{"id":2827,"date":"2016-04-13T00:00:50","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T04:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2827"},"modified":"2016-04-13T14:47:52","modified_gmt":"2016-04-13T18:47:52","slug":"twenty-nine-05-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2827","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-nine – 05"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Matt found himself feeling oddly bereft as he stared after her. He sat frozen on the edge of the bed, still tasting her against his lips\u2014her kiss, her tears. For a long moment, all he could do was just stare at that open door and the shadows beyond it, shadows that seemed to have swallowed her whole only a few moments after she\u2019d walked out that door.<\/p>\n

The way she talked…<\/em> He shook himself, swallowing hard. His throat was still strangely tight.<\/p>\n

Shit. How much of this is me actually being worried about her based on everything I\u2019ve just seen and heard and how much of this is <\/em>him and his memories and feelings manifesting in me?<\/em><\/p>\n

Matt knuckled his eyes and exhaled. Maybe it didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

Hell, it probably <\/em>doesn\u2019t matter.<\/em><\/p>\n

He reached for his boots and tugged them on, expression settling into grim lines. Understanding this\u2014whatever had just happened, whatever was going on with her\u2014was important, maybe even more important than escaping.<\/p>\n

Escaping. Shit. I should\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n

No. No. This <\/em>is more important and I can\u2019t deny that. I don\u2019t think I want to, either.<\/em><\/p>\n

The more we know\u2014maybe if we know more, we\u2019ll be able to\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n

To what?<\/em><\/p>\n

He growled and stood up. He\u2019d figure that part out later. Right now he knew what he needed to do, even if doing it wasn\u2019t what his friends and family would have expected him to do at the first opportunity.<\/p>\n

He walked through the door and into the shadows after Hecate, trying to quell the nausea that rose in his gut, the bile that crept up in his throat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some things I can\u2019t quite control.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I just…do things.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Matt closed his eyes and exhaled a shaky breath.<\/p>\n

There was definitely something more going on than any of them had ever had the chance to see\u2014before now, before him.<\/p>\n

Did C\u00edar know?<\/em><\/p>\n

If he had, Matt suspected he\u2019d never said anything outright. Maybe it hadn\u2019t been as bad back then.<\/p>\n

Or maybe C\u00edar was the only reason she was still alive all these centuries later.<\/p>\n

He might have put some kind of bug in Phelan\u2019s ear, or in his sister\u2019s\u2014might have quietly done something that got them to leave her alone.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hell. Maybe C\u00edar mac D\u00fabhshl\u00e1in had convinced them to give her a pass back then. Maybe that was why Phelan\u2014or any of his allies\u2014had never really made a concerted effort to kill her.<\/p>\n

I could be wrong\u2014but I could be right, too.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHell,\u201d he breathed, starting to move faster. The hall was just about as dark as it looked, but he could see a light ahead and to the left\u2014probably a corner. He thought he could hear her beyond that corner, hoped it was her he heard beyond that corner.<\/p>\n

There was nowhere else she could have gone, logically speaking.<\/p>\n

Then again, I quit living in a world where only logical things happened a long time ago.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHec\u2014\u201d he stopped short of saying her name as he came to the corner and caught the barest sound of voices.<\/p>\n

Someone else was there and talking to Hecate.<\/p>\n

Who?<\/em><\/p>\n

He pressed his shoulder against the corner, brows knitting as he strained to hear the conversation he wasn\u2019t a party to but wanted to hear anyway. One voice was unmistakably Hecate\u2019s. The other felt familiar, though he couldn\u2019t quite place it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou haven\u2019t been answering,\u201d the voice he couldn\u2019t place said. It was smooth, like stones polished by the sea, but there was an almost purring undertone to it, one that made the hair stand up on the back of his neck and set a growl rising in his throat. There was something very, very wrong, he knew it down to his bones.<\/p>\n

Whoever was talking to Hecate was someone he already didn\u2019t like one bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be because I am not the one at your beckon call,\u201d Hecate said, her voice razored at the edges and as cold as ice\u2014painfully different from the way it had sounded only minutes before, when she\u2019d been with him.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like she flipped some kind of switch.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou waste time and resources,\u201d the first voice said. It was a woman, Matt could tell that much, but a strong one\u2014one very used to getting her way. \u201cFar be it for me to question your precious plans\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen don\u2019t,\u201d Hecate said, cutting off her guest. \u201cRegardless, your services are no longer required.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a pause, then: \u201cReally, now? Has someone else brought you the Taliesin in chains?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s none of your concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I very much think it is<\/em> my concern, my lady. We had a contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

He heard Hecate take a slow, deliberate breath. \u201cAnd that contract is now complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou promised me spoils.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI promised you a share if there were any.\u201d Was it Matt\u2019s imagination, or was her voice growing a little unsteady? \u201cAnd only if you played a role in getting me what I wanted. You have done neither. Our business is complete. Now go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shit.<\/em><\/p>\n

Matt squeezed his eyes shut.<\/p>\n

Just go back. Just wait for her\u2014or something.<\/em><\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t listen to the part of himself that was counseling that discretion was the better part of valor. Something deep inside wouldn\u2019t let him\u2014probably the same part of himself that could see the vulnerability in the Hecate, the part that suspected there was far more to the witch-goddess than he and the others had seen.<\/p>\n

He stepped around the corner and blinked at the sight of the cocoa-skinned woman dressed in a fitted gown of crimson-dyed cloth, her hair bound in hundreds of slender braids decorated by red and white shells and beads that clacked and rattled as her dark gaze snapped toward him.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo spoils,\u201d she said softly, her eyes narrowing. \u201cI think you\u2019ve been holding out on me, Hecate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suddenly, there was a knife in Hecate\u2019s hand and a fire blazing in her blue eyes. Her voice came as a low, deadly whisper, the slender blade pressed against the other woman\u2019s throat.<\/p>\n

\u201cTouch him and die.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] Matt found himself feeling oddly bereft as he stared after her. He sat frozen on the edge of the bed, still tasting her against his lips\u2014her kiss, her tears. For a long … 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":[124,201,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,181,203,149,148,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-2827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-29-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-menhit","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-JB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827","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=2827"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2829,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827\/revisions\/2829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}