behind like a much taller shadow. Thom looked expectantly at J.T.

“All right. We’re all here. What is it?”

“Olympium isn’t done with us.”

I grimaced, shaking my head. “Tell me something we didn’t know.”

“Another of the Otherlanders most thought was dead is still alive,” Thordin said quietly. J.T. glanced at him, then exhaled softly, seeming to sag a little as if in relief.

“All right,” I said slowly, already not liking where this was going. “So what does that mean for us?”

“She asked for help,” J.T. said. “Specifically, she asked for my help.” He met my gaze. I’d never seen him so uncertain. It made my throat tighten and my stomach knot up. “I don’t know if I can do it, but something tells me I have to try.”

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Eleven – 03

Posted on May 19, 2017 by Erin M. Klitzke

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]

“Wait up,” he said, jogging a few steps to catch up to me when I didn’t slow down. He slid his arm around my waist once he drew abreast of me, squeezing me closer for a few steps before his grip loosened. “You okay?”

“Better than you,” I said, grinning at him. “I’m not the one currently wrestling with self-doubt.”

“How did—”

“I’ve known you a long time now, Thom. You don’t have to say it for me to figure it out.”

He shook his head again, smiling crookedly. “Sometimes I wonder what the hell I was thinking when I thought I could walk away from you.”

“Well, that’s in the past, now,” I said, idly rubbing Lin’s back in the sling. The newborn made a soft sighing sound and I looked down to see him watching me with huge blue eyes. I smiled and leaned down to kiss his head before I turned my eyes back to the path that continued trips up toward the forge had worn through the grass. Someday we’d need to lay bricks or gravel or something keep it from turning completely to mud.

Someday when we have time to breathe, someday when we have a chance to worry about more than just surviving day to day and fighting everything that comes at us.

The next threat would be coming far too soon—that much was certain. It would probably be Leviathan, though Vammatar’s sisters would probably show up hard on his heels—if they didn’t come first—and then there Olympium. Somehow, I doubted they were done with us. We still had things and people they wanted.

They wouldn’t get them if I had anything to say or do about it, but they still wanted them anyway. They’d learn a bloody lesson soon enough.

As if they hadn’t already learned one on that field.

A grim smile crossed my face and Thom blinked at me.

“What’s that look for?”

I shook my head. “Just thinking,” I said. Telling him what I’d been thinking about would only make him worried.

He seemed to sense that and didn’t ask, simply shrugging. “All right.”

I could see J.T. standing in the doorway of the forge and smiled faintly. “Looks like I was right.”

Thom followed my gaze. “Apparently. Jay!”

J.T. whipped around and the look on his face coupled with his ashen complexion made my stomach drop.

Shit. What now?

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