{"id":2169,"date":"2014-07-14T00:00:42","date_gmt":"2014-07-14T04:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2169"},"modified":"2014-07-13T13:00:05","modified_gmt":"2014-07-13T17:00:05","slug":"thirty-one-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2169","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-one – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cDon\u2019t be a fool.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The muscles of his shoulders bunched, his fingers tightening around the leather of his reins. He didn\u2019t turn to face me immediately, just stood there, copper-brown hair shining in the dying sunshine. His mount was loaded for a long journey and I suspected that it would be a mistake to let him leave with so much unsaid.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI have to do my duty,\u201d he said, his tone clipped and words firm, though I could hear the tremor of regret and anger beneath them. Anger at who, I wondered\u2014his brother or his father?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIf you ride away today, Seamus, you\u2019ll never see them again. You know that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe better question would be how do <\/em>you know that?\u201d He turned toward me, expression blank except for the rage that flamed in his eyes. \u201cHow do you know that, Brighid of the Imbolg? Who told you that secret?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI hear the whispers,\u201d I said. \u201cI see the signs. I am not a druid, but I\u2019m not blind, either. Seamus, you know that this is a mistake.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOf course it\u2019s a mistake. All of this is a mistake.\u201d He swallowed hard, jaw tightening. \u201cBut my father will not be dissuaded and I will not force my brother to set aside the woman he loves to walk into an obvious trap.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThen why are you walking into that same trap?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBecause sometimes, you have to make a noble sacrifice for the good of the many and ignore the desires of a few.\u201d\u00a0 He reached a gloved hand out to me, took me by the chin and kissed me hard.\u00a0 A shiver of excitement and desire raced through me, fading quickly. Lovers only, and only for the briefest of times. It would never last\u2014I didn\u2019t love him. I wasn\u2019t sure I could love anyone, especially not the way his brother loved his lady, not the way my father had loved my mother. But he\u2019d found comfort in me for a time and I knew that was worth more to him than all the silver in our homeland.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSeamus,\u201d I whispered.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI have to go,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no choice. Go. Go back to your brother, go back to your people. Finn of the Fianna waits for you. I know that you don\u2019t think you know how to love but you do, <\/em>ceann c\u00f3ir. You do. You are more blessed than cursed. Mark my words and know them to be true.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cGood-bye, Brighid.\u00a0 The gods smile on you and so do I.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He pulled himself up into the saddle and was gone before I could say another word in protest. I watched as he rode away, cresting the hill and heading down toward the sea.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cNo luck?\u201d Phelan asked softly from somewhere behind me.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I shook my head, feeling stinging tears well up in my eyes. \u201cNo luck. He\u2019s stubborn. More stubborn than his brother.\u201d I turned away. Phelan grabbed my arm.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat did you say to him?\u201d he asked. I knew then that he\u2019d only come at the end, only heard his cousin\u2019s good-bye. I took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cNothing that mattered,\u201d I said and walked away.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cDon\u2019t be a fool.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The muscles of his shoulders bunched, his fingers tightening around the leather of his reins. He didn\u2019t turn to face me immediately, just stood there, copper-brown hair shining in the dying sunshine. His mount was … 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":[82,114,14,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-4","category-chapter-31-book-4","category-story","category-winter"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-yZ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169","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=2169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2170,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2169\/revisions\/2170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}