{"id":3200,"date":"2017-04-17T00:00:16","date_gmt":"2017-04-17T04:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3200"},"modified":"2017-04-16T22:48:17","modified_gmt":"2017-04-17T02:48:17","slug":"nine-01-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3200","title":{"rendered":"Nine – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cIf it\u2019s not one thing, it\u2019s another,\u201d Jacqueline grumbled, standing near the tangled holly and lavender that grew along the edges of the ravine now, planted months ago in the hopes that it would help anchor the wards that Marin had worked so hard to lay, the ones that they\u2019d all tried to help her with\u2014with varying levels of success.<\/p>\n

Phelan stayed quiet, kneeling next to one of the plants, idly fingering its branches. There was something calming about the action and calm was something he certainly felt like he needed in the wake of everything going on\u2014from his realization that Vammatar\u2019s sisters were back on his trail to Cameron\u2019s news about Leviathan, he needed<\/em> something to help him find his center again.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no telling when I\u2019m going to have to pull another trick like what Matt and I did the other day or what I did on the ice to save Thordin\u2014and I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve got another trick like either of those in me at this point. Maybe not ever again.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cPhelan, are you listening?\u201d<\/p>\n

He blinked, looking up. She was staring at him, a strange look on her face. He frowned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d he murmured, looking back down at the stalk of lavender between his fingers. \u201cMy mind was wandering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been doing that a lot the past few days,\u201d Jacqueline said, sinking down to sit beside him. \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head slightly. The buds were soft against his fingertips. \u201cI\u2019m all right. There\u2019s just a lot on my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot on all of our minds, Phelan,\u201d she said softly. She put her hand on his arm and squeezed. \u201cTalk to me. Don\u2019t shut me out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan shook his head again, shifting to sit instead of kneel. Jacqueline sighed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this the way it\u2019s going to be?\u201d she asked. \u201cAre you going to clam up every time something\u2019s bothering you just so you don\u2019t upset me by letting me in on what\u2019s going on in your head?\u201d<\/p>\n

A choked laugh escaped him. \u201cI hope not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen talk to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan closed his eyes and leaned toward her. She wrapped both arms around his waist, resting her head against his.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you, Phelan,\u201d she murmured. \u201cEven if you keep secrets and scare the crap out of me. I just don\u2019t want you to shut me out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t,\u201d he promised, wrapping one arm around her. \u201cI promise.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Phelan’s point of view.] \u201cIf it\u2019s not one thing, it\u2019s another,\u201d Jacqueline grumbled, standing near the tangled holly and lavender that grew along the edges of the ravine now, planted months ago in the hopes that … 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":[240,250,14],"tags":[150,171,170,174,149,173,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-09-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-jacqueline-bell","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-PC","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3200","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=3200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3201,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3200\/revisions\/3201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}