{"id":2923,"date":"2016-07-18T00:00:29","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T04:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2923"},"modified":"2016-07-17T21:54:14","modified_gmt":"2016-07-18T01:54:14","slug":"thirty-six-03-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2923","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-six – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Lara recoiled, her hands shaking as she dropped the reins of Cameron\u2019s mount. Cameron stiffened, reaching for her arm. \u201cLara?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the stories said that was a power long dead,\u201d she whispered as Cameron\u2019s fingers closed around her arm and squeezed. She sucked in a pair of breaths, her face pale. \u201cSorry. I\u2019m sorry. I shouldn\u2019t\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all right,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cThis kind of reaction isn\u2019t anything I haven\u2019t seen before, trust me.\u201d<\/p>\n

A weak laugh escaped her and she nodded. \u201cSee to your horses. Then I\u2019ll\u2014I\u2019ll explain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cameron squeezed her arm again before letting go. \u201cYou don\u2019t really\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I do. I really do.\u201d She took a deep breath. \u201cThere are things you should know about Leviathan, stories that have come down, stories that were lost once upon a time and remembered by only a few. His appearance isn\u2019t good, Dragon. Especially not now, not with the way the world is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a momentary hesitation, Cameron nodded. His stomach already felt like it had fallen down through his feet to the ground, but now it was sinking even lower.<\/p>\n

This is the world Neve and I are bringing children into, that Thom and Marin are bringing a child into, that Tala\u2019s already brought her twins into. What sort of world are they going to inherit from us someday?<\/em><\/p>\n

He grimaced as he turned back to tending his mount and the pack horse.<\/p>\n

It\u2019d be a better world than this one if he had anything to say about it.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u2022<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lara seemed only marginally calmer when he joined her later. She sat in the same little house where he\u2019d first met her, her elbows resting against her knees as she stared into a mug of tea that looked as if it had long gone cold between her hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d she said again as he entered. \u201cI reacted badly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a good reason, I\u2019m sure,\u201d Cameron assured her, sinking down into the chair that sat across a low table from hers. He picked up the teapot from the cast iron warmer that it perched on and poured some tea into the second mug on the table, letting her gather herself. \u201cI wasn\u2019t there when he showed up on our doorstep back home. I didn\u2019t see him myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless the tales are wrong, he\u2019ll be terrifyingly normal on first blush except for the power he carries,\u201d Lara said softly. \u201cMuch like the princes of the Aes Dana but…not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPrinces of…?\u201d<\/p>\n

A laugh escaped her, weak and broken. \u201cThe Aes Dana. Seamus and his family?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d Cameron said, rubbing at his temple and wracking his brain, trying to remember if Neve or her brother had ever mentioned the term. He couldn\u2019t, but in a way, that didn\u2019t surprise him, either.<\/p>\n

A lot\u2019s happened in the last few months.<\/em><\/p>\n

He was going to be a father<\/em>.<\/p>\n

What the hell am I doing here when she\u2019s pregnant back there?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSorry,\u201d he said. \u201cI guess I\u2019ve just never heard them use the term, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lara smiled crookedly and nodded. \u201cIt\u2019s all right. It\u2019s just the name I\u2019m familiar with for them, that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMakes sense, I guess.\u201d He glanced down into his mug. \u201cThey\u2019re just…family, I guess, for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s really it, isn\u2019t it? That\u2019s why I\u2019m doing this, why I\u2019m doing all of this.<\/em><\/p>\n

They\u2019re my family and this is what they need me to do.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lara smiled weakly. \u201cIt\u2019s good to have family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Cameron whispered. \u201cYes, it is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Cameron’s point of view.] Lara recoiled, her hands shaking as she dropped the reins of Cameron\u2019s mount. Cameron stiffened, reaching for her arm. \u201cLara?\u201d \u201cAll the stories said that was a power long dead,\u201d she whispered … 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":[124,212,14],"tags":[150,161,171,170,213,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-2923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-36-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-cameron-mackenzie","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-lara-duchnes","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-L9","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2923","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=2923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2924,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2923\/revisions\/2924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}