{"id":3948,"date":"2019-05-01T00:00:14","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T04:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3948"},"modified":"2019-04-30T17:04:16","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T21:04:16","slug":"fourteen-09","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3948","title":{"rendered":"Fourteen – 09"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cAre you all right?\u201d Matt whispered into her hair, almost too quiet to hear. For a second, Hecate squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that the others wouldn\u2019t notice her momentary distraction. She didn\u2019t say anything, just reached up and wrapped one of her hands around his, squeezing tightly.<\/p>\n

Seamus was watching her, she saw as she opened her eyes. The barest flicker of a smile curved his lips and then was gone, an unspoken message\u2014understanding.<\/p>\n

Love can be a torment, but it also keeps us alive.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you beat him because he\u2019d driven himself half mad, how do we beat him this time?\u201d Hecate asked softly. \u201cI don\u2019t imagine we can rely on that this time and it doesn\u2019t sound like brute force will do it, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t suppose he\u2019s stupid,\u201d Thom murmured, glancing around. \u201cIt\u2019d be nice if he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be,\u201d Seamus admitted. \u201cBut he\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn,\u201d Thom said, though he didn\u2019t sound all that disappointed\u2014more resigned, as if that was the response he\u2019d more or less expected. \u201cWell. I guess we\u2019ll have to figure something out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate stared off into nothing. She could smell the faint scent of brimstone, mingling with the smell of fresh bread and jam, could hear Persephone\u2019s soft voice, though the words were indistinct. Her fingers tightened around Matt\u2019s hand. His arms were C\u00edar\u2019s in a stolen moment, the scent of woodsmoke filling her nose, mingling with the scent of rain and the sea. It was only half a dream.<\/p>\n

He was here and so was she. That, at least, was real.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs he mentioned in any of the books, Marin?\u201d she asked softly. \u201cDid you notice?\u201d<\/p>\n

Marin frowned. \u201cI don\u2019t remember. Tala?\u201d<\/p>\n

Tala shrugged. \u201cI don\u2019t remember, either, to be honest. There might have been, but there\u2019s a lot of books and if we weren\u2019t looking for it? Who knows. Maybe Jac\u2019ll remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe.\u201d Hecate chewed her lip. She doubted there would be anything, not about this one. He seemed the sort that everyone would have wanted forgotten\u2014and she would not have put it past Pluton to ensure that he had been.<\/p>\n

Somehow.<\/p>\n

No help there, then.<\/em><\/p>\n

She exhaled and stood slowly. \u201cI\u2019m going to take a walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll come with you,\u201d Matt said, standing with her.<\/p>\n

Hecate shook her head. \u201cNo, stay here. Maybe you guys will come up with something. I just need to clear my head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe if I can, I\u2019ll come up with something myself.<\/em><\/p>\n

He stroked her cheek, then kissed her lightly. \u201cAs long as you\u2019re sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

She nodded. \u201cI am. I won\u2019t be long.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBe careful,\u201d Marin said quietly.<\/p>\n

Hecate smiled. \u201cAlways.\u201d<\/p>\n

She turned and started walking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Hecate’s point of view.] \u201cAre you all right?\u201d Matt whispered into her hair, almost too quiet to hear. For a second, Hecate squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that the others wouldn\u2019t notice her momentary distraction. She … 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":[299,318,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,166,152,181,149,173,148,159,168,147,165,215,158,200,146],"class_list":["post-3948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-14-book-7","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-leinth","tag-marin-astoris","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-seamus-vaughan","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-tala-johanson","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-11G","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948","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=3948"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3949,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948\/revisions\/3949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}