A Gift from the Goddess

Chapter 72

Chapter Seventy–Two 

“...What‘s her name?” I found myself asking politely, though I didn‘t really feel present. 

Truthfully, I didn‘t feel much of anything. My body had gone completely numb, falling into autopilot responses as I struggled to come to terms with what Cai had just told me. 

He found his mate. 

But he was only nineteen. He shouldn‘t have found her so soon. 

‘Caius knight dies at the age of twenty–one with no Luna, mate or child‘. That was the future for Cail had known. Yet somehow this timeline had changed enough that he had met her earlier. It was a cruel slap in the face as reality reminded me, once more, that it would refuse to ever let me be happy. Even for just the few years I thought I might have had with him. 

“Caitlyn,” he replied awkwardly. “She seems... nice. Sweet.” 

‘Nice? Really? That was the best he could say about the woman who was supposedly his other half? His soul mate? 

I wanted to ask him how they met but a part of me couldn‘t bear to hear any more details. Knowing her name would be enough. 

“Aria,” he said, tilting my chin up to look at him, to meet his golden eyes. “It doesn‘t change anything for m e... I still want to be with you.” 

Instantly, my body tensed, the gears in my head finally starting to kick back into reality. His words managed to trigger a pain inside me that I was all too familiar with, something I had tried so hard to push t o the furthest part of my mind. It was almost exactly like it was in the past. 

...Except I wasn‘t the girl being abandoned by her mate anymore. 

No, now I was being set up to become Thea. 1 

“No,” I said flatly, grabbing the keys and dagger by my side to leave. “No, I‘m not doing this.” 

“Aria, wait. Talk to me.” 

I stood up and started to walk towards the car but Cai quickly rushed to stand in my way. 

“Aria, please. Can we just talk about this for a second?” 

“No, this was dumb from the beginning,” I said. “And I‘m not just referring to us. I mean this whole plan for my escape too. It‘s rushed and clumsy.” 

“We‘ve got everything sorted. We‘ll get you back to the Silver Lake and take care of you.” 

There it was again. No insinuation of moving me, no mention of Iris or the rebellion. As if he thought everyone wasn‘t going to just assume that the Silver Lake was the first place I‘d go. 

“Tell me, Cai, what exactly was the plan? Do you even have one?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest. “I was under the impression you were working with Iris for this but I‘m quickly realising that maybe that‘s not the case.” 

He frowned. “Why would I be in contact with Iris for this? I haven‘t seen her since last year.” 

A cynical laugh escaped my lips. “This is actually ridiculous. The first place Tytus is going to look is the Silver Lake, especially once Aleric is forced to confess that info. Then we‘re back to square one; avoiding a war between two territories because of me.” 

Lilapler Seventy Two 

“Then we‘ll move you,” he argued. “We can go somewhere else until it‘s safe.” 

“Just the three of us, yeah?” I snapped back snarkily. “You, me, and Caitlyn?” 

pain but I didn‘t feel bad. He should have never touched me tonight knowing he had someone bonded to him. I was too familiar with the anguish of seeing

myself. Go home, Cai,” I said,

or desperation, I felt as Cai then grabbed my wrist and tried to pull

had a mate; that was always going to be a possibility and I had already accepted that. No, I was pissed because he still had the audacity to look at me and tell me that he wanted me, knowing someone was waiting for him, knowing my history and how

situation already

me, my instincts got the better of me.

days, I still managed to quickly bring the dagger up and hold it up t o his

me,” I growled.

went wide in surprise but I didn‘t waver. In truth, we both knew he could very easily swat my hand away without any issue whatsoever, but the sentiment was now there. The intention was clear.

his eyes flicking back and forth

his words had meant to come off as appealing to the side of me that still cared for him, but now they only came off as though he wanted

instantly, my hand tightened on

my eyes narrowing with the threat. “You‘re

There was no way I would actually do it and he was trying to call that bluff. But in

to repeat that cycle... the very fact he could even ask that of me made me feel sick. It made me regret so many of my actions and question why I had let things even get

I was actually capable of, something he was apparently still

from.

With my spare hand, I grabbed at his

before,” I whispered. “You shouldn‘t test someone who has killed more people than you have.”

you

The real truth? You see, I knew you in the past, Caius Knight, Alpha of the Silver Lake. Our packs were at war for months, neither one gaining the upper hand... and then you died. At the age of twenty-one, you died alone. No mate. No children. And do you know

of me,” I said. “I was your

him to hear. “...

he had so brutally deprived me olu! That was what your life was wortii, Cai.

words hanging in the open as he slowly took

needed him to hear this. To realise the full gravity of who I really was. I needed him to understand that he didn‘t really have feelings for me, just a version of me I‘d let him see. Not some young, tormented girl he

to go through with it; to sever that tie that had become a lifeline for me. Cai had become a symbol in my head of what I had always hoped my life would become. The dream of

illusion. And it was time to wake up and acknowledge that this wasn‘t a fantasy, that being with him was always something that was never going to

let go of that delusion and

to move the dagger

out of my hand and push me away already. He could have overpowered me within seconds without any effort on his part... but he was trying not to hurt me, Somehow after everything I

want to, needed him to at least believe I would, to take me seriously, and it seemed this was the only

it two for two?” I

that there was

with those eyes. As if I hadn‘t just confessed to murdering him. As if a part of him actually still wanted t o be with

least smart enough to realise that he should let m e go. Or at least take this as my confirmation that I didn‘t want to be involved with him anymore; even though a part of my mind was still screaming at me to take it all

a few

betraying my exhaustion. “Go home and be

then I left.

key in the

likely the wrong choice. And so I just drove. Without a destination, into the dark, and with my eyes

Chapter Seventy–Two 

second. 

in to the pain just

the aching inside,

meant risking my life once more to the mercy of assassins and Tytus, yet to run away meant risking my life to the mercy of the world... and Tytus. There was no safety for me. Not

person who I

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