{"id":3822,"date":"2018-12-28T00:00:54","date_gmt":"2018-12-28T05:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3822"},"modified":"2018-12-27T16:40:23","modified_gmt":"2018-12-27T21:40:23","slug":"eight-05-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3822","title":{"rendered":"Eight – 05"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Still, the nightmare haunted her, even as Matt held her tightly against his chest. Hecate listened to the thud of his heart, counting the beats in an effort to shake off the last vestiges of the horror she\u2019d experienced. This\u2014this was solid and real. That was nothing but an ephemeral thing, a spectre conjured by her darkest fears. It wasn\u2019t anything to dwell on.<\/p>\n

And yet…<\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t let go of her. She kept seeing the images from that nightmare over and over again, kept seeing C\u00edar taken from her\u2014a punishment, Aietes roared at her, for her blatant disrespect and refusal to cooperate with him. She could hear the crack of the whip, taste the salt of her tears and the copper of blood from a bitten lip\u2014a lip bitten to keep from screaming, because screaming at her former husband to stop had only made him angrier, made him attack C\u00edar all the more savagely.<\/p>\n

It was as much dream as it was memory\u2014there had been beatings, though most of those had been designed to keep C\u00edar in line, not her. He\u2019d been willful, especially at the beginning. As they grew closer, threats against her had worked\u2014it was something she\u2019d tried hard to forget. Not everything had remained a secret. Aietes had railed against it when it had happened, but when C\u00edar had been given to her custody, things had been easier for Olympium, but not for her. Aietes hadn\u2019t wanted to let her go and it had taken more pleading than she liked to remember to win free of that binding.<\/p>\n

The dream had changed abruptly, and that was the part that terrified her more than any memory ever could have. C\u00edar had become Matt and the whip had grown barbs, flaying his back open until all she could see was red. She remember choking on bile, shaking all over, and screaming, unable to stop herself. It hadn\u2019t made a difference. Aietes had turned to her and smiled that wicked, cruel smile of his, the hungry one that warned of more and worse to come.<\/p>\n

Then he\u2019d come to her, hands still drenched in the blood of both of her lovers.<\/p>\n

Mercifully, she couldn\u2019t remember anything else\u2014didn\u2019t want to, not now or ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re crying,\u201d Matt whispered. \u201c\u2019Peia, what is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI will never let him hurt you,\u201d she whispered, blinking back the tears as she looked up at him. \u201cNever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAietes,\u201d she whispered. \u201cI will never<\/em> let him touch you. No matter what. I promise\u2014I swear it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Hecate’s point of view.] Still, the nightmare haunted her, even as Matt held her tightly against his chest. Hecate listened to the thud of his heart, counting the beats in an effort to shake off the … 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":[299,310,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,181,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-3822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-08-book-7","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-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-ZE","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3822","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=3822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3823,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3822\/revisions\/3823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}