{"id":3077,"date":"2016-12-19T00:00:54","date_gmt":"2016-12-19T05:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3077"},"modified":"2016-12-18T23:09:47","modified_gmt":"2016-12-19T04:09:47","slug":"forty-seven-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3077","title":{"rendered":"Forty-seven – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Hecate leaned against him for a moment as she fell silent to let her words sink in, her fingers tight in his. Her breathing was ragged\u2014more ragged than his, which made him even more worried.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you going to do?\u201d he whispered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever I have to,\u201d she whispered back, glancing at him for the barest moment before turning her attention back toward the advancing line. \u201cIt\u2019ll be worth it, somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou said it would drain you,\u201d Matt murmured. \u201cWhat you just did, bringing us here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWill you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMatt.\u201d There was a desperate note in her voice as she said his name, as if she was begging him to stop asking questions she didn\u2019t want to answer, to stop saying things she didn\u2019t want to face. Her knuckles turned white where she gripped his hand and he sucked in an uneven breath.<\/p>\n

She won\u2019t make it through this unless I do something.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cTake what you need,\u201d he said. She looked at him sharply, her expression stricken.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cFrom me,\u201d he said. \u201cTake what you need from me<\/em>, cro\u00edl\u00e1r na amach mo anam<\/em>. Do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHecate.\u201d<\/p>\n

She squeezed her eyes shut. The line had halted, the drum cadence had ended. Whoever was in charge had heard her and was apparently trying to decide what to do about it.<\/p>\n

Whatever happened next, Matt was certain it wouldn\u2019t be pretty.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to do it,\u201d he told her, reaching for the blade sheathed at her side. Without warning, he\u2019d freed the weapon and slashed it across her palm.<\/p>\n

Her eyes went wide. \u201cMatt\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head, running the weapon\u2019s blade across his palm, neatly bisecting the scar already there. His gaze steady, he grasped her wounded hand with his, squeezing tightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as love lasts,\u201d he said, his voice firm.<\/p>\n

Hecate\u2019s jaw was slack, her mouth open slightly as she stared at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as love lasts,\u201d Matt repeated, his heart hammering at twice its normal speed.<\/p>\n

After what felt like an eternity, she echoed, \u201cFor as long as love lasts.\u201d<\/p>\n

A jolt ran through him, one that he knew she felt as clearly as he did. It was a step that she\u2019d never taken before and he knew he\u2019d never done it in any life before this one. It had been waiting for this moment\u2014he knew that, too.<\/p>\n

Still holding tight to his hand, she leaned in and kissed him fiercely. He wrapped his arm around her waist and held her for only a moment before letting go.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo what you need to do,\u201d he murmured, tasting the salt of her tears against his lips.<\/p>\n

Hecate nodded hard. \u201cI will. Get back beyond the wall. I\u2019ll come when this is over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you,\u201d Matt told her, the thumb of his uninjured hand brushing along her cheek.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot as much as I love you,\u201d she said, then turned away.<\/p>\n

The drums began again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] Hecate leaned against him for a moment as she fell silent to let her words sink in, her fingers tight in his. Her breathing was ragged\u2014more ragged than his, which made him … 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":[124,236,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-47","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-ND","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077","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=3077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3078,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions\/3078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}