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.” 

did it.

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

ablaze. “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. I would have preferred it

say ‘lives‘?”

him. “This version 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 went through years of hell, living with your abuse, for absolutely no benefit.

s that fair?” 

what the fuck are you

monster. Because i n my eyes

“Aria–.” 

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 lock

an attendant who in the end threw me to

I did it so that maybe you would love me... so that maybe you would just look

JOU 

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 me

hell is this? You‘re saying I apparently rejected you?

laugh then escaped my lips, realising I‘d forgotten

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,

face quickly starting to pale, 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 you for so long? Why I‘m

Chapter Seventy Theo 

you put

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

glared down at my hands which were now balled into fists, tightened around the blanket beneath me, and watched

unfair this time...,” I choked out slowly. “And you don‘t get to

he kneeled down to eye level, I still refused to

at me,” he said.

shook my head, wiping

*look at me,” he

escaped me but I just shook my head once

“Aria, look.” 

my head up to finally meet

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

did.” 

time to change,

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

I ever given you a reason to not trust me? It‘s true that there i s nothing I can say

knew he

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 was gone. And, knowing him, it was likely that he didn‘t regret what he did to me, even

I still refused to let myself give in. On even the small chance that

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 one more day. I refuse to live in another

nupied scrantyce 

up sharply in surprise. “I never expected you to sit back passively i in the shadows as a

all that much different. It still sounded basically the same as what I did for

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

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

it was

offering was true then

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

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