[This post is from Hecate’s point of view.]
Hecate tugged a shirt and pants on, smoothing the former carefully over her bandaged midsection. It was hard to tell if she was still running a fever or not, but if she was, no one seemed to have noticed—or, at least, they hadn’t said that they’d noticed.
It’s only a matter of time.
She blew out a quiet breath and sat down on the edge of the bed, dreading putting on actual shoes—dreading the need to bend over so far, mostly, and twist her wound. After a few seconds of staring, she shook her head and stood, thrusting her feet into an old pair of Birkenstocks and slipped outside.
The air smelled of summer, blooms and distant rain and warmth. She could smell breakfast, too—eggs, some sort of meat and potato hash, she thought. She took as deep of a breath as she dared and smiled.
This is it. This is my life now. It felt good.
“Hecate.” A door clicked shut behind her and she turned toward the sound of Marin’s voice. Marin smiled back at her as she came a few more steps down the hall to meet her. “Morning.”
“Morning,” Hecate echoed. “You’re getting a late start. Matt’s been up for hours.”
“I know, I’ve been back and forth,” Marin said, scrubbing a hand over her face. “I just left Lin with Thom. They’re both asleep again for the moment.”
“How is Thom?” Hecate asked, barely managing to suppress a wince. Marin sounded utterly exhausted, and not the exhausted that came along with caring for a young infant.
“No worse, at least,” Marin said, mustering up a smile. “That’s something, right?”
Hecate nodded slightly, the two women falling into step with each other as they headed toward the cookfire and breakfast. “Thank goodness for small favors?”
“And big ones,” Marin said with a slight grin and a shake of her head. “The lines have blurred between which is which, to be perfectly honest. Either way, though, I’m just glad it’s not any worse, especially considering the way he was when we dragged him inside.” Her expression went slack, eyes distant. “I nearly lost him and wouldn’t have known why.”
“Do we have any idea what actually happened?”
Marin shook her head. “No. Not sure why he reacted the way he did and the only way we’ll know if something’s changed about him or the camazotzi is him getting attacked again and I don’t know about you, but I’m not entirely keen on seeing a repeat of that anytime soon.”
“I’m going to go with no on that one,” Hecate murmured.
“Are you and my brother okay?”
Hecate blinked, startled by the question. “What?”
“Sorry, I shouldn’t pry, but I know this hasn’t exactly been easy for you. I just—”
“No, no,” Hecate said. “No, it’s okay. We’re fine. We’re—we’re great, actually. I…I really love him. You know that, right?”
Marin nodded, smiling gently. “I do.”
Hecate bit her lip and smiled weakly. “Good.”
Marin put her arm around her shoulders and gave her a brief squeeze. “Come on. Let’s get some breakfast.”
