A Gift from the Goddess

Chapter 72

Chapter Seventy–Two 

“...What‘s her name?” I found myself asking politely, though I didn‘t really feel present. 

Truthfully, I didn‘t feel much of anything. My body had gone completely numb, falling into autopilot responses as I struggled to come to terms with what Cai had just told me. 

He found his mate. 

But he was only nineteen. He shouldn‘t have found her so soon. 

‘Caius knight dies at the age of twenty–one with no Luna, mate or child‘. That was the future for Cail had known. Yet somehow this timeline had changed enough that he had met her earlier. It was a cruel slap in the face as reality reminded me, once more, that it would refuse to ever let me be happy. Even for just the few years I thought I might have had with him. 

“Caitlyn,” he replied awkwardly. “She seems... nice. Sweet.” 

‘Nice? Really? That was the best he could say about the woman who was supposedly his other half? His soul mate? 

I wanted to ask him how they met but a part of me couldn‘t bear to hear any more details. Knowing her name would be enough. 

“Aria,” he said, tilting my chin up to look at him, to meet his golden eyes. “It doesn‘t change anything for m e... I still want to be with you.” 

Instantly, my body tensed, the gears in my head finally starting to kick back into reality. His words managed to trigger a pain inside me that I was all too familiar with, something I had tried so hard to push t o the furthest part of my mind. It was almost exactly like it was in the past. 

...Except I wasn‘t the girl being abandoned by her mate anymore. 

No, now I was being set up to become Thea. 1 

“No,” I said flatly, grabbing the keys and dagger by my side to leave. “No, I‘m not doing this.” 

“Aria, wait. Talk to me.” 

I stood up and started to walk towards the car but Cai quickly rushed to stand in my way. 

“Aria, please. Can we just talk about this for a second?” 

“No, this was dumb from the beginning,” I said. “And I‘m not just referring to us. I mean this whole plan for my escape too. It‘s rushed and clumsy.” 

“We‘ve got everything sorted. We‘ll get you back to the Silver Lake and take care of you.” 

There it was again. No insinuation of moving me, no mention of Iris or the rebellion. As if he thought everyone wasn‘t going to just assume that the Silver Lake was the first place I‘d go. 

“Tell me, Cai, what exactly was the plan? Do you even have one?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest. “I was under the impression you were working with Iris for this but I‘m quickly realising that maybe that‘s not the case.” 

He frowned. “Why would I be in contact with Iris for this? I haven‘t seen her since last year.” 

A cynical laugh escaped my lips. “This is actually ridiculous. The first place Tytus is going to look is the Silver Lake, especially once Aleric is forced to confess that info. Then we‘re back to square one; avoiding a war between two territories because of me.” 

Lilapler Seventy Two 

“Then we‘ll move you,” he argued. “We can go somewhere else until it‘s safe.” 

“Just the three of us, yeah?” I snapped back snarkily. “You, me, and Caitlyn?” 

tonight knowing he had someone

Cai,” I said, stepping past him

I felt as Cai then grabbed my wrist and tried to

No, I was pissed. Not because he had a mate; that was always going to be a possibility and I had already accepted that. No, I was pissed because he still had the audacity

exact situation already once.

me,

slower than my Beta heir days, I still managed to quickly bring the dagger up and hold it

me,” I

I didn‘t waver. In truth, we both knew he could very easily swat my hand away without any issue whatsoever, but the sentiment was now

eyes flicking back and forth from my face

his words had meant to come off as appealing to the side of me that still

instantly, my hand tightened

wouldn‘t do it?” I asked him, my eyes narrowing with the

actually do it and he was trying to call that bluff. But in that

cycle... the very fact he could even ask that of me made me feel sick. It made me regret so

was actually capable of, something he was apparently still blissfully unaware

I came from. Never forget why

wait. With my spare hand, I grabbed at his shirt and pulled his torso down

“You shouldn‘t test someone

...What are you talking

see, I knew you in the past, Caius Knight, Alpha of the Silver Lake. Our packs were at war for months, neither one gaining the upper hand... and then you died. At the age of twenty-one, you died alone. No

could look him in the eye. “Because of me,” I said. “I was your dooth. I killed you. I did it for my own political advantage....”

heavier, my heart pounding loudly in my chest as I confessed the words! never wanted him to hear. “... I did it for my family‘s honour... I did it to make up for my own failures

brutally deprived me olu! That was what your life was wortii, Cai. That is why I

us spoke, just my words hanging in the open

the full gravity of who I really was. I needed him to understand that he didn‘t really have feelings for me, just a version of me I‘d let him see. Not some young, tormented girl he met in high school... but a killer.

done this a long time ago. But had been too weak to go through with it; to sever that tie that had become a lifeline for me.

acknowledge that this wasn‘t a fantasy, that being with him was always something that was never going to end well.

let go of that delusion

said, gently trying to move the

without any effort on his part... but he was trying not to hurt me, Somehow after everything I said, he was still acting as if he

to, needed him to at least believe I would, to take me seriously, and it seemed this was the only

make it two for two?”

let his hand fall back to his side, acknowledging that there was nothing he could do to change

help but wonder how incredibly naive it was of him to still look at m e with those eyes. As if I hadn‘t just confessed to murdering him. As if a part of him actually still wanted t o be with me.

at least smart enough to realise that he should let m e go. Or at least take this as my confirmation that I didn‘t want to be involved with him

from him, taking a few steps

finally betraying my exhaustion. “Go home and be an

then I left.

car, the key in the ignition,

were likely the wrong choice. And so I just drove. Without a destination, into the dark, and with my eyes threatening to overflow with

Chapter Seventy–Two 

second. 

or give in to the pain just yet...

aching inside, I tried to focus on what

home meant risking my life once more to the mercy of assassins and Tytus, yet to run away meant risking my life to the mercy of the world... and Tytus. There was no safety for me. Not really. Maybe if I could get in contact

of only one person, outside of the Winter Mist, who was in contact with Iris, one person who I

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