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

Crumbling that final piece inside me that still cared about what he would think once he finally

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

say ‘lives‘?”

whatever this is,” I said, waving a hand towards him. “This 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 was meaningless. That I went through years of hell, living with your

s that fair?” 

fuck are you talking

eyes you were, Aleric. You were my torturer, my abuser, and you would parade that bitch Thea in front of

“Aria–.” 

Anything that was within m y power to give, I gave it to you. You wanted the world to kneel before you? I gave you the path to do it. You wanted my heart, my soul and complete servitude? I gave it to you. I

room with nothing but an attendant who in the end threw me to the dogs. And it

that maybe you would love me... so that

JOU 

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 happening, to

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

laugh then escaped my lips, realising I‘d forgotten the

haha...Oh no, no no, not just rejected,” I said, a smile slowly creeping onto my face. “You see, to be reborn, you don‘t just get plucked out of thin

was going with this, his face quickly starting to pale,

answered. “It was yours, Aleric. It was 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

Chapter Seventy Theo 

put me through?”

just looked at me, his eyes

fists, tightened around the blanket beneath me, and watched

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

even once he kneeled down to

me,”

my head, wiping

*look at me,”

I just shook

“Aria, look.” 

my chin and raised my head up to finally meet

then there is literally nothing I can say that will make what happened to you okay,” he said, his expression 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,

did.” 

I whispered. “You have time

looked back down at my hands, making him sigh.

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

he was

of, but it still didn‘t lessen the sting. The cold truth was... I was never going to get my sincere apology. And the things that I went through were never going to be okay. Because the person I needed to hear the apology from was dead in another timeline that was now destroyed. *My* Aleric was gone. And, knowing him, it was likely that 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

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 

never expected you to 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.”

sounded basically the same as what I did

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 to assume you haven‘t at least considered taking over once you‘re of age. Especially after what Tytus has done to you.”

wrong. Only days earlier I‘d had this exact conversation with this but had turned her down knowing the impact it would have on Aleric. At the time, I couldn‘t risk tarnishing our

it was clear now.

true then this

friendship He 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 servitude from a Luna But more like split Alphas working together towards

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