A Gift from the Goddess

Chapter Sixty–Six 

A loud knocking sounded at my door the following morning, instantly waking me up. 

It was dark, maybe dim morning light, but definitely earlier than I had expected to be disturbed that day. It was so early that I knew even Lucy wouldn‘t have arrived yet. 

Despite my best efforts, my brain had refused to quieten down after I‘d gone to sleep the night before. Figuring out a possible theory to do with Thea had awakened a new spark within me, one which had prevented me from settling my mind down. As a result, I felt exhausted from the little rest I had managed to get. 

I pulled myself out of bed sluggishly and made my way to the door, opening it to see a dishevelled looking Aleric on my doorstep. It appeared that early mornings still disagreed with him even after all this time. 

“...Aleric? Why are you here so early?” | yawned, too tired to conduct the required formalities. 

“So you just open the door for anyone without checking first?” he asked, ignoring my question. “What if I were someone here to kill you? I get that we‘re in the packhouse but it‘s not like we haven‘t had spies here before.” 

I stared back at him completely unfazed, my eyelids heavy. “If it meant that I didn‘t need to be awake right now or go to this meeting, maybe I would welcome the hostile intrusion,” Treplied. “Besides, what kind of murderer knocks on the door to announce their presence virst? Not very subtle.” 

He stood frozen for a few seconds, confusion showing on his face momentarily, before finally, his lip twitched in a small smile. What was he confused about? 

Oh. It was the first attempt at humour I‘d made to him in months. 

Maybe I had been letting this place affect me too much. I could definitely feel that having something different finally happening today did help to dissociate myself from the less pleasant memories in this room. It made me more... aware. 

“Come inside and wait,” I offered, opening the door wider for him to enter. “I need to get changed and grab the last of my things.” 

“Don‘t take too long. We need to get going.” 

I frowned. He‘d shown up almost two hours earlier than he needed to. Why was he in such a rush? 

After getting changed and attempting to cover up the unpleasant new features of my face with makeup, i grabbed my bag and took one last look in the mirror 

Once dressed up and nicely presented, it was easy to miss the signs of my own inner struggles the last few months. That is, of course, if you were also blind and completely ignored the collar sported around m y neck 

I sighed. There was no getting out of this now. 

Refocusing on the task at hand, I headed back to where Aleric was waiting for me. 

Surprisingly, in the time it took for me io get ready, he had somehow managed to tame his wavy hair a bit better and looked more presentable for the meeting ahead. 

“Ready to go,” I announced, walking towards the front door. 

“Wait, I‘ve got something for you,” he said, making me pause. 

Chapter Sixty Six 

I watched as he then pulled out a length of quality violet fabric from a bag and showed it to me. It was a scarf. 

“I figured you‘d feel more comfortable with something like this to hide the ah....” His gaze lowered to my collar. 

Teyed the gift sceptically. “...We don‘t have very cold weather right now.” 

He shrugged. “The fabric is a bit thinner so it could be more of a fashion thing? I don‘t know. I‘m not good with that stuff. Just... here.” 

and helped wrap it around my neck. A nice sentiment if not

lifting the metal up in curiosity to

just a mild burn that you tune out just

reassured by my response. But as he looked

know

not your fault,” I said,

the door in an attempt to break the serious air surrounding us. “Anyway, you said we were in

were here again, and cleared his throat. “Yeah... let‘s go. The house is still sleeping so stay quiet,” he

familiar halls, the eerie silence of those sleeping around us evident, until we finally made it to

even some freshly cut grass. Whatever it was, I took a second to breathe it in, greedily indulging in something I‘d deprived myself of. Already

got into the car and I followed after, throwing my bag in the back. He didn‘t waste

a while before I finally spoke. It was something that had been bothering

know that I‘m going to this

we should have needed to make it to the meeting on time. With all of this in consideration, there was only one conclusion I

sneaking me

a minute before replying. “...Sort

yesterday that

know... I left him

in my silence to which he laughed. “What‘s he going to do? Drag you home

sure that‘ll

to mean? Did

as to the aftermath of my punishment. But

a tight line as if

“...Aleric?” | pressed. 

of stirring, a few accusations... After all, you just went missing one day, holing yourself up in those quarters. Tytus made an announcement to say you were taking some personal time off to recover following the death of Myra. Of course, that didn‘t make much sense given the timeline of events. A

do they think actually

which is problematic. There was also a lot of petitioning for your release happening. Not just from within the Winter Mist

“...And the collar?” 

one has spread around pretty far.”

assumed as much. It was to be expected that people were curious regarding the collar since this

a hard time explaining my absence One of the main purposes of the collar was to allow me lo still make public appearances, yet I‘d kept myself indoors anyway. I knew it was petty of me to take pleasure, since causing more civil

anxiety the closer we got, until finally, I saw the border in sight. Several warriors from the Diamond Claw pack were standing guard, screening everyone a s they came across. I wondered

within our neighbouring territories would know who he was. I could see their nervousness, the way they carefully showed Aleric respect, but

was... less than subtle. In fact, their staring was almost borderline rude. But I knew why they were doing it... after all, their

squirmed uncomfortably in my seat, turning my face to look out the window to distract myself instead Coming here was a bad idea. If the lower ranks were this blatantly obvious, who knew

low warning growl rumbled out next to me, and

difficult,” he quipped with an undertone of threat that was impossible to miss, but your lack of social etiquette should not be a nexcuse to stare at her like a museum attraction Or would you prefer I bring it

Chapter Sixty Six 

into its training if this

face went white, eyes wide with fear. Aleric could rip his throat out if he wanted and this pack wouldn‘t be able to do much about it. After all, they were under the Winter Mist‘s protection because of

it was something I knew I should probably intervene

out and gently touched

a lifetime. If

slowly exhaled, tension releasing from his shoulders.

for the checkpoint?” I asked, leaning forward to address the warrior directly; a warrior who was still