{"id":3680,"date":"2018-08-03T00:00:58","date_gmt":"2018-08-03T04:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3680"},"modified":"2018-08-02T20:56:02","modified_gmt":"2018-08-03T00:56:02","slug":"forty-three-05-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3680","title":{"rendered":"Forty-three – 05"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Drawing closer to the fire, I saw Thom sitting near it, leaning silently back against one of the split-log benches, out son against his chest. He looked like he was nearly asleep but fighting it. My breath hitched for a moment.<\/p>\n

I thought he was below. I thought he was <\/em>safe. What the hell? What was he thinking?<\/em><\/p>\n

The problem was, I knew what he\u2019d been thinking\u2014or I thought I knew. His eyes blinked open slowly as we got closer and he winced, pushing himself up a little straighter with a groan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s over?\u201d he asked quietly, eyes on me and nothing else. There was a fever-gleam there, one that was becoming disturbingly familiar.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d I said as Leinth and I eased Seamus down beside him. \u201cFor now, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways for now,\u201d Thom murmured, watching me for a second before he glanced at Seamus, then back to me. I shook my head.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re happier not knowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you okay?\u201d he asked, surprising me when he didn\u2019t press for an answer to the question he hadn\u2019t<\/em> asked.<\/p>\n

A lump built in my throat as I dropped to one knee next to him, my fingers moving of their own accord to brush along the curve of his jaw. He was warm, but at least he was there<\/em>. \u201cAm I ever?\u201d<\/p>\n

He pressed my hand against his cheek, exhaling quietly as he stared up at me. \u201cNone of us are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe turned them back this time,\u201d I said softly. \u201cAt least there\u2019s that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI sent her because you needed her,\u201d he said. I blinked at him and he smiled. \u201cHecate. I could\u2014just a gut feeling Mar. You needed her more than Lin and I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

My throat got tight again and I hugged him tightly, ignoring the fact that I knew he was still hurt and that I was soaked to the skin, briefly sandwiching our sleeping son between his. Thom winced but reached up to lace his fingers through my wet hair, cheek pressed against my temple.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to keep you safe,\u201d he whispered. \u201cEven if I can\u2019t be there, I want you safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you,\u201d I whispered back. There was nothing else that I could say\u2014even those words didn\u2019t adequately express everything I was feeling.<\/p>\n

Thom pressed his lips against my temple and held me there for a moment longer. It was only a moment, but it was everything\u2014everything.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t lose him. Not today. Not ever.<\/em><\/p>\n

We were one<\/em> and we both knew that.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it was starting to seem like the rest of the world did, too, and was determined to do something about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] Drawing closer to the fire, I saw Thom sitting near it, leaning silently back against one of the split-log benches, out son against his chest. He looked like he was nearly asleep … 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":[240,295,14],"tags":[150,171,170,166,152,149,148,159,168,165,158,200,146],"class_list":["post-3680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-43-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-leinth","tag-marin-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-seamus-vaughan","tag-serial","tag-story","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Xm","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3680","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=3680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3681,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3680\/revisions\/3681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}