{"id":3550,"date":"2018-03-28T00:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T04:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3550"},"modified":"2018-03-27T19:33:22","modified_gmt":"2018-03-27T23:33:22","slug":"thirty-five-05-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3550","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-five – 05"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

No. No, I can\u2019t let you take this burden on your shoulders all on your own. That\u2019s not how this works, not anymore. Not for either one of us.<\/em><\/p>\n

Right?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2014could you guys keep an eye on the twins?\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt jerked and Hecate blinked, looking toward Tala. She nodded quickly. \u201cOf course. Is something wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust remembered something, that\u2019s all,\u201d Tala said, then smiled weakly. \u201cI\u2019ll be back pretty quick, just need to take care of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGo ahead,\u201d Matt murmured, staring into the fire. Hecate bit her lip.<\/p>\n

Tala watched them both for a few seconds, then nodded. \u201cRight. I\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate watched her go, heart feeling like lead in her chest. She exhaled, looking toward Matt. \u201cYou know why she left.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause she forgot something,\u201d he said, his voice low, his gaze still on the flickering flames. Hecate\u2019s heart gave a painful squeeze.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe didn\u2019t want to watch us fight,\u201d Hecate said, her throat tightening. \u201cI don\u2019t want to fight, either, but I will if I have to. I love you too much to watch you beat yourself up over something that isn\u2019t your fault.\u201d<\/p>\n

He took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut again. Hecate leaned against him again, biting her lip.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatt, please.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d he whispered. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, okay? It just\u2014it\u2019s hard. Maybe it\u2019s in my blood. Mar\u2019s got the same guilt issues I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s hard,\u201d she whispered back, pressing a kiss to his jaw. \u201cEverything\u2019s hard. Someday it won\u2019t be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPromise?\u201d<\/p>\n

A brief laugh wrested its way free from her throat. \u201cI promise. I just don\u2019t know when it\u2019ll happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeday,\u201d Matt said, then looked at her with a weak smile.<\/p>\n

Hecate nodded and kissed him again. \u201cI love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you, too,\u201d he said, then sighed. \u201cI hope you\u2019re wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout Leviathan?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded, then pushed to his feet. \u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo do I,\u201d Hecate said, watching as he moved around the edge of the fire to check on Tala\u2019s twins. \u201cI really, really do. I mean, I\u2019ve been wrong before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe this is one of my times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe,\u201d Matt said quietly. \u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Hecate’s point of view.] No. No, I can\u2019t let you take this burden on your shoulders all on your own. That\u2019s not how this works, not anymore. Not for either one of us. Right? \u201cI\u2014could you … 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":[150,171,170,228,194,227,181,149,148,168,147,165,215,146],"class_list":["post-3550","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-gwen-johanson","tag-hecate","tag-kurt-johanson","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-tala-johanson","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Vg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3550","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=3550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3551,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3550\/revisions\/3551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}