A Gift from the Goddess

Chapter Ninety 

The pack vault. 

Reserved for only fully sworn–in ranked members and Elders. It was a place where the Winter Mist‘s most valuable possessions and secrets were kept, passed down through all the generations. 

It was my first time coming down here in this life and, out of all the people, I never expected to be accompanied by Brayden; someone who was neither a full ranked member nor someone I particularly liked. I knew he would take this experience to engorge his ego but there didn‘t seem to be much choice. I refused to spend my time doing nothing when there was so much going on. Thea or not, I would still make myself useful somehow. 

The vault was huge and packed from top to bottom with everything one could imagine; books, important documents, items, weapons, heirlooms. A collection more diverse than probably all other packs in the country. Now, considering what I knew about the lineages, I wondered if perhaps our ancient origins were to be thanked for that. 

But, more so than what we could visually see, I couldn‘t discount the smell of the old literature surrounding me. A scent that I was so familiar with and took immense comfort in. If I closed my eyes, I could even recall some of my fondest memories spent in libraries; once somewhere I took sanctuary in. 

“So, this is the pack vault,” Brayden said next to me as we entered through the large metal door. 

The undertone of excitement in his voice was impossible to miss but I brushed it off, doing my best to ignore him. Or at least I tried to. 

He walked directly ahead of me towards a cabinet of artifacts and was about to reach out and grab one when 

“Don‘t touch anything,” | snapped, his hand pausing only inches away from a chalice. “I have no choice but to let you in here but you‘re sorely mistaken if you think this is some sort of reward. You‘ve been tasked with keeping an eye on me. I don‘t see where in that order it says you can take a private tour of the vault. I o me, that would be considered doing the opposite of what you were instructed to do.” 

Brayden‘s jaw tightened in disapproval but he dropped his hand nevertheless. For a Gamma heir, he sure didn‘t show much promise in the ways of using his head or following directions correctly. Perhaps his position was something I would need to reconsider in the future. 

“This way,” I said, and started walking towards the back of the room. 

Thadn‘t explored everything in here but I did have a basic understanding. I knew it was sorted by age and then into each individual category within that e.g. books, artifacts etc. In the past, I‘d only stuck to modern history, focusing on war and politics, so it was my first time seeing the very back. 

And it did not disappoint. 

A sharp inhale of surprise passed my lips as I saw what was waiting for us. The books were as beautiful a s they were old, someone obviously taking the time to embellish the covers long ago. By all accounts, they were stunning 

“I‘m going to start reading through these. There is an armchair in the corner if you want to get comfortable,” I said to Brayden and sat myself down at a nearby table. 

And so it began. Reading carefully through the books around me. They were far too fragile, and the majority written in the old language I could only vaguely understand, but I persevered regardless. If 

anything seemed remotely useful then I knew I could always ask Elder Luke to translate it correctly for m e later. 

But with the success rate I was having, that seemed like a small chance anyway. 

After an hour of reading, I was yet to find anything with even the tiniest mention of Thea, the lineages or even just Selene in general. Everything I‘d found was mostly historical and spoke about the pack affairs at the time of writing, or just the pack itself. 

And Brayden wasn‘t making the process any easier. 

He sat in the corner, staring daggers at me the entire time. Presumably making a point at how miserable h e was and attempting to make me as uncomfortable as possible. 

Admittedly, it was working. 

“Okay, fine!” I finally burst out, frustrated from both the lack of results and his behaviour. “You win. I can‘t focus with you acting like a bored toddler.” 

his chair immediately but was still hesitant, waiting for me to give him verbal permission. “...What do you

and look around. Leave me in peace to read and, in return, I won‘t tell Aleric you wandered off,” I said, defeated. “But I‘m serious when I say don‘t touch anything. If you accidentally break anything

a new spring in his step as he basically skipped down the aisle and out of sight towards the weapons

sighed at that. Very typical.

being left alone didn‘t prove to be that much different in the end. I still struggled to

important, I did find it interesting to learn that the Knight family, Cai‘s ancestors, were once a part of the Winter Mist. In fact, it looked as though the two territories used to be combined but broke off somewhere down the line. The ‘silver lake‘, which eventually became the pack‘s namesake, used to be connected to the same river system that flowed through the Winter Mist. Would they

some reason, something about that was nagging in my head, as though I should be remembering something I couldn‘t.

nearby, returning already

to remember the thing I was close to forgetting. I couldn‘t lose focus and he was literally the last distraction

said again, more urgently this time.

I snapped and looked up

she

Thea. 

In the flesh. 

was being held against Brayden‘s neck, keeping him

body instantly froze in shock, almost as though time had stopped. Of all the moments

all of us so far

she managed t o get inside the

she greeted, her sickly sweet voice sending

calm. She couldn‘t touch me which meant I already had the advantage. From everything I‘d learned, she would always bet everything on me

I asked and slowly

pressing

for the sword but this little one caught me in the act. Told me you were still wearing

the handcuffs? So she didn‘t already know? That was interesting.

about the sword?” I asked,

down, “This right here is an instrument of my most recent troubles. The weapon forged by my daughter in the Silver River, now imbued with the souls of

Silver River? 

showed me, translated to ‘Silver‘ in the modern tongue of today. The river that used to connect the Silver Lake and the Winter Mist was the very one that had birthed our kind. We

so

unfortunately, I could already begin to answer that without thinking too hard. And I

possibly my only chance at survival. But freeing myself would prove to be almost impossible. Not

astounds me how hard it is to get into this shithole vault,” she continued. “Breaking in is hopeless… and yet I hear there are merely ten people who have access to it; none of whom ever seem to come down here.”

now I had just opened the door

leaving with what you wanted, you took Brayden hostage and came to gloat?” I asked.

you really think about it. Both of us having our lives ruined by Selene. Both of us sacrificing everything for our duty and then losing everything we

argued. “You ruined *both* my lives. And now you‘ve manipulated and turned me into ... into whatever this* is. You took away those I

those I still had.”

now and then you would just give me snippets until I finally had full control. I I was extremely entertaining to see. I knew Selene was marking those selected from the original lineages but I never realised that they had been reborn

Chapter Ninety 

beginning anyway... and apparently not everything of late either. It meant there were limits to what she

you targeted me instead of Aleric? Because of the mark?” I asked.

right, because that‘s how it went the first time, right? I suppose that would be the case. I found out you were looking for me and discovered Selene‘s energy radiating off you. You were the bigger threat out of the two. Of course, I didn‘t expect you to let me in so easily. It took a lot of work to

not Cai?”