{"id":3860,"date":"2019-02-04T00:00:41","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T05:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3860"},"modified":"2019-02-03T18:47:53","modified_gmt":"2019-02-03T23:47:53","slug":"eleven-01-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3860","title":{"rendered":"Eleven – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

I shouldn\u2019t have said it.<\/em><\/p>\n

But he had, and now everyone except for Hecate was staring at him in blinking surprise.<\/p>\n

She was just looking at him with a gaze full of sympathy and pain and love so deep he thought he might drown in it\u2014and gladly. Matt took a slow, deep breath, then exhaled, scrubbing his hand over his face, buying himself time.<\/p>\n

Maybe none of them would ask.<\/p>\n

I would never be that lucky.<\/em> He let his hand fall away, thoughts still storming even as he gathered them. His encounters\u2014and there had been several\u2014with Orcus were distant memories, ones that C\u00edar had tried very hard to bury, to leave as a part of his past never to be unearthed again.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d tried to bury them so deep that even Hecate didn\u2019t know what had happened\u2014or, more accurately, who he\u2019d faced before finally making it back to her again.<\/p>\n

Her hand rested gently on his arm and Matt smiled at her before he cleared his throat, starting to speak before any of them could start to press. \u201cIt was while C\u00edar was leading the Wild Hunt,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cThree times I faced him, twice with the Hunt at my back and once alone. None of those times ended well\u2014not for C\u00edar, anyhow, I\u2019ve got no idea how Orcus might have felt of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate settled against him and he wrapped his arms around her again, the feel of her weight against his chest a comfort beyond comprehending. Matt buried his nose in her hair for a second before lifting his head and continuing.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhysically, he\u2019s huge. Hulking. Bigger than any man I\u2019d ever seen\u2014have ever seen. Ugly as sin and worse with these eyes that cut to your soul. He\u2019s smarter by half than anyone ever gives him credit for and his ruthlessness should<\/em> be a thing of legend. There is no mercy in him, no quarter. If he has a bone to pick with Seamus and Leinth, the only thing that\u2019s kept him from dealing with it is either something bigger than he is or worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat could be worse?\u201d Marin asked in a whisper.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Matt said. \u201cBut I sure as hell don\u2019t want to think about it, either.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] I shouldn\u2019t have said it. But he had, and now everyone except for Hecate was staring at him in blinking surprise. She was just looking at him with a gaze full of … 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":[299,313,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,152,181,149,173,148,168,147,165,215,200,146],"class_list":["post-3860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-11-book-7","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-marin-astoris","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","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-10g","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3860","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=3860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3861,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3860\/revisions\/3861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}