{"id":3216,"date":"2017-05-03T00:00:19","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T04:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3216"},"modified":"2017-05-02T23:48:11","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T03:48:11","slug":"ten-04-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3216","title":{"rendered":"Ten – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from J.T.’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard your name,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve heard stories. His reluctant queen, the stolen girl, the mercy in Hades.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was all of those things\u2014all of them and more.<\/em> She held his gaze. I want to help you, but I need your help as well. Not in return, but I need it nonetheless.<\/em><\/p>\n

His stomach dropped, mouth suddenly sour. \u201cMy help.\u201d<\/p>\n

I would not ask if my continued plight would not mean danger to you and yours, know this to be true. I <\/em>swear that it\u2019s true. I need your help for your own safety as well as mine.<\/em><\/p>\n

J.T. hadn\u2019t thought his stomach could feel more hollow, but all of a sudden it did. He cleared his throat, trying to steady himself. It felt like the blows just kept on coming. His fingers curled into fists against his knees.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell me,\u201d he said, his voice hoarse.<\/p>\n

Relief washed across Persephone\u2019s face and she dropped to her knees in front of him, slumping to sit on the grass, near enough to touch. He almost reached out but somehow managed to restrain himself.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t sure what he would do if he was actually able to touch her.<\/p>\n

I am their prisoner still.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhose?\u201d He feared he already knew the answer, but needed her to confirm it. He wasn\u2019t sure what he would do once he got the confirmation.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not true. You know exactly what you\u2019ll do once you get the confirmation. You\u2019re just worried about everything that\u2019s going to come after it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, he had reason to be worried, didn\u2019t he?<\/p>\n

If she gave him the answer he suspected she would, it would mean marching to war\u2014a war he wasn\u2019t sure that they were equipped to fight, let alone win.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s assuming the others agree to help.<\/em><\/p>\n

Persephone held his gaze for a long moment before looking down. You already know,<\/em> her voice whispered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do,\u201d he murmured. \u201cOlympium.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olympium,<\/em> she echoed.<\/p>\n

J.T. closed his eyes, shoulders slumping.<\/p>\n

Now what am I going to do?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from J.T.’s point of view.]   \u201cI\u2019ve heard your name,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve heard stories. His reluctant queen, the stolen girl, the mercy in Hades.\u201d I was all of those things\u2014all of them and more. She held … 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":[240,251,14],"tags":[205,171,170,160,149,252,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-10-book-6","category-story","tag-eriu","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-j-t-mackenzie","tag-original-fiction","tag-persephone","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-PS","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3216","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=3216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3217,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3216\/revisions\/3217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}