{"id":4092,"date":"2019-09-20T00:00:21","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T04:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4092"},"modified":"2019-09-19T20:22:33","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T00:22:33","slug":"twenty-three-03-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4092","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-three – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone else has a better one,\u201d Thordin said, his gaze steady and his voice low. \u201cI know I don\u2019t and I also know that I\u2019m tired as hell of just bracing ourselves for a coming storm. Maybe this will send the message that needs to be sent so we can we can get some goddamn peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt\u2019s heart lifted, just a little bit, buoyed by Thordin\u2019s support. He watched Carolyn, though. Her expression hadn\u2019t changed\u2014she still looked skeptical, worried.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like I can blame her. If we fail, we\u2019re leaving everyone here practically undefended beyond some walls and wardings\u2014probably without much of anyone to shore those up if we fail and Orcus brings his army here.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIf it makes you feel better, Carolyn,\u201d Hecate said, interrupting his thoughts, \u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019ll have much reason to come here if we fail. And if he thinks he does, I\u2019m sure that someone will convince him otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

That made his stomach drop even more. He looked at her, but she wasn\u2019t looking at him, but at Carolyn. Her tone of voice, the matter-of-fact way she said it, told him more than a look would have. She\u2019d made a choice about going with them and there was no way that he was going to be able to talk her out of it.<\/p>\n

He would still try, though, on the off chance that somehow<\/em> he\u2019d prevail.<\/p>\n

Marin glanced at him, her expression grim. He swallowed hard.<\/p>\n

She knows. Hell. She\u2019s probably on Hecate\u2019s side.<\/em> Matt swallowed bile and tried to focus again. Hecate coming along would be more terrifying for him but probably better for all of them in the long run. They\u2019d need her strength, no matter how much he was loathe to admit it.<\/p>\n

They would need as much as they could muster, one way or another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone else has a better one,\u201d Thordin said, his gaze steady and his voice low. \u201cI know I don\u2019t and I also know that I\u2019m tired as hell 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":[299,328,14],"tags":[275,271,150,161,163,171,170,228,194,160,174,19,227,166,152,181,151,149,173,148,218,168,147,167,165,215,158,200,169,146],"class_list":["post-4092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-23-book-7","category-story","tag-anne-mackenzie","tag-artorius-mackenzie","tag-awakenings","tag-cameron-mackenzie","tag-carolyn-roberts","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-gwen-johanson","tag-hecate","tag-j-t-mackenzie","tag-jacqueline-bell","tag-kellin","tag-kurt-johanson","tag-leinth","tag-marin-astoris","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-neve-vaughan","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-rory-ohara","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-sif","tag-story","tag-tala-johanson","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-thordin","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-140","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4092","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=4092"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4093,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4092\/revisions\/4093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}