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.” 

helped wrap it around my neck. A nice sentiment if

lifting the metal up in curiosity to try and see the skin

place behind it. “You get used t o it. Mostly it‘s just a mild burn that you tune out just like the handcuffs. The problem is that, since it‘s on all day long, the skin gets irritated so it‘s far more

he looked into my eyes, I could tell

know

your fault,” I said, cutting him

step back towards the door in an attempt to break the serious air surrounding us. “Anyway, you

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

halls, the eerie silence of those sleeping around us evident,

it in, greedily indulging in something I‘d deprived myself of. Already I could feel myself wake up and feel a little more stable. Maybe this trip was what

into the car and I followed after, throwing my bag in the back. He

were driving for a while before I finally spoke. It was something that had been bothering me since his arrival this morning, a nagging in my mind that wasn‘t

that I‘m going to this

there should have been, not to mention it was far too early in the morning; way earlier than we should have needed to make it to the meeting on time. With all of this in consideration, there was only

was sneaking me

for a minute before replying. “...Sort

told me yesterday that he

I

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

officials? I‘m sure that‘ll look great on our already wavering

supposed to mean?

so naturally, I hadn‘t inquired as to the aftermath of my punishment. But I would be lying if I said that reputational damage didn‘t surprise me.

line as if

“...Aleric?” | pressed. 

all, you just went missing one day, holing yourself up in those quarters. Tytus made an announcement to say you were

actually

few theories. The biggest one being imprisonment which is problematic. There was also a lot of petitioning for your release happening. Not just from within the Winter Mist

“...And the collar?” 

but unfortunately, that one has spread around

already having assumed as much. It was to be expected that people were curious regarding the

having 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

way, my mind filling with 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 whether the added security measures were introduced from hearing about all the rogue

introduction. All the packs within our neighbouring territories would know who

to where I was seated was... less than subtle. In fact, their staring was almost borderline rude. But I knew why they were doing it... after all, their eyes were directed towards my neck,

the window to distract myself instead Coming here was a bad idea. If the lower ranks were this blatantly obvious, who knew how the ranked members would conduct themselves with less social constrictions

and I looked up in surprise to see Aleric‘s attention

undertone of threat that was impossible to miss, but your lack of social etiquette should not be a nexcuse to stare at her

Chapter Sixty Six 

to invest more into its training if this type of insult is tolerated by even an unranked

warrior‘s 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 their

of the warrior‘s behaviour, it was something I knew I should probably intervene with before it got out of

hand out and

I‘m sure you‘ve scared him enough for a lifetime. If can‘t cope

slowly exhaled, tension releasing from his

warrior directly; a warrior who was still looking far