{"id":3747,"date":"2018-10-12T00:00:35","date_gmt":"2018-10-12T04:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3747"},"modified":"2018-10-11T18:15:17","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T22:15:17","slug":"three-03-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3747","title":{"rendered":"Three – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cYou\u2019ve still got that look,\u201d Matt said. Thom frowned but didn\u2019t turn.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you know? I\u2019m not even looking at you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I know you well enough to figure out when you\u2019ve got that look,\u201d Matt countered. His hammer started to fall into rhythm and Thom sighed, shaking his head. \u201cCheer up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thom snorted softly, limping back to one of the benches that lined the walls of the forge, slowly sitting and stretching his bad leg out in front of him. \u201cEasy for you to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt quirked a brow and Thom had to smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat? You sure as hell seem cheerier lately. Things going better with Hecate?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou say that like they weren\u2019t fine in the first place.\u201d A ghost of a smile curved Matt\u2019s lips as he turned most of his attention back to the metal laid out on his anvil. \u201cShe and I have been fine since we got here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thom grimaced, leaning back. \u201cI just\u2014I meant\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean you were worried about how she was adjusting?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thom managed to nod, glad that Matt had rescued him from what was about to become a far more awkward situation than he\u2019d anticipated it being. He leaned his head back, watching his brother-in-law, resting his sketchbook against his thighs, half forgotten. \u201cWas just worried, that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you were aware enough of what was going on to be worried, anyway,\u201d Matt said with a faint, wry smile. \u201cIt was a valid concern in some ways. She was afraid and so was I. For good reason, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s not what I thought she was. Who I thought she was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe never was,\u201d Matt said quietly, staring at the iron on the anvil. \u201cNot then, not now. No one really knew her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cExcept you,\u201d Thom said in a whisper, watching him. Matt winced slightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe as C\u00edar and me now,\u201d Matt agreed, then smiled a little. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize she was what I was looking for until suddenly she was there and I was looking through the mask and seeing what was really there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou love her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI always have,\u201d Matt said, turning and thrusting the iron back into the fire. \u201cI just didn\u2019t know it until it was almost too late.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Thom’s point of view.] \u201cYou\u2019ve still got that look,\u201d Matt said. Thom frowned but didn\u2019t turn. \u201cHow do you know? I\u2019m not even looking at you.\u201d \u201cI think I know you well enough to figure out … 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":[299,305,14],"tags":[150,171,170,181,149,148,168,147,165,158,146],"class_list":["post-3747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-03-book-7","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Yr","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3747","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=3747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3748,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3747\/revisions\/3748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}