{"id":2843,"date":"2016-04-27T00:00:45","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T04:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2843"},"modified":"2016-04-26T19:51:17","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T23:51:17","slug":"thirty-one-01-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2843","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-one – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

I could escape. I could walk right out the door right now.<\/em><\/p>\n

Instead, Matt stayed where he was, sitting next to Hecate in bed and watching her sleep. She was so peaceful laying there, her face and body relaxed, the hate that had made her ugly to all of their eyes erased in the space of a few short weeks.<\/p>\n

She hadn\u2019t told him everything\u2014he knew that and he was pretty sure that she knew that he knew\u2014but she\u2019d said enough. She\u2019d talked about how she\u2019d come to ancient Greece from the lands that had birthed her, why she\u2019d bowed to the commands of the Otherlanders from Olympium, how she and C\u00edar had met, what she\u2019d been asked to do, told him the secret she\u2019d had to keep. He\u2019d started to understand what forces had forged her and what had broken her, had scarred her so deeply that it left marks on her psyche and her soul deeper than any he\u2019d ever tried to imagine.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t sure if C\u00edar had been the only person in her long history that had actually loved her, but he was definitely willing to believe that the Ridden Druid had been the most recent.<\/p>\n

Something about that made him ache in a way he\u2019d never experienced before\u2014though the grief he\u2019d felt when the aunt who\u2019d raised he and Marin died came the closest.<\/p>\n

I could walk out the door right now.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hecate\u2019s hand wrapped around his and squeezed gently. He blinked, looking at her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought you were asleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was,\u201d she whispered. \u201cI was dreaming. It was a nice dream.\u201d One corner of her mouth curved into a slight smile. Matt found himself smiling back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was it about?\u201d<\/p>\n

I could escape.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat might have been. What could be.\u201d Hecate rolled onto her side, her forehead against his knee. \u201cA daughter. A real family.\u201d She sighed softly. \u201cIt was a nice dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt brushed some hair away from her face and she leaned into the touch, sighing again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry I woke you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI started thinking.\u201d She clutched the blankets tighter against her chest, staring at his knee and nothing else. \u201cI started thinking about all the enemies I\u2019ve made, how I can\u2019t seem to stay even-keeled, how broken I am\u2014how broken I\u2019ve always been. A family isn\u2019t in the cards, Matt. Even if I had a child, I\u2019d never be able to keep her. It would be too dangerous. If something happened, I\u2019d never be able to forgive myself. I\u2019d never get over it.\u201d She looked up, eyes brimming with tears. \u201cJust like I wouldn\u2019t be able to forgive myself if I somehow hurt you. I\u2019d rather die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt buried his fingers in her hair.<\/p>\n

I could walk out the door right now, but I\u2019d never escape.<\/em><\/p>\n

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple just as she started to cry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] I could escape. I could walk right out the door right now. Instead, Matt stayed where he was, sitting next to Hecate in bed and watching her sleep. She was so peaceful … 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":[124,206,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-2843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-31-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-JR","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2843","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=2843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2844,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2843\/revisions\/2844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}