{"id":3547,"date":"2018-03-26T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T04:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3547"},"modified":"2018-03-25T10:02:03","modified_gmt":"2018-03-25T14:02:03","slug":"thirty-five-04-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3547","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-five – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The sound of Matt\u2019s tread reached her ears a moment before he joined them and Hecate\u2019s shoulders slumped slightly in something that almost felt like relief. She twisted slightly, looking back over her shoulder toward him, the weak smile she\u2019d mustered for Tala still on her face.<\/p>\n

He arched a brow at her as he joined them by the fire and moved to reclaim his abandoned cup of coffee. His warhammer was slung across his back and he set her crescent moon blades down next to her as he rejoined her on the ground near the fire. \u201cWhat serious conversation did I interrupt here?\u201d he asked, his tone curious and vaguely concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust speculation,\u201d Tala said, rescuing Hecate from having to formulate an answer that wouldn\u2019t make Matt more worried about her than he more than certainly already was. \u201cTalking about who it might be coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was the assessment?\u201d Matt asked as he picked up his cup of coffee again.<\/p>\n

Hecate stared at the fire for a few moments, rubbing Lin\u2019s back. \u201cLeviathan,\u201d she said softly, glancing at him. \u201cWe never did give him an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt\u2019s expression changed. Something flickered through his eyes, almost too quickly to be seen, but she saw it.<\/p>\n

Guilt. But what does he have to be guilty about?<\/em> She reached over to squeeze his arm. \u201cMatt?\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head. \u201cDon\u2019t,\u201d he murmured. \u201cLeave it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLeave what<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m all right,\u201d he lied. Her stomach twisted.<\/p>\n

\u201cFuck, we\u2019re not doing this, are we?\u201d She leaned closer, resting her chin against his shoulder. He squeezed his eyes shut, not looking at her, fingers tightening around his coffee cup. \u201cMatt.\u201d<\/p>\n

When his eyes opened, it was to stare into his cup of coffee. He took one slow, deep breath, then another, still saying nothing. Hecate didn\u2019t care that Tala was watching, that she would hear. Maybe it was a fragment of one of her old selves that caused it or perhaps she really had started to trust the people here as friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that look,\u201d Hecate said in a low voice. \u201cI know it and there\u2019s no reason for it. Leviathan would have come after you and I no matter what\u2014even on our own, he would have come. Don\u2019t for a second believe this is your fault or that you should have done something sooner because there\u2019s nothing<\/em> we could have done. There\u2019s no way out of the cage he built other than fighting our way out. I think both of us know that now. Don\u2019t we?\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt\u2019s lips thinned and he said nothing.<\/p>\n

Her heart began to ache.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Hecate’s point of view.] The sound of Matt\u2019s tread reached her ears a moment before he joined them and Hecate\u2019s shoulders slumped slightly in something that almost felt like relief. She twisted slightly, looking back over … 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":[240,286,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,215,200,146],"class_list":["post-3547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-35-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-tala-johanson","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Vd","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3547","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=3547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3548,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3547\/revisions\/3548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}