A Gift from the Goddess
Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty-Three (AUTHOR NOTE: Just a reminder that single quotes’ are things only said inAria's head when they appear like speech.)

“Stop them,” my mind hissed at me as I watched the children laugh and jump all over Aleric. He hadscooped a few up and was playing happily with them. They ran around him, tugging at his clotheswhile he pretended to be a scary monster. Every time he would roar, they would all squeal and run afew steps away, having the time of their life.

"He is a murderer,” my mind reminded me. “He is dangerous. Don't let him touch them.’ But thescene in front of me was baffling, freezing me in place. I had never seen Aleric around childrenbefore and so his affectionate behaviour towards them was shocking, to say the least. Would hehave been like this in the past had he been given a child of his own? ...If my body had been capableof such a thing?

As the thoughts urging me to protect the children continued to hound at me, I did my best to pushthem away. I had to remind myself that a sixteen year old Aleric was not yet the man he would beone day. He didn't have blood on his hands... yet. Myra could sense I was suddenly extremelyuncomfortable at his arrival and gently touched m y hand. She probably didn’t understand but itwas nice of her to try and comfort me regardless.

Finally, Aleric looked up towards the tree and saw us sitting there. I flinched as his eyes caught myown, hoping more than anything he would leave. 1 But, to my dismay, he immediately put down thekid that was thrown over his shoulder and started to walk to where we were. My heart started torace but I told myself I was more mentally prepared this time. I wouldn't let the trial groundmemories haunt me like the last time.

I took several deep breaths, calming my mind, but with every step he made towards us, the more Ibegan to doubt my ability to handle it. Would I actually be able to keep it together this time? It hadbeen so many months now since I'd seen him... so many months since I had died. Would thememories still be as fresh?

But standing in front of me, I realised just how weak and insignificant I still was. As he towered overmy small frame, I knew that, even with all of the training I'd done over the last few months, it wouldstill not even be remotely good enough to defend myself against him.

“Ariadne, Myra,” he greeted. His voice made my stomach drop and I instantly felt sick and weak. Myname on his lips felt more like a curse.

Myra and I were both already on our feet by this point and we bowed our heads in respect upon hisgreeting.

"Alpha heir,” Myra said, welcoming him. “We are honoured to receive you at our event today. Thankyou for coming.” I couldn't get the words out of my mouth to return his greeting, my headpounding at the internal conflict happening within. I was sure he had noticed my silence though. Hehad to have. Aleric smiled. “It is a pleasure to be here and to finally meet you, Myra. My fatherextends his regards for the invitation and wishes to thank you for your family's continued hard workat the facility.”

I couldn't bring myself to look at his face, choosing to keep my eyes cast down. It was taking all ofmy concentration just to not visibly shake from just being so close to him.

“Thank you, Alpha heir.” Myra bowed again quickly.

"However, unfortunately, it seems I will need to replace you later to talk further. I have some matters todiscuss with Ariadne right now. But I look forward to catching up properly and please let yourparents know that I have arrived.” My breath stopped mid-exhale from surprise. Why would he needto talk to me of all people? I could feel Myra hesitate for a second, but we both knew there wasnothing she could do to help me here. With one last final bow, she left, looking back several timeswith a worried expression. Soon, I was suddenly facing the man who still haunted my nightmares.Alone.

And an icy silence hung between us.

"Are you going to at least talk to me this time?” he asked, finally breaking the quiet. “Or should I callfor Caius to come back and whisk you away again?”

It was like his facade of being polite in front of Myra had instantly fallen like a curtain. Now that itwas only the two of us, he became closer to the Aleric I knew. Unnecessarily cruel, and occasionallysarcastic to the point of trying to put me down.

I grabbed at my wrist to stop it from trembling. I needed to be stronger than this. I needed to b eable to least speak to him. He sighed in mild frustration, his tone suddenly changing. “Look... I'msorry. I didn't ask to talk with you so I could start an argument.”

I could see him cross his arms together and shuffle on his feet. It was as if he were uncomfortablewith how to say whatever it was he needed to say.

“The truth is,” he continued, “my father informed me of what happened with Myra and the JadeMoon pack. I realise now that I need to apologise for how I acted after you met with the council.So... 1 am sorry, Ariadne. You had been badly injured and it was no way for me to have spoken toyou.” This caught me off guard. Aleric was... apologising to me? For something he had said? Icouldn't ever recall a moment in our past he'd done such a thing.

“But, all of that aside... I'm here to request that you have tea with me.” My eyes then snapped t o hisface, wide in disbelief.

Why would he, of all people, want to willingly have tea with me? I didn't have to wait long for myanswer though.

"Or rather, my father suggested that we have tea together,” he clarified. “There are still a few hoursbefore the main event for the fundraiser and he's asked if you could lend me some of your time.”

I needed to speak, to say something. Anything. “Um,” I feebly said, before clearing my throat. “I'msure you have far more important things that require your attention today, Alpha heir. I would hateto keep you from those.” His green eyes narrowed at me and I instantly looked back down again.“Sorry if I didn't make it clear enough before,” he said, “but this wasn't really a.. suggestion.. frommy father. He's actually insisted on this.” I then understood the meaning behind his words. Thiswasn't an innocent request. This had been an order from his father. We were both now bound toabide by the Alpha’s wish. And so, that's how I suddenly found myself sitting for some tea...opposite the man who murdered me.

