{"id":2715,"date":"2015-12-28T00:00:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-28T05:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2715"},"modified":"2015-12-27T17:52:17","modified_gmt":"2015-12-27T22:52:17","slug":"twenty-one-01-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2715","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-one – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cConas t\u00e1 m\u00e9 chaill t\u00fa<\/em>,\u201d Aoife whispered into her brother\u2019s neck, hugging him as close and as tightly as he was hugging her. \u201cD\u00e9ithe agus arrachtaigh<\/em>, conas t\u00e1 m\u00e9 chaill t\u00fa<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI missed you, too,\u201d he murmured into her hair. His arms loosened after a moment and he stepped back, as if to study her. She held him fast, keeping him close enough to murmur a question.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs he alive?\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan blinked at her, as if he didn\u2019t understand the question. \u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n

Gods and monsters. Who else would I be asking about?<\/em> Aoife exhaled and shivered. Don\u2019t be like that. Gods know that you\u2019ve been away from them for so long that there\u2019s any number of people you could be asking about.<\/em> \u201cSeamus, Phelan. Is he still alive?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her brother\u2019s expression soured for a moment. \u201cYou could have told me that he\u2019d survived to hang out in Charlemagne\u2019s court, you know. You could have told me about his son<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

She winced. He knows about that, then. Well, I suppose that\u2019s better than worse, right?<\/em> \u201cI\u2019m sorry. I swore I wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan sighed. \u201cI was afraid you\u2019d say something like that, though I guess I expected it. Still, it would have been nice to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aoife shook her head slowly. \u201cHow did you find out, Phelan?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLeinth,\u201d Phelan said quietly. \u201cAnd I…I\u2019ve met Cameron. His grandson half a dozen times over or something.\u201d He looked beyond her, gaze distant. Aoife\u2019s hands tightened on his arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Seamus still alive?\u201d she asked again, her heart hammering against her breastbone so hard that she almost swore it was trying to batter its way free of her chest entirely.<\/p>\n

Her brother grimaced, glancing down at her. She blew out a breath through her teeth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy won\u2019t you tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause some things should come from the man himself,\u201d another voice said. It was more gravely and rasping than she remembered, but familiar nonetheless.<\/p>\n

Aoife\u2019s hands fell away from Phelan\u2019s arms and she twisted toward the man who\u2019d spoken, her eyes widening.<\/p>\n

Seamus smiled faintly. \u201cDia duit<\/em>, Aoife. Welcome to our little home by the water.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cConas t\u00e1 m\u00e9 chaill t\u00fa,\u201d Aoife whispered into her brother\u2019s neck, hugging him as close and as tightly as he was hugging her. \u201cD\u00e9ithe agus arrachtaigh, conas t\u00e1 m\u00e9 chaill t\u00fa.\u201d \u201cI missed you, too,\u201d he murmured into her hair. … 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":[124,179,14],"tags":[176,150,170,173,148,159,147,167,146],"class_list":["post-2715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-21-book-5","category-story","tag-aoife-ocredne","tag-awakenings","tag-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-seamus-vaughan","tag-serial-fiction","tag-sif","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-HN","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2715","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=2715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2716,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2715\/revisions\/2716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}