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

more despite my exhaustion. Crumbling that final piece inside me

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 were trying to get rid of me because at least that would be something I could believe and know

you say ‘lives‘?”

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 time around is

s that fair?” 

fuck are you talking about?”

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 you would parade that bitch Thea in front of

“Aria–.” 

kneel before you? I gave you the path

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

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

JOU 

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,

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

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

just get plucked out of thin air by Selene and sent back. No, no… you have to die first, Aleric. I died. And

this, his face quickly starting to pale, and

who believed Thea 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,

Chapter Seventy Theo 

put me through?”

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

into fists, tightened around the blanket beneath me, and watched as my tears hit the fabric.

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

but, even once he kneeled down to eye level, I

me,”

I shook my head, wiping at

*look at me,”

escaped me but I just shook my head

“Aria, look.” 

to finally meet his gaze,

make 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,

did.” 

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

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

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

he was right.

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

in front of me had never given me 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 the small

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

nupied scrantyce 

never expected you to sit back passively i in the shadows as a Luna anyway. I just

different. It still sounded basically the same as what I

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

would have on Aleric. At

was

was offering was true then this was

thing I ever expected to hear from his mouth This would mean no

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