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.

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

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 if you had just told me you were trying to get rid of me because at least that would be something I could believe

you say ‘lives‘?”

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

s that fair?” 

fuck are you

I snapped, moving to the edge of 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 were, Aleric. You

“Aria–.” 

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

in this room with nothing but an attendant who in

I did it so that maybe you would love me... so that maybe you would just look at me, Aleric.”

JOU 

angrily at the tears on my 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

this? You‘re saying I apparently rejected you? Hurt

humourless laugh then escaped my lips, realising I‘d

out of thin air by Selene and sent back.

face quickly starting to pale,

you 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, 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 so angry at you now given

Chapter Seventy Theo 

put me

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

fists, tightened around the blanket

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

but, even once he kneeled down to eye level,

me,” he said.

shook my head, wiping

me,”

me but I just

“Aria, look.” 

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

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.” 

have time to change,

looked back

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 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

he was right.

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

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 chance that things turned bad once more, I knew that it would break me beyond repair.

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

nupied scrantyce 

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 be.”

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

want change, Aria. That much is obvious,” he continued. “You think I haven‘t noticed how 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

Aleric. At the time, I couldn‘t risk tarnishing our current relationship for fear it would lead to the very doom I was trying to

it was

was offering was true then this was the

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

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