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.

Crumbling that final piece inside me that

asked him, my eyes now 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

you say ‘lives‘?”

waving a hand towards 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

s that fair?” 

the fuck are

the bed. “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

“Aria–.” 

kneel before you? I gave you the path to do it. You

room with nothing but an attendant who in the end threw

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

JOU 

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

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

then escaped my lips, realising I‘d forgotten

plucked out of thin air by Selene and sent back.

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

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.

Chapter Seventy Theo 

you put me through?”

just looked at me, his eyes

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

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

he kneeled down to eye level, I

me,” he said.

shook my head, wiping at

at me,” he

just shook

“Aria, look.” 

head up to finally meet his

what happened to 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 I can‘t look you in the eye and genuinely apologise for something I never did, and I guarantee you that it

did.” 

“You have time to change, time to become

out of his grasp and looked

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

he was

be okay. Because the person I needed to hear the apology from was dead in another timeline that

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 that it would break me beyond repair. It would be the

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

nupied scrantyce 

up sharply in surprise. “I never expected you to sit back passively i in the shadows as a Luna anyway. I just want you to help me make this pack the best it can

It still sounded basically the same as what I

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

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

it was clear now.

what he was offering was true then

the last thing I ever expected to hear from his mouth This would mean no Alpha commanding servitude from a

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