{"id":1233,"date":"2012-05-21T00:00:16","date_gmt":"2012-05-21T04:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=1233"},"modified":"2012-05-20T10:09:47","modified_gmt":"2012-05-20T14:09:47","slug":"autumn-chapter-11-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=1233","title":{"rendered":"Autumn – Chapter 11 – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cYour brother?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I thought\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>She smiled weakly.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThat it was just Teague and I?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It has been for a long time.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>One hand drifted down to cover the hand he rested on her knee.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cSeamus was older than both of us.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He was\u2026I don\u2019t want to say he was the responsible one, because that\u2019s not quite how it was.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He spent a bit of time putting out the fires that Teague started, though, and tried to talk our father out of skinning him alive sometimes.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cSounds like Teague was a handful,\u201d Cameron said, the corner of his mouth quirking in a smile.<\/span>\u00a0 He didn\u2019t seem quite like that to me, but I suppose people change in thousands of\u2014Christ, am I actually starting to\u2014yeah.<\/em>\u00a0 <\/span>Trying to tell himself that they were crazy and that they couldn\u2019t possibly be that old was stupid, especially in light of what had attacked him on the road before Neve brought him to the cottage.<\/span>\u00a0 Seeing is believing, and I\u2019ve seen a couple too many things already.<\/em><\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>There was still a little part in the back of his brain that liked to scream that he was stuck in some sort of crazy nightmare, though.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>He didn\u2019t really listen to it anymore.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>If this was a nightmare and Neve wasn\u2019t real, he wasn\u2019t sure he wanted to wake up again.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cHe was, but we all were in our own ways.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She squeezed his hand, glancing sidelong at him with a weak, fleeting smile.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cSeamus was just the one who set aside his youthful impetuousness when he felt it necessary, or my father demanded it.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Father was\u2026a demanding man.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She sighed softly, eyes turning back to the road before them.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cWas,\u201d Cameron said.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cHow long ago did he\u2026?\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cDie?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Neve closed her eyes briefly.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cHe was killed during the war.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>An assassin tore out his throat while he was out hunting.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It should not have been possible, but in those days the impossible was happening.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Much like today.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cDo you miss him?\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Neve shook her head slowly. \u201cNo.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>No, I don\u2019t think that I do.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He was a hard man, my father.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>No.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She sighed.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI miss Seamus, though.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Cameron heard the pain in her voice, could almost taste it in her words.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThen he\u2019s gone, too?\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cAye,\u201d she whispered, voice almost lost in the sound of their horses\u2019 hooves.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThe war\u2014\u201c<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>her voice broke.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Cameron squeezed her knee and she looked at him, her eyes bleak.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThe war took him from us,\u201d she said quietly.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cMy father sent him south to marry another like us, but from a different\u2026clan, I suppose you could say.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>A different Otherworld from our own.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The woman was supposed to marry Teague\u2014that had been the initial intent\u2014but he\u2019d fallen in love with someone else and she was pregnant with his child.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Seamus took his place.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She stared at the horizon, velvet dark giving way to the bright of day in the west as the rising sun cast long shadows before them.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI wonder sometimes if he was happy with her, but I don\u2019t think they ever had the time to know.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Cameron wondered which of her brothers she meant for a brief moment but decided it was better not to ask.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cHow did it happen?\u201d he asked instead, voice as quiet as hers.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It was as if she was terrified that she might summon up ghosts if she spoke of these painful things too loudly.
\n<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cDo you believe that?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I really don\u2019t know.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>A messenger came one day, already dying of wounds he sustained just reaching Teague.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The messenger told him that Seamus was dead, that the southron clan he\u2019d married into was scattered, broken.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We would get no help from them in our war.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Then the man died before Teague could find out how, or why, or anything else.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cWe never even saw his body, never got to bury him in our way.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I think perhaps that\u2019s the hardest part of it sometimes.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Losing Seamus nearly broke my father.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It certainly broke his grip on his temper.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>After Seamus died, all I can really remember of my father were his rages and how we couldn\u2019t stop them, couldn\u2019t turn them aside.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cIt was good we were at war in those days already.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Neve looked at Cameron.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cIf we hadn\u2019t been, he would have started one, as sure as the sunrise.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cYour brother sounds like he was very different from your father,\u201d Cameron observed.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cIn many ways, we three were more like our mother, yes,\u201d Neve said.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She closed her eyes briefly and then shook herself.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cEnough,\u201d she breathed.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cLet me be happy to be on the road with you, Cameron.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I don\u2019t want to talk about this anymore.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>His heart stutter-stepped and he swallowed hard.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cAll right.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Her hand closed around his again and squeezed.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI\u2019ll race you to the next mile marker.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>She let go of his hand, touched her heels to her mount\u2019s flanks, and was off like a shot.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cHey!\u201d he shouted, blinking.<\/span>\u00a0 Bloody hell!<\/em><\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Her laughter echoed off the trees and back to him.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Cameron couldn\u2019t help but grin as kicked his horse into a gallop and raced after her.<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>There would be time enough to answer all of his questions later.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYour brother?\u00a0 I thought\u2014\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She smiled weakly.\u00a0 \u201cThat it was just Teague and I?\u00a0 It has been for a long time.\u201d\u00a0 One hand drifted down to cover the hand he rested on her knee.\u00a0 \u201cSeamus was older than … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,35,49,14,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autumn","category-book-2","category-chapter-11-book-2","category-story","category-year-one"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-jT","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1233"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1234,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233\/revisions\/1234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}