A Gift from the Goddess

Chapter Sixty–One 

“...What did you just say?” I asked, my voice thick with disbelief. 

“I said they‘ve declared war,” Alexander repeated. “They‘ve said that if we don‘t release Caius before sunset tomorrow that they will officially announce their intent to bring him home by force.” 

Less than twenty–four hours. I had less than twenty–four hours to free him or we would be initiating a war. 

...And it would be my fault. 

“It‘s not enough time,” I whispered, the panic rising inside me once more. “...It‘s not enough time... It‘s not enough time.” 

I took a step backwards as my mind continued to whirl. This was it. Everything had been leading to this moment and it was finally here. 

“Is there anything else I need to know?” Aleric asked him. 

Alexander frowned as if he‘d expected him to have a different reaction.“... No? Just that we received a letter from the Silver Lake just now... —” 

“You can go then,” Aleric interrupted. “Thank you for telling me as soon as possible.” 

“What? ....Uh, yeah, okay...,” Alexander said, confused. 

He took a few steps backwards, still unsure as to why he‘d been dismissed so quickly, before finally turning around to leave. 

As soon as Alexander was out of sight, Aleric immediately turned his attention to me. 

Everything was spinning, making it hard to focus. What could I possibly do to stop this now? Maybe confronting Thea myself and trying to get her to confess again? But no... that energy inside me had become disconnected, like a flickering light whenever I tried to grasp it. I remembered how sick it made m e last time and didn‘t think I could force anyone to follow my orders right now even if I wanted to. A parto fme knew that doing so would be reckless... potentially deadly. 

“Aria,” Aleric said, his voice cutting through my thoughts. It was enough to make me look up to him, meeting his gaze directly. “Breathe. In and out.” 

As he said the words, I realised my breathing had become shallow, my concentration on thinking taking priority. Slowly, I breathed in deeply and back out again. 

“You‘ve got that same expression that worries me,” he said. “The one where I leave you alone to calm down, only to find out you’re acting completely insane a few days later. We don‘t have time for that anymore. I need smart Aria right now, not self–destructive Aria.” 

He was right, I needed to slow down and think properly. Confronting Thea myself was far too risky and 

almost certainly wouldn‘t work out in my favour. 

And so, I closed my eyes, my breathing still shaky, but I did my best to focus. 

I went over it all in my head, thinking through the different possibilities, the different outcomes... but with the limited time we had left, there wasn‘t much we could do. 

Shaking my head, I frowned. “There‘s no time, Aleric... our best hope is that Jonathan accidentally reveals himself tomorrow or Thea slips up.” 

“... That‘s cutting it pretty close,” he said. 

“I know... which is why I have one more solution as a backup plan that is almost guaranteed to work.” 

He crossed his arms, his brow furrowed. “If it‘s quaranteed then why don‘t we just implement that one first instead?” 

I bit my lip, unsure if I should tell him. I already knew what his reaction would be. 

“Well... because..,” I started hesitantly. 

His frown deepened for a second before finally, he understood what I meant without me even needing to finish. I could see the recognition on his face when he realised what I was planning. 

“No, no way,” he said, a tone of finality in his words. “You‘re not doing that.” 

“Aleric, I don‘t have a choice.” 

“You‘re throwing your life away,” he argued. “Everything you‘ve worked towards, everything you‘ve fought for. You‘re going to give it up for him?” 

“I‘m not giving it up for him... I‘m giving it up for the pack. Both packs. I‘m giving it up to save innocent people.” 

shook his head. “Aria,

worst–case scenario really does happen... I‘m going to confess. There is no other way. The side

happen. Not again. I‘d participated in too many wars already and knew too well the destruction they left behind. This time the

let me do this. Please don‘t ask me to stand by and let people die for me. I don‘t need their names weighing on my soul any more

death? What then, huh? I can‘t save you from that, Aria.

killing me. He likes the status image I provide too

have every Goddess devout nutcase on our doorstep demanding their Saintess‘ freedom. You‘ll become a martyr within your own oppression. We‘re potentially trading one war

an emergency meeting scheduled for just after lunch tomorrow. In the morning before that, we‘ll see how Jonathan goes with Thea then… well… worst–case scenario, I‘ll be using the meeting

said

hell is going on with you? Is this really due to dealing with the devout follower backlash or is this about something else? is it Cai? Do you really hate him that much? I know you guys don‘t

in frustration, giving up on whatever he wanted to say

don‘t‘ what? What were you going

“Nothing. Forget it.” 

