{"id":4453,"date":"2020-10-21T15:30:51","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T19:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4453"},"modified":"2020-10-21T15:30:51","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T19:30:51","slug":"thirteen-03-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4453","title":{"rendered":"Thirteen – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cAre you all right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hecate\u2019s fingers brushed along Matt\u2019s spine as she came up behind him.\u00a0 His head dipped and he leaned forward slightly against the rail fence that they\u2019d set up long ago around the burial grounds.\u00a0 It had been there for long enough that fresh wood had weathered slowly to gray, the wood smoothed but not yet starting to splinter with age.\u00a0 She leaned against him, resting her cheek against his shoulderbade, arm curling around his waist as he took one slow breath, then another.<\/p>\n

After all this time, she knew his silence could mean a thousand things, but she suspected he was simply gathering his thoughts.\u00a0 She led him have that silence, staring past his shoulder to the green grass that blanketed the field where dozens lay buried, many of them from the times before she\u2019d come, before she\u2019d joined them\u2014from times when she\u2019d been their enemy.<\/p>\n

Matt\u2019s hand drifted to cover hers where she held him around his waist, his fingers lacing through hers.\u00a0 He squeezed for a moment, then sighed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he said quietly.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m trying to be, but I really don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s bothering you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just\u2014\u201d he stopped, then started again.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m just not sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAny of it.\u201d\u00a0 He squeezed her hand again.\u00a0 \u201cAm I making the right choices here, Peia?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have told you then and there if you had,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d have stopped you before things went too far.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you\u2019re not here to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d\u00a0 She smiled against his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cI think you made the right decision\u2014and I think they\u2019re exactly where they need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u00a0 Even if one of them is her son and they heard stories from her.\u00a0 Even then.\u201d\u00a0 She stood on tip-toe to press a kiss to his ear.\u00a0 \u201cAoife had every reason to hate me, Matt.\u00a0 I can\u2019t blame her for it.\u00a0 Hell, I couldn\u2019t even blame any of them if they hated me, even though I don\u2019t think for a heartbeat that they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shivered slightly.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m glad you have that much faith.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure that I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

This time she squeezed his hand.\u00a0 \u201cBut you trust me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThen trust me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Hecate’s point of view.] \u201cAre you all right?\u201d Hecate\u2019s fingers brushed along Matt\u2019s spine as she came up behind him.\u00a0 His head dipped and he leaned forward slightly against the rail fence that they\u2019d set up … 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":[336,337,357,14],"tags":[340,150,171,170,194,181,149,148,165,146],"class_list":["post-4453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambrose-cycle","category-book-8","category-chapter-13-book-8","category-story","tag-ambrose-cycle","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-19P","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4453","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=4453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4454,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4453\/revisions\/4454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}