A Gift from the Goddess
Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty-Eight It had Alpha Tytus written all over it. He had “coincidentally’ chosen a nightmy father was out of town and my mother was shifted t o work at the hospital. This meant it wouldbe just me... and Aleric. It seemed I had assumed incorrectly that Tytus was done trying to playmatchmaker with us. When I had been accepted as a probationary Beta heir, naturally I had thoughtthe surprise dates would come to an end. Did he think I was going to fail in my endeavour to bestAlexander? Or was his idea that I could be persuaded to drop out of the running for the title if I fellfor Aleric?

Putting all of that aside, I now found myself with less than seven hours to get the entire houseready.

To have the Alpha or Alpha heir come for dinner was considered a high enough honour already, buthosting Aleric would just make things more difficult. I'd never found him an easy person to please inmy past.

I worked tirelessly, from the moment I found out he was coming, to organise everything down tothe most minute detail. From briefing the attendants on behaviours to avoid around him, tocreating a menu for the cooks so they could prepare Aleric’s preferred foods, nothing was left tochance.

By the time I was finally finished organising, I found I only had an hour for myself to get ready anddressed.

And then, finally, the time came.

As Aleric entered the house, I saw him pause a moment to take it all in. I wondered what was goingthrough his mind and couldn't recall if he'd ever come here before. But judging from his face, hedidn't remember either.

“Greetings, Alpha heir,” I said, bowing my head.

“Evening, Ariadne,” he replied.

I looked up and saw him staring at me strangely already. Had I done something off? I wracked mybrain but couldn“t think of anything.

“It's an honour to receive you tonight,” I continued. “If you'll follow me to the parlour, we can sitthere while we wait for our meals to be ready...”

We walked into the large sitting area with two couches. I stood at the doorway, allowing him t omove first to choose where he would sit. When he'd made himself comfortable, I purposely sat onthe opposite couch with just enough distance. Close enough to not be rude, but far away enoughthat I didn't have to worry about flinching at any of his sudden movements.

“So, how have you been, Ariadne?” he asked finally, after several moments of silence had passed“It's been... a week since our last meeting?” “Yes, Alpha heir,” I said. “I've been well. Yourself?"

“I've been good..." he said, his face turning that same odd frown again. “You can call me Aleric, yourealise? You're a Beta heir now. The formalities aren't required.” Oh... so this was why he'd given methat look at the door. I'd found it easier to call him Alpha heir these last few months, the sound ofhis real name on my lips always leaving a bitter taste.

I clenched my jaw, preparing myself to force to words out. “Apologies... Aleric.” He regarded mewarily. Obviously, something else was still bothering him that he hadn't mentioned

But he didn't end up bringing it up as, not long afterwards, one of the attendants came in toannounce dinner was ready. I breathed out a sigh of relief. At least having food in front of me wouldgive me an excuse to not keep the conversation going. We sat down in the dining room, Aleric atthe head of the table, myself to his right; just as it always had been. I could feel the anxiety begin tocreep into my chest at his proximity, knowing I was within arms reach of him at any given moment.But I pushed it aside. I was stronger than that now.

The food started to come out then and I was grateful everything had been prepared exactly the wayI had instructed. The spread was diverse enough for even four people, but I hadn't wanted to leaveanything to chance. I looked up to check on Aleric, to gauge his reaction, but he seemed completelyfine; this being at least one comfort to my anxiety. I knew I'd never know for sure though since hewas impossible to read.

“Is everything to your liking... Aleric?” I asked.

"Yes, it's all great,” he said. “Thank you.” That didn't tell me much but at the very least he hadn'thated it right away.

And with that, we both began to eat.

However, several minutes in, I realised he still hadn't said anything... and I was beginning to worryI'd done something wrong. I cleared my throat. “So... how was your exchange?” He looked directlyup at me as he spoke, and I tried not to jump at the sudden eye contact. “It was good. I went to anorthern territory called the Opal Tide. It's the central pack for the region up there.” I wasn't overlyfamiliar with them but I knew they were a fairly powerful pack. Aleric had spared them during histyrant years. I guess now I knew why. “That's... good,” I said before taking another bite of my food.“Ariadne...” he said, trailing off. "Yes?"

He looked confused, as if he wanted to talk about something but wasn't sure if he should.“Nevermind.”

to the airport

He clenched his jaw and went back to eating his food. A part of me was curious and wanted toknow what he'd wanted to say, but I thought better of pushing him for answers.

We ended up eating the rest of our meal in silence after that. I wasn't sure what to talk about o rwhether I should even try to start a conversation or not, and so I let him be.

