{"id":3061,"date":"2016-12-02T00:00:16","date_gmt":"2016-12-02T05:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3061"},"modified":"2016-12-01T16:19:41","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T21:19:41","slug":"forty-five-08","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3061","title":{"rendered":"Forty-five – 08"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Matt couldn\u2019t breathe for a split second and in that split second, his arms loosened around Hecate. He felt her tense against his chest for a moment, poised to strike, but then felt her relax in the next heartbeat, pressing back against him as if mere contact with him would keep her from losing him entirely. Despite\u2014or perhaps because of\u2014her fear, she was the one to find her voice first, the words coming as the rasp he could remember her speaking with in their previous encounters, their encounters before the now<\/em>, before their new reality, when she had always appeared as the enemy rather than what she truly was.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrouble. What kind<\/em> of trouble, Huntsman?\u201d Slowly, she re-sheathed her weapons and Matt knew that the fear and desperate madness was clearing from her eyes as she did, could sense it beyond seeing. \u201cWhat sort of trouble would bring you to my doorstep with anything other than ill intentions? You people tried to kill<\/em> me once upon a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was because you\u2019d hurt him,\u201d Gilad fired back, his gaze flicking toward Matt before returning to Hecate. Matt felt his jaw tighten even as Hecate gathered her breath.<\/p>\n

Her voice came low and deadly. \u201cIt was not the way you think it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing ever is,\u201d Gilad said, his voice suddenly weary. \u201cBelieve me when I say that it\u2019s taken the fullest measure of time to begin to understand that, but it\u2019s the truth. I believe your words, mistress. If I didn\u2019t regret what we did then and if I didn\u2019t think you could be trusted to help us now, I never would have come. You have my word on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt cleared his throat. \u201cYou came alone?\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilad nodded. \u201cThe rest of my patrol is camped three miles from here. None of them knew you, not as I did. They\u2019re Seamus\u2019s men, not yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of you are my men,\u201d Matt said, his voice distant and his throat dry. He let one arm slide away from Hecate to dangle limp at his side, the other curled around her waist in a gesture that was not restraining but was intimate instead. \u201cYou were his <\/em>men.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the same souls, my old friend,\u201d Gilad said, his eyes shining with tears the Huntsman would not let himself shed. \u201cSome things don\u2019t die when we pass from this life into the next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt took an uneven breath. Hecate touched his arm where it wound around her waist, her fingers warm and the feel of them soothing. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to ward off the memories of his soul that tried to swarm up from the deepest chasms of his mind and heart, the secrets that he kept from the people he\u2019d loved the most before she\u2019d come back into his life this way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d he managed to ask, opening his eyes to meet Gilad\u2019s gaze.<\/p>\n

The other man stared at him steadily, still standing on the doorstep, just under cover from the ice-cold rain and hail that poured down from the steel-gray clouds above. \u201cYou must have sensed them,\u201d he said, the words almost tentative. \u201cYou know they\u2019ve returned, don\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOlympium,\u201d Hecate breathed, the word almost a curse on her tongue, her voice heavy with bitterness.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d Matt said slowly. \u201cYes, we know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the ways of our knowing aren\u2019t important\u2014are they?<\/em><\/p>\n

Gilad nodded. \u201cThey march on our home, Matthew. They march on your family.\u201d<\/p>\n

His heart sank. Hecate\u2019s fingers bunched in his sleeve.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were afraid of that,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n

All he could do was nod, his throat tight and a giant fist wrapping around his heart and squeezing. He stared at Gilad, waiting for the other man to continue, to tell him how and why and what they could do, why he\u2019d come to find them when he\u2019d sensed Matt\u2019s soul\u2014C\u00edar\u2019s<\/em> soul\u2014out here in the quiet solitude of their rise overlooking the lakeshore.<\/p>\n

He let his head drop a moment later, burying his nose in her hair and his arm tightening around her waist. Even breathing hurt as the fist squeezed even tighter around his heart as silence stretched, as Gilad fought to find the right words to explain to him what was happening, what they could do.<\/p>\n

All Matt could think was that their wishes that Olympium would leave Hecate alone had somehow cost him the rest of his family and friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are they?\u201d Hecate asked, her voice almost too soft to hear.<\/p>\n

\u201cNear as we could tell, they should be there by now,\u201d Gilad said. \u201cWe ran into a group of their outriders. Spent days searching for the main army. I sent two riders back toward home to warn them, but I don\u2019t know if they made it in time to warn them. I\u2014\u201d his voice faltered and he cleared his throat. \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCome in from the rain,\u201d she said softly. \u201cTell us everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilad nodded and stepped inside the house. \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

All she did was nod and step aside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] Matt couldn\u2019t breathe for a split second and in that split second, his arms loosened around Hecate. He felt her tense against his chest for a moment, poised to strike, but then … 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":[124,234,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,146,195],"class_list":["post-3061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-45","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","tag-wild-hunt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Nn","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3061","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=3061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3062,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3061\/revisions\/3062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}