A Gift from the Goddess

Chapter 73

Chapter Seventy–Three 

“... What the fuck are you doing back here?” Aleric asked. 

He stood in my doorway, arms crossed, staring at me like I was insane. 

But I didn‘t care. My mind was made up. There was no way I was going to have this conversation tonight. 

“No,” I answered flatly. 

“No‘?” 

“No, I‘m not doing this now,” I clarified. “I‘m too tired. We can talk later.” 

I rolled onto my side, facing away from him, and pulled the blanket up over my shoulder. Maybe if I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep, he would just leave on his own accord. 

“Aria, you need to tell me what‘s going on,” he pressed. “Joseph told me you came back over the border and I thought he was joking until I caught your scent by the stairs. Did something happen? Were you caught?” 

“No,” I mumbled, repeating myself once more. 

“Stop that. Regardless of how tired you are, this is more important. I need to know if something went wrong.” 

I groaned out in frustration but reluctantly sat up, my head immediately pulsing with a migraine.* 

“Nothing went wrong, Aleric. Just let it go.” 

“Obviously something went wrong or you wouldn‘t be here.” 

He was getting angry at me and it was only making me more irritated that we were actually having this conversation. 

“Fine then,” I snapped back, turning to look at him. “You want to know what went wrong? The entire thing. The whole plan. How stupid do you think Tytus is that he wouldn‘t find out that you were planning to hide me in the Silver Lake?” 

His eyes widened a little in surprise. “You’re joking, right? Cai didn‘t organise to move you somewhere else?” 

‘More like didn‘t want to move me somewhere else,‘ I thought, recalling our earlier exchange. And that was only after finding out about Caitlyn. 

“Evidently not,” I answered, not wanting to elaborate further on the other reasons I‘d returned. 

“So... what? You‘re just going to come back here and pretend everything is normal? That you didn‘t almost get killed here? After risking everything to get you out?” 

“I don‘t know, Aleric!” I yelled back. “I don‘t know, okay? I don‘t know what to do about me, or Tytus, or Cai ... and I *especially don‘t know what to do about you.” 

He paused, frowning. “...About me?” 

Ah, fuck. I’d said too much. 

“Wait, are you angry at me because of what I told you in the car?” he asked, piecing together my silence. 

I rubbed my eyes, hoping that this was just a bad dream.“...No.” 

But I didn‘t sound very convincing. 

Chapler Seventy–Three 

“Seriously? How is that fair on me? You were the one who was angry at me for originally not telling you.” 

That did

me once more despite my exhaustion. Crumbling that final piece inside me that still cared about what he would think once he finally

me. In fact, it was the cruellest thing anyone has ever said to me throughout my lives. I would have preferred it if you had just

you say ‘lives‘?”

of you who is so goddamn unpredictable that I feel as though everything I learnt the first time around is completely useless. That it was meaningless. That I

s that fair?” 

are you

the reason I always looked at you as if you were a monster. Because i n my eyes

“Aria–.” 

eyes now filling with tears. “Everything. Anything that was within m y power to give, I gave it to you. You wanted the world to kneel before you? I gave you the path to do it.

room with nothing but an attendant who in the end threw me to the

it for you. I did it so that maybe you would love me... so that maybe you would just look at me, Aleric.”

JOU 

dies. And so that‘s what I did. I worked hard to stop the same future from happening, to stop

saying I apparently rejected you? Hurt

my lips, realising I‘d forgotten the

“You see, to be reborn, you don‘t just get plucked out of thin air by Selene and sent back. No, no… you have to die first, Aleric. I died. And

quickly

over me, you who convicted me o f crimes I never committed, and you who held the sword as it came crashing down, slicing through my neck at the trial grounds. You killed me, Aleric. You killed me once I was no longer of any use to you anymore. And you wondered why I was so scared of

Chapter Seventy Theo 

you put me through?”

mouth to speak but no words came out. Instead, he just looked at

which were now balled into fists, tightened around the blanket beneath me, and watched as my

what‘s unfair this time...,” I choked out slowly. “And you don‘t get to say that you love

me but, even once he kneeled down to eye level, I still refused to

me,” he said.

shook my head, wiping at

me,” he

me but I just shook my head once more.

“Aria, look.” 

raised my head up to finally meet his gaze, to meet

sorry but, at the end of the day, even if I did, it wouldn‘t mean anything. Yes, I‘m sorry that those things happened to

did.” 

young,” I whispered. “You have time to change, time to

of his grasp and looked back

you died for those very charges,” he continued. “And yet you want to persecute me for sins I‘ve never committed? When have I, m e personally, ever hurt you, Aria? When have I ever given you a reason to not trust me? It‘s true that there i s nothing I can say to make

knew he was right.

things that I went through were never going to be okay. Because

to me time and time again that I could. And yet I still refused

I‘m sorry, Aleric, but... regardless of who you are this time, I can‘t be the person you want me to be,” || said, moving away from him. “I can‘t become a Luna again, always living in your shadow and hoping that what i do ensures my survival for

nupied scrantyce 

you to sit back passively i in the shadows as a Luna anyway. I just want you to

frowned, not seeing how it was all that much different. It still sounded basically the same as what I did for

noticed how messed up things have been? Hate me for the rest of your life if you want, but I would rather we work together than end up divided in a civil war for power, something that benefits neither us nor the pack. I‘m not so naive as to assume you haven‘t at least considered taking over once you‘re of age. Especially after what Tytus has done to you.”

would have on Aleric. At the time, I couldn‘t risk tarnishing our current relationship for fear it would

it was clear now.

true then this was the

that was the last thing I ever expected to hear from his mouth This would mean no Alpha commanding servitude from a Luna But more

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