When he was finally done, he placed his utensils on the table. “That was delicious, thank you. Pleasetell the cook they did a great job.” “I'm glad to hear that,” I said, genuinely relieved everything hadgone as planned. “Do you think I could trouble you for a cup of tea?” Oh, he wanted tea? I supposeI could make him some. I stood up and began walking to the kitchen. "Ariadne, what are you...”

I stared at him confused. He said he wanted tea? I was getting him tea...

"...Nevermind,” he said again, leaning back into his chair. I paused another moment, still unsure overwhatever that was, but proceeded on my way to the kitchen anyway. I asked the attendant there toboil me some water as I prepared the tea leaves. They, too, gave me an odd look that I still couldn'tdecipher. Several moments later, I was on my way back with his tea in hand, walking straight up tohim.

I was about to place it on the table in front of him when suddenly his arm shot out towards me.

I jumped, not expecting him to have moved so quickly, and dropped the teacup...

..Right onto his leg.

He stood up immediately and cursed in pain. I realised too late that he had actually just beenreaching for the cup in my hand, but I hadn“t expected it. I hadn't thought he would move soabruptly. “Oh, Goddess, no...” was all I could say. Instinctively, I had already begun pacing backwarduntil I found myself up against the wall. “Please... no, I'm so sorry.” He was patting at his leg with anapkin, wincing from the pain, when suddenly his eyes looked up to meet mine. I had messed up. Ihad messed up so badly. “I'm sorry, please, I'm so sorry,” I kept repeating, my body beginning toshake. “It's fine,” he said. But I could barely hear him as I was so scared over whatever he would doto me.

He saw how I was, how my face had completely paled. “I said it's fine, Ariadne,” he repeated with atone of irritation now. And then he started walking towards me, looking unsettled by my reaction asI continued to

apologise over and over again. “Are you not listening to me? What's wrong with you?” I recoiledaway but there was nowhere to move. I was already trapped by the wall. And then finally he'd hadenough. “Why do you always have this reaction to me, Ariadne?” he snapped, frustrated. “I don't geti t! What have I done to you? What could I possibly have done to always make you fear me thismuch?”

I stared at him mutely, unable to replace my voice.

“Before you became Beta heir, we literally had only spoken maybe five times growing up. So, whatthe hell did I do?”

And then I saw him. Really saw him for the first time since coming back.

This wasn't the adult man who had gone on a killing spree. This wasn't the man who had trappedand used me. This was a teenage boy who was probably still learning who he was himself. He hadthe same midnight curls and green eyes, but his face didn't have the same lines from battle he’dacquired over the years. He was younger, purer. I'd been so caught up in the past that I'd beenunable to look at him in the present.

"Help me understand, Ariadne, because I can't take it anymore.”

He looked at me then with a sad desperation, as if this had been something piling up inside him fora long time now. “Because whenever I look into your eyes, all I see is a reflection of myself, seen inthe form of some kind of monster. And it makes me feel sick. Like I need to be apologising forsomething when I don’t even know what I've done wrong.”

I wanted to say something, to give a plausible explanation for why I was so scared of him. But therewas no good reason I could think of that didn’t involve mentioning my past life. What could Ipossibly tell him? Because he glares at me in meetings? Because he was sarcastic at me that onetime? Because he gets angry when other men carry me off?

"Ariadne! Please, talk to me,” he said and grabbed at my arms gently. “Help me understand what itis I've done. I'm sick of having to feel so disgusted by myself whenever I'm near you. What did I do,Ariadne?” I couldn't focus, I couldn't think anymore. My head was spinning... and my vision wasbeginning to blur. And I realised then what was happening... but it was too late. This wasn't traumaanymore.

No... now, I was having a vision.

I clenched my teeth to hold it off as long as possible. I knew I couldnt let him see me when Ieventually appeared to pass out. Too many questions I didn't want to share answers to. “Ariadne?”he called again, still waiting for me to reply. He didn't even realise anything was off about me. Alericprobably just assumed I was ignoring him. so

many great But I could barely see him now, struggling against whatever it was that caused thevisions. It was pushing at me, trying to overpower my body, but I held on as much as I could. Ishook my head. It was the only thing I could muster as there was no way I could reply with actualwords. Not now anyway.

He sighed in annoyance, finally letting me go.

“I don’t know why I even tried to organise dinner,” he said before I heard his footsteps begint oleave Aleric... organised the dinner? Not Tytus? I didn't get time to think on it further though, assuddenly I felt myself falling, and my eyesight evaporated. ...And then... there was blood.

So much blood. All over me.

I couldn't see it but I could feel it. The hot sticky sensation on my hands I knew could only be onething. I was sure that if I looked down that I would replace it everywhere.

But that wasn't all. I was standing with the weight of someone leaning against me, their neck againstmy shoulder. I couldn't see their face, or even their head, but I could feel they were heavy.

And then I realised this wