{"id":3358,"date":"2017-09-22T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2017-09-22T04:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3358"},"modified":"2017-09-21T18:40:10","modified_gmt":"2017-09-21T22:40:10","slug":"twenty-two-04-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3358","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-two – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

My brother cleared his throat a few seconds before he reached the circle of the fire\u2019s light, cleaning his hands on a rag with a faint smile on his face. I blinked at the sight of him and Thordin twisted to look, his brow furrowing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d he asked, a hint of worry creeping into his tone. \u201cIs something wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt shook his head, glancing back over his shoulder. Hecate appeared from the shadows, cradling a swaddled bundle in her arms, beaming as she shuffled forward.<\/p>\n

I shot to my feet. \u201cIs Neve\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s fine,\u201d Hecate said quickly. \u201cExhausted, but fine. Cameron is with her and their daughter. He said I should bring Tory out to meet his new family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTory,\u201d Thordin echoed, his brows knitting. I smiled even as a chill washed over me.<\/p>\n

\u201cShort for Artorius,\u201d I said softly. Hecate nodded, watching me.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou knew that, though,\u201d she said, her voice quieter than it had been a moment before. \u201cYou knew she would name him that.\u201d<\/p>\n

I glanced at the basket where Lin was sleeping\u2014or had been sleeping. His eyes were open now, bright and focused. I took a deep breath and stood, gathering him up into my arms. Hecate met me partway as I approached her, my throat growing tighter by the second. \u201cI saw things,\u201d I said softly. \u201cI saw things before we ever realized it was two, before we realized how close together they\u2019d be born, before any of that\u2014I saw things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even as tiny and young as he was, I could see that Lin was looking at Tory, who rested quietly in Hecate\u2019s arms, swaddled with wide eyes, but quiet. I knew that he\u2019d been born first, perhaps even an hour or more ago, and his sister had followed.<\/p>\n

I knew that Neve would name her for Cameron\u2019s mother, Anne.<\/p>\n

One little fist worked its way free of the swaddling. I watched my son as he reached for the tiny bundle in his aunt\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch adventures,\u201d I whispered, staring at the two infants as my eyes began to sting. \u201cSo many adventures.\u201d<\/p>\n

I tried not to think about it much. It felt safer that way.<\/p>\n

But I knew that there would be more than just adventures\u2014more and much, much worse.<\/p>\n

But in those few heartbeats, there was just the two babies and maybe, just maybe, a few scraps of hope coming back to us all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] My brother cleared his throat a few seconds before he reached the circle of the fire\u2019s light, cleaning his hands on a rag with a faint smile on his face. I blinked … 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":[240,270,14],"tags":[271,150,171,170,194,152,181,149,148,168,147,165,200,169,146],"class_list":["post-3358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-22-book-6","category-story","tag-artorius-mackenzie","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-marin-astoris","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-thordin","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Sa","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3358","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=3358"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3359,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3358\/revisions\/3359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}