{"id":3422,"date":"2017-11-27T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T05:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3422"},"modified":"2017-11-26T20:19:25","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T01:19:25","slug":"twenty-seven-03-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3422","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-seven – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Once he was gone and long out of sight, I secured the gate again but lingered near it, trying to sort through the maelstrom of emotions his departure caused. Cariocecus had almost killed me more than once\u2014had killed Kellin for a few seconds before Jacqueline managed to bring her back\u2014but somewhere along the line after he\u2019d thrown his lot in with us, I\u2019d begun to give a damn about him. Maybe it was the moment when he\u2019d collapsed bleeding at my feet months ago. Maybe it was before, or after. I didn\u2019t know for certain. I wasn\u2019t certain it mattered.<\/p>\n

Once the gate was secure, I turned and headed back, intending to go back to my room and relieve Thom\u2014I had let him and the baby asleep, but I was sure one or both had to be awake. Thom\u2019s fever had ebbed, but he was far from recovered. Despite that, it would only be a matter of time before he was pushing his body and his luck.<\/p>\n

At least, I suspected it would be. I wouldn\u2019t mind it too much if he proved me wrong.<\/p>\n

Thom was reading in bed when I slipped inside, our son still fast asleep in his cradle. I smiled faintly at the sight and tugged the door shut behind me. \u201cHey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHey.\u201d He closed his book and set it down, looking at me with a faint, crooked smile. \u201cWhere\u2019d you go?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOut to the wall to think,\u201d I said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. I leaned in and kissed him gently, fingertips grazing his cheek and jaw. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m any more clear-headed now than I was when I went out there, but at least I tried.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMm,\u201d he said softly, running his fingers through my hair. \u201cIt was a little disorienting to wake up and not find you here. I wasn\u2019t sure what time it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMidmorning,\u201d I told him. \u201cYou could have gone back to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been doing a lot of that lately,\u201d he murmured. \u201cIt\u2019ll be a problem if it becomes a habit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re hurt, you\u2019re allowed to make it a habit,\u201d I told him, then smiled. \u201cI want you whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded. \u201cIt absolutely is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] Once he was gone and long out of sight, I secured the gate again but lingered near it, trying to sort through the maelstrom of emotions his departure caused. Cariocecus had almost … 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":[240,277,14],"tags":[150,171,170,152,149,148,168,147,158,200,146,195],"class_list":["post-3422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-27-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-marin-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-web-fiction","tag-wild-hunt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Tc","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3422","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=3422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3423,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3422\/revisions\/3423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}