{"id":3119,"date":"2017-01-27T00:00:42","date_gmt":"2017-01-27T05:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3119"},"modified":"2017-01-26T17:57:31","modified_gmt":"2017-01-26T22:57:31","slug":"two-02-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3119","title":{"rendered":"Two – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Matt stayed quiet for a few long moments. If he\u2019d noticed any change in her expression from the pain moving had caused, he didn\u2019t show any sign. He just stared at nothing for the space of a few heartbeats before he said, \u201cMy sister\u2019s looking forward to finally meeting you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate startled a little at the news. \u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded, seeming thoughtful. \u201cShe was up at the forge when I got there. Said she\u2019d needed to stretch her legs, but I think she was mostly there because she was looking for me. She kind of admitted to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was worried about you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA little,\u201d he admitted. \u201cNot as worried as I thought she would be, though.\u201d He lapsed into silence again, but looked down at her afterwards. \u201cI really think she meant it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMeant what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat she\u2019s looking forward to meeting you.\u201d One corner of his mouth tugged upward in a now-familiar smile. \u201cSaid you must be something special.\u201d<\/p>\n

She blushed and burrowed deeper under the blankets, vainly trying to hide the mixture of pleasure and embarrassment that washed through her at the thought. She was flattered, that was for certain, but there was also worry there.<\/p>\n

It was an old worry, the same one that had plagued her for centuries, one she\u2019d never quite seemed to be able to escape no matter how hard she tried. She\u2019d always feared that somehow she wasn\u2019t good enough.<\/p>\n

What if Marin Astoris decided that she wasn\u2019t good enough for her beloved brother?<\/p>\n

\u201cHey,\u201d Matt murmured, lifting the blanket to peek beneath it, seeking her face in the shadows. \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing,\u201d she said, though the answer came a little too quickly for him to believe her\u2014she knew it, too, even without seeing the slight shift in his expression, the flicker of worry in his eyes. She stopped just shy of sucking in a breath, not wanting to further betray her nerves.<\/p>\n

Please don\u2019t ask. Please don\u2019t ask.<\/em><\/p>\n

He hesitated a second too long before he sighed. \u201cAll right,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if you\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really anything worth worrying about,\u201d she said\u2014and meant it. \u201cJust baggage. Shit I should have let go of a long time ago and…didn\u2019t. In my defense, I never really had much opportunity to work through it, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt nodded slowly, then leaned down to kiss her gently. \u201cAs long as you\u2019re sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

She wasn\u2019t, but she was more than halfway there and didn\u2019t want to let her uncertainty win this time. \u201cI\u2019ll be okay,\u201d she said, then smiled weakly. He brushed her hair back from her face again and smiled back.<\/p>\n

\u201cPromise?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate nodded. \u201cI promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those<\/em> words, at least, were true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Hecate’s point of view.] Matt stayed quiet for a few long moments. If he\u2019d noticed any change in her expression from the pain moving had caused, he didn\u2019t show any sign. He just stared at nothing … 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":[240,242,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-02-book-6","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-Oj","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3119","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=3119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3120,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3119\/revisions\/3120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}