Chapter Sixty–One 

“I say something or do something and you just go quiet instead of

decisions and knowing when some things are better left unsaid. Would

my jaw at the direct insult. “At least I‘m not fine with killing off innocent people for the sake of avoiding a smaller confrontation. Wars don‘t solve all your problems, Aleric. What are you really afraid of here? Is it that you‘re insecure over whether I‘ll usurp you one day?

harshly. “You can‘t just pick and choose which

to argue back but he was right, I had overstepped that line. Instead, a moment of icy silence hung between us, neither of us wanting to concede. Finally though, his eyes softened, sighing in release o ftension.

first,” he said quietly in defeat, running a hand through his dark wavy hair. “Just... do what you think is right, Aria. We‘ll deal with whatever happens after when we get to

wrong here, I knew that. We had burnt ourselves out with this investigation the last few months, spreading our free time too thin with all the additional work it brought us. It was no surprise really that we were both now in each other‘s faces the second that war was finally at our doorstep. It was a cocktail for short fuses and high tempers. Which was exactly why the best decision here was for us to walk away before saying something else we‘d

as though Aleric‘s opinion on this right now seemed off, I had to give him credit where it was due. If it hadn‘t been for his support over these last few months, I would have been worse off and probably done something far more drastic already by now. I n a way, I owed him.

and effort we‘d put in, it was now just as much Aleric‘s choice as it was mine since it was technically his life on the line as well. He‘d lied about my involvement and had been helping me during all of this mess. If he was

to do this, Aleric. Just... trust me. You‘ll have my support with whatever happens

sighed, rubbing tiredly at his eyes. “Aria... that‘s not... Yep. Okay, sure. Thank you.”

smile. “Maybe we‘ll catch Jonathon tomorrow and be

“Hopefully.” 

neither of us moving. I could see on his face that he looked as though he wasn‘t exactly pleased with the outcome, but I was happy that he seemed to be on board at least for now.

car. “I‘ll drop you off at the packhouse on the

asked, starting

Chapter Sixty One 

knew exactly where I needed to go next. Only it wasn‘t somewhere I wanted to bring

for the

my feet leaving an echo as I went. I‘d come here frequently enough that I was now familiar with these

my previous timeline. James barely knew me in this life when compared to the last but

inclining his head

in acknowledgement. “James. How

“Same as always.” 

and instead opened

immediately darted around, searching until they fell on a pair of familiar gold ones staring right back at me. He was seated at a small table that had

was to run to him, nestle my head into his neck, and wish for the thousandth time that this wasn‘t real… but I couldn‘t. Not here, not today, and definitely not over the last few months, had I been able to do anything remotely close to that.

are you?”

a moment to find my voice, my sense of guilt always hitting me hard whenever I got to see him. He hadn‘t hinted at any complaints even once since coming here but I knew it had to be hard. I could see the circles forming under his eyes and how he‘d lost

well, thanks,” he replied. “It‘s good to see you.”

see in his eyes what he was really telling me and it

throat and tried to

it. He would know what that meant, what two paths would potentially be waiting for me now. But, more importantly, he would know that this was goodbye. Regardless of how it went, tomorrow Cai would

there,” I half lied, taking a seat at the table

feels a little less... prison –y. Kind of feels more like home arrest now… if my home

bring myself to

were quiet for some time, neither of us knowing what to say. I couldn‘t speak freely with him and yet there was so much I wanted to speak about. It was torture. He was right there in front of me, within arm‘s length, and I couldn‘t even touch

was at the door

couldn‘t hear me, I hoped desperately that he saw just how sincerely I meant that. How much weight I really meant behind

he was sensing exactly what I was feeling, and inside I could feel that pit of

no longer having the strength for this anymore. I felt overwhelmed, like I couldn‘t breathe. “I should be going… I’ll come

when his hand suddenly shot out, clasping my