{"id":2678,"date":"2015-11-20T00:00:17","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T05:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2678"},"modified":"2015-11-19T18:47:09","modified_gmt":"2015-11-19T23:47:09","slug":"nineteen-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2678","title":{"rendered":"Nineteen – 06"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gods and monsters.<\/em><\/p>\n

Neve didn\u2019t dare to breathe as Sif froze, poised somewhere between reaching for Thordin\u2019s hand and leaning in to kiss his forehead. Her friend drew a rasping breath, then finally spoke with a shaking voice, \u201cThordin?\u201d<\/p>\n

He grunted softly and Neve pressed her spine against the door, feeling like she was somewhere she shouldn\u2019t be as Sif dropped heavily into the chair at Thordin\u2019s bedside, as if her legs wouldn\u2019t support her a moment longer. Her shoulders shook with a sob she clearly fought to hold inside, the sound of it tearing free of her throat in a soft explosion of sound. Neve swallowed hard, torn between going to her friend and quietly stepping out to give them space.<\/p>\n

And yet, she stood paralyzed, staring at the two in the dim light of the lamp.<\/p>\n

Sif whispered something in their native tongue, so soft that Neve didn\u2019t hear what she\u2019d said, then leaned down to press a kiss to Thordin\u2019s forehead. He lifted a shaky, pale hand to tangle in her hair, fingers tightening as he held her forehead against his.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow long?\u201d Thordin asked Sif softly, his voice rusty, raspy from disuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo long,\u201d Sif answered, then sighed. \u201cOh Thordin. I am so sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d There was a hint of wry amusement in his voice. \u201cDid you send that thing after me?\u201d<\/p>\n

She recoiled as if he\u2019d struck her. His fingers slid from her hair, hand dangling off the edge of the bed, limp as if he didn\u2019t have the energy to lift it again.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I didn\u2019t,\u201d Sif snapped. \u201cDid the poison kill the last few brain cells you had left?\u201d<\/p>\n

A breathy laugh escaped him. \u201cThere she is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou,\u201d he murmured.<\/p>\n

Neve smiled faintly and slipped quietly out the door.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gods and monsters. Neve didn\u2019t dare to breathe as Sif froze, poised somewhere between reaching for Thordin\u2019s hand and leaning in to kiss his forehead. Her friend drew a rasping breath, then finally spoke with a shaking voice, \u201cThordin?\u201d He … 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":[124,164,14],"tags":[150,171,170,151,148,147,167,169,146],"class_list":["post-2678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-19-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-neve-vaughan","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial-fiction","tag-sif","tag-thordin","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Hc","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2678","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=2678"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2679,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2678\/revisions\/2679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}