It was a bit of a surreal experience. The last time we had sat together, as just the two of us for ameal, was not long after our rise to Alpha and Luna... Though, back then, he had stared daggers atme the entire time and left after twenty minutes to go see Thea. A small area in the adjacent gardenhad been set up specifically to enable us to have a private gathering. The outdoor table and chairshad already been a part of the decor, however, some attendants had gone out of their way to makethe area look more “suitable’.

Flowers had been picked and arranged in a vase on the table, and a trolley next to this showed off alarge array of tea and snacks that had been prepared. Surrounding us was also a mixture o fcolourful flowers and fauna growing in the garden, all perfectly maintained. It really would havebeen beautiful, if it weren't for the company I would be keeping. But after several minutes hadpassed, still neither of us had spoken a single word to each other.

I knew what this setup was, of course. Alpha Tytus was forcing Aleric and I to spend time togetherso we'd hopefully “play nice’ and become close. This was probably some weird version of a surprisedate in the hopes I'd concede to becoming Aleric's Luna one day. Tytus probably assumed, andcorrectly so, that I would decline to a real meetup, and so chose to force us to participate during atime we would both already be dressed up and nearby. I wondered how many more of these “dates’I was going to have to endure before he finally respected my choice not to be with his son.

Aleric then cleared his throat, bringing my attention back to him. “So, my father wanted me to thankyou for your recommendation over handling the Jade Moon pack,” he started, breaking the silencefinally. “It turned out to be successful in the end. He said your actions during the fight and yoursolutions for handling the aftermath were

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hanter Thirty Threpe commendable.”

I nodded. “Thank you, Alpha heir.”

Silence again. All I could think about was the seconds as they slowly ticked by. I wanted nothingmore than t o run far, far away from here.

“Is the food not to your liking?” he asked, noticing my plate. “You've barely touched anything.

I looked down at the small piece of cake that sat in front of me with only two tiny bites taken out ofit. The entire time we'd been sitting together, I had been so nervous that I'd barely been able to eator drink from the spread provided. I wouldn't have been able to even tell him the flavour ofanything I'd consumed so far; I hadn't been able to taste a single thing from the stress of being inthis situation. “The food is delicious,” I lied, having no idea. “Thank you, Alpha heir.” It was clear hisfather had ordered him to talk nicely to me. They both probably realised they needed me on theirside and Tytus would have known how his son's usual behaviours would have been perceived byme. Aleric wasn't exactly known for his patience. But, if I was honest, the forced attempt at trying totalk politely to me was by far one of the most unnerving experiences I'd ever had. Never had Ireceived any courtesy from Aleric before and so this new persona of his was unpredictable to me. Ifound Aleric far less frightening when I could tell exactly what he may do next. Abruptly, he thensighed and brought his hand up so fast my body couldn't help but react. I flinched at his suddenmovement. He frowned at me for a second, but continued to brush the hair out of his face, replaceingmy reaction strange. The teacup in my hand had almost completely spilled all over myself in myfright. “Are you sick?" he asked. He could see how much my hands were trembling now.

“N-no,” I stuttered out, cursing internally at my body for betraying how I felt. “Thank you for yourconcern, Alpha heir.”

"Ariadne, I can see you're shaking,” he said. He stood up and went to reach for me. “Here just putthis down for a-."

I didn't hear whatever he was about to say though because I recoiled so quick from him that theplate in front of me smashed against the trolley, falling to the ground in pieces. My arm had sweptacross the table so fast that there hadn't been any time to stop it from falling. I turned and staredup at him in a panic, petrified of what he would do to me for my show of carelessness. I wanted toapologise, to beg him to forgive me, but I felt like I couldn't breathe. Nothing would pass my lips asa coherent sentence. “Ariadne,” he said in an annoyed tone. And then he reached towards me againand I turned my face to the side, shutting my eyes as tightly as they would go to anticipatewhatever he was about to do to me.

..But nothing ever came. It felt like an eternity waiting before I finally heard him sigh again. Icarefully opened my eyes to look at him, but not fast enough to anger him further. He was rubbinghis face in frustration, clearly irritated over everything I'd just done. “Okay, I tried,” I thought I heardhim whisper under his breath. He looked back up at me, forcing a smile on his face, and stood up. Achill went down my spine at seeing that familiar smile. I knew it so well; the kind that said h e washiding his true emotion from me.

“Thank you for your time today, Ariadne,” he said, going back to being overly polite. “It was a nabsolute pleasure. I hope we can do this again some time.”

It was all a lie and we both knew it. He was following formality to not incur the wrath of his fatherwhen he returned home.

He waited several seconds for me to reply, but I couldn“t bring myself to speak. It was only after Ieventually managed to give him a half bow of my head in acknowledgement that he took it as goodenough confirmation to take his leave.

I sat staring into space for a long time after he left, unsure how to process everything that had justhappened. I felt just like the broken plate that laid shattered next to me; both of us having no ideahow we became like this, but both feeling like only minutes ago everything had been just fine.

I'd thought I was ready, that I was stronger now. But I was wrong. It was clear that Aleric was still sovery much in control of me.

And there was only one way I was going to be able to change it. There was no other option. Ineeded to become untouchable.