A Gift from the Goddess

A week. 

I lasted a week before I started to get restless, wondering how much longer I‘d need to wait before my body could finally cope again. 

But surely a week was long enough, right? Enough that I would be allowed to begin what I wanted to? 

And so I quickly grabbed the clipboard at the end of my bed, the one that was for my medical chart, and flipped the pages over to start writing on the blank side. 

...And I closed my eyes, concentrating as I gave myself over to the old side of me that knew how to effectively strategise an enemy. 

It took several hours over the course of three days before I finally finished. To be safe, I only worked within small windows every day, choosing to do so between when I would get another dose of pain medication and when I would need to let myself sleep. This was something delicate and I knew I needed t o be at my most relaxed for it to work. 

By the time I was done, it was an in–depth timeline of everything since I‘d been reborn. Correlating the different events to everything I knew Thea had done, and then using those to theorise why it had been done the way it had been. Even in the moments she hadn‘t done something, I was still able to use it to better understand it all. 

… This was it. 

This was a 101 guide to Thea over the last four years 

Now I just needed to have a meeting with the others to let them know. Something I was sure Aleric would be less than pleased with considering I was meant to still be resting. 

Fuck it. 

I knew the time window was perfect. This would be my only chance until tomorrow. 

...Not to mention, that thing* had finally arrived earlier. 

And so I threw my legs over the side of the bed, getting slowly dressed into some normal clothes, and started heading towards the meeting hall. Knowing Aleric, he was probably going to be there this time of the day. 

“Where are you going?” a voice then said behind me, making me jump in surprise. 

| quickly turned around to see Brayden there, right outside my hospital room. 

“… To see Aleric,” I replied, my voice a little tense at seeing him. 

It was because of him. 

If he had just done what he was told, none of this would have happened. 

But as I looked at him more closely, I noticed how he looked exhausted. He had dark circles under his eyes and didn‘t have that normal confident air about him that used to annoy me so much. 

“You‘re not supposed to be leaving your room,” he said. “Aleric was pretty strict on that.” 

“So, you follow orders now?” | replied back a bit coldly. 

*Breathe.* 

And I sighed, clearing my head. I needed to remember that there was no reason for me to get angry now. 

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“..I‘m sorry, Arla,” he said, his face crumbling a bit 10 show how quilty he felt, “I didn‘t. I didn‘t realise. I Just wanted to stop her from getting away. If I‘d known she was going to do that 10 you, I never would have engaged in battle. I feel terrible.” 

“Don‘t apologise to me,” I said. “Just.. learn and do better.” 

And with that, I turned around, continuing on iny way to where I wanted to go. 

Aria, seriously! We‘ve got this whole place on lockdown because you‘re injured. You can‘t just

with this then I would still be in bed. I‘ve been stuck

he did just that, though begrudgingly. Going as far

on

are you trying to say?” I heard Aleric‘s voice speak from the other side of the meeting hall‘s door

rooms

her safe right now. Clearly, Thea knows where she is o r she wouldn‘t keep sending rogue attacks along the border to split your people and weaken your defences.

you‘re wrong but–.” Aleric‘s voice then cut off abruptly mid–sentence, followed only seconds

in, Aria,” he

senses

alone as they discussed the current issues the pack was facing Things they‘d obviously been keeping from me while I was resting. And they were probably right to do so. If I‘d known we had been suffering attacks because of me, I probably wouldn‘t have been able to sit by as idly as

supposed to be here,”

at the

said, staring down at

the inside of my cheek.

important. This is... everything you need to know about Thea. Everything I was able to figure out. If

up to Cai and saw his expression still stony, eyes narrowed. It wasn‘t as bad as it was... but he still didn‘t trust me.

for a bit,” I continued. “This is going to take a while but it‘s important you all understand. The only way this works is if we start to trust each other implicitly. Any doubt or concerns

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Chapter Ninety–Four 

softening his expression enough to tell me he was going to at least give me

everything,” I started, laying out the pages in front of me. “I‘ve used the events I‘ve experienced in this lifetime in conjunction with the things I‘ve learnt about Thea‘s history, to try and figure out how she operates. Luckily for us, she unintentionally told me more than she probably should

and wrote it down on a fresh page so they could follow along.

to being stuck in the collar. The most important thing to know is that these abilities are primarily powered by emotional energy. The more intense feeling you‘re experiencing, the easier it is to utilise. So,

of devotion. It‘s something you probably won‘t understand completely unless you ever meet a proper God in person.

gaze, realising what I was implying in my explanation.

“So if that‘s how our abilities work, it‘s logical to assume that it‘s also how hers work too. Which brings me to the first of her weaknesses – ‘detachment‘. All of her moves against me since the beginning were solely aimed at triggering a negative reaction. Because the more emotional I felt in that moment, the easier it was for her to weave her way in and magnify those already existing fears I had. It‘s how she eventually ended up taking over too; waiting until I was completely at rock bottom so I would give in to everything she was saying. Detaching yourself and reducing those spikes in emotional changes

me a few

that it doesn‘t work on him in the same way it does on

actually, it was worse than that. Thinking about it now, it was a few months short of a whole year.”

the physical effects of the mate–bond, like sparks, scent etc, opposed to you actually *feeling the attachment to her. You sort of never expressed that much interest in her emotionally when you spoke about ‘Caitlyn... something that was truthfully a bad sign from the beginning. If you are ever able to experience a mate bond one day, and I mean a *real one*, you‘ll know exactly what I mean. When that bond is formed... it‘s like nothing else, no one else. It takes over both your body *and* mind

see Aleric staring at me

not yet. I couldn‘t jump down that

means you‘re the

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bhupter Ninety–tout 

though that this sickness was something you were only able t o start recovering from once she left the Silver Lake... bringing me

next few notes down before looking up to see Cai had gone completely pale. I took that to mean that I must have correctly figured out his questionable commitment to Caitlyn perfectly, if his reaction was anything to go

she was with you full–time in the beginning, Cai, I didn‘t experience any issues with her inside my head. In fact, it was pretty much dead silent and I felt in control for the most part... with one exception; when we met up during what was meant to be my escape. This tells me she is probably limited to a certain range and, possibly, is also limited in how many she can focus on at once. Cai, you mentioned to me in my office that she started leaving for longer periods of time after you started to get more ill... I‘d wager those times she was away from you would match up perfectly to when I was at my worst, moments that took place after I‘d turned

are good defensive tactics but don‘t really help much should we find ourselves in an actual fight,” Aleric then pointed out. “Fighting is pretty emotionally fuelling and so, really, that would just leave running away. Doesn‘t really help to defeat her.”

me to the last one...

against a creature that can

her guard down. Stupidly, she admitted to me that she considered us pretty similar and, well, though

more

the people she cared for. She gave up her entire life just to make them happy. But when she was finally at her

if she has nothing left, what can you possibly do to catch her

own negative emotions that are her weakness to distract her, just like they were with me. Both of us became blinded, unable to see clearly ahead when things turned bad. Back when Selene robbed her of her powers, she wasn‘t able to use her ability

fight when she had shown her true colours; how it was a mirror image of the way she‘d made me angrily react to things in the past. Seeing the comparison now had made me realise how

get her angry?” Cai asked

t o keep in mind that this weakness could still very easily turn into a strength for her, what with it also stemming from a strong emotional response. If she learns how to overcome her urge to just immediately attack in a pure rage, she could always use that emotional energy to her own benefit instead. Then we‘d probably be in a lot of trouble. I was only