{"id":2899,"date":"2016-06-24T00:00:33","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T04:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2899"},"modified":"2016-06-23T09:39:54","modified_gmt":"2016-06-23T13:39:54","slug":"thirty-four-07","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2899","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-four – 07"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Thordin\u2019s hammer clanged off the anvil instead of the blade, ringing wrong, sounding off-key. Phelan risked a glance up at him, knowing what he\u2019d see in his friend\u2019s face\u2014astonishment, disbelief, confusion.<\/p>\n

He was wrong, though. There was a strange sort of curiosity in Thordin\u2019s look, mingled with surprise and somehow, against all odds, understanding<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t imagine a world where she\u2019s not in it,\u201d Thordin murmured. \u201cWhether she\u2019s your friend or your enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth of them,\u201d Phelan said softly, leaning his head back against the wall and staring at the shadowed ceiling. \u201cKilling Hecate would destroy my sister. And if Hecate\u2019s gone…\u201d His eyes slid shut. \u201cYou\u2019re right. I can\u2019t imagine a world where she doesn\u2019t exist. She\u2019s\u2014she\u2019s like some kind of constant in my world.\u201d His eyes flickered open and he sighed. \u201cI\u2019ve spent centuries telling myself I hate her and now I\u2019m finding myself asking whether or not I really do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thordin put the blade back into the coals to heat again. \u201cWhat conclusion are you coming to?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat I\u2019ve only fought her because I had to, because she seemed hell-bent on stopping me from doing what I need to do\u2014either through killing me or kidnapping me. But looking back, I don\u2019t know that I ever really hated her. I was angry, yes\u2014especially when she\u2019d go after Teague, or chase after me when I really, really had something important I needed to accomplish. It was an unwelcome distraction, but…I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know that I ever really hated her.\u201d His voice grew soft. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t know if she ever really hated me, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thordin nodded, taking the blade out and laying it against the anvil. The hammer fell true this time, the clang echoing softly as he continued his work. \u201cThen you know what you have to do, don\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan choked on a laugh. \u201cWe don\u2019t know where she is, Thordin. No one does. That\u2019s the only thing that\u2019s preventing Aoife from rushing off right now, I think\u2014the fact that we\u2019ve got no clue where the Hecate is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s someone here who might know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan frowned, then stiffened. \u201cHe\u2019s still unconscious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she\u2019s determined enough, old friend…\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan squeezed his eyes shut. \u201cI just have to hope no one\u2019s mentioned him to her yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

And failing that, I have to hope that Cariocecus doesn\u2019t know where to find the woman my sister wants to kill.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Phelan’s point of view.] Thordin\u2019s hammer clanged off the anvil instead of the blade, ringing wrong, sounding off-key. Phelan risked a glance up at him, knowing what he\u2019d see in his friend\u2019s face\u2014astonishment, disbelief, confusion. 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":[124,209,14],"tags":[150,171,170,149,173,148,168,147,165,169,146],"class_list":["post-2899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-34-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thordin","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-KL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2899","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=2899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2900,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2899\/revisions\/2900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}