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 it.

Crumbling that final piece inside me that still cared about

“You want to talk about ‘fair‘, Aleric? What you said in that car was not fair– not fair to me. In fact, it was the cruellest thing anyone has ever said to me throughout my lives.

you say

though everything I learnt the first time around is completely useless. That it was meaningless. That I

s that fair?” 

what the fuck are you talking about?”

“I‘m telling you what you always wanted to know! The reason I was so scared of you, the reason I always looked at you as if you were a monster. Because i n my eyes you were, Aleric. You were my torturer, my abuser, and

“Aria–.” 

it to you. You wanted the world to kneel before you? I gave you the path to do it. You wanted my heart, my soul and complete servitude? I gave it to you. I let you

with nothing but an attendant who in the end threw me to the dogs. And it

maybe you would love me... so that maybe you would just look at

JOU 

face and gritted my teeth. “And then suddenly I‘m brought back by Selene and told to fix it all, to stop it all from happening again. That if I don‘t then everyone dies. And so that‘s what I did. I worked hard to stop the same future from happening, to stop myself from becoming your Luna, to stop you from trapping and hurting

the hell is this? You‘re saying I apparently rejected you? Hurt you? ...None of this

my lips,

no, haha...Oh no, no no, not just rejected,” I said, a smile slowly creeping onto my face. “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

I was going with this, his face quickly starting to pale, and my smile

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

Chapter Seventy Theo 

put me

speak but no words came out. Instead, he just looked at me, his eyes full of confusion, and, slowly, my breathing turned into

were now balled into fists, tightened around the blanket

unfair this time...,” I choked out slowly. “And you don‘t get to say that you love me. It‘s nine years too late

once he kneeled down to eye level,

look at me,”

shook my head, wiping at

at me,” he repeated.

but I just shook my head once more.

“Aria, look.” 

my head up to finally meet his gaze, to meet his green eyes

you okay,” he said, his expression serious. “Because the reality is... it‘s not okay. And I can apologise for those things if you want, to say that I‘m 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 you, but

did.” 

young,” I whispered. “You have time to

his grasp and looked back down at my hands, making him

part in, that 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

he was right.

the very same thing I had been trying to convince myself of, but it still didn‘t lessen the sting. The cold truth was... I was never going to get my sincere apology. And the things that I went through were never going to be okay. Because the person I needed to hear the apology from was dead in

a reason to not trust him. In fact, he had proven to me time and time again that I could. And yet I still refused to let myself give in. On even

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,

nupied scrantyce 

in the shadows as a Luna anyway.

still sounded basically the same as what

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.

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

it was clear

was offering was true then this was the best way forward

no ruined friendship He was oftenng me mutual control, something 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 like split Alphas working

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