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

final piece inside me that still cared about what he would think once

to 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 told me

you say

sick of whatever this is,” I said, waving a hand towards him. “This version of you who is so goddamn unpredictable that I feel as though everything I learnt the first

s that fair?” 

are you

at you as if you were a monster. Because i n my eyes you were, Aleric. You were my torturer, my abuser, and

“Aria–.” 

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

but an attendant who in the end

love me... so that maybe you would just

JOU 

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 me again... and

rejected you?

humourless laugh then escaped my lips, realising I‘d forgotten the best

get plucked out of thin air

this, his face quickly starting to pale, and my smile only grew despite my

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.

Chapter Seventy Theo 

put

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 tears hit the

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

heard him step closer towards me but, even once he kneeled down to eye level, I still refused to raise m

at me,” he

shook my head, wiping at

at me,”

sob escaped me but I just

“Aria, look.” 

to finally meet his gaze, to

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 I can‘t look you in the eye and genuinely apologise for something I never did, and

did.” 

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

pulled my chin out of his grasp and looked back down at my hands, making

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 right what happened to you, but I hope that my actions over these last few years have at least proven to you that, whoever the fuck you‘re talking about...

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 another timeline that was now destroyed. *My* Aleric

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 the small chance that things turned bad once more, I knew

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 one more day. I refuse

nupied scrantyce 

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

it was all that much different. It still sounded basically the same

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

with this but had turned her down knowing the impact it would have on Aleric. At the time, I couldn‘t risk tarnishing our current relationship for fear it would

it was clear

what he was offering was true then this

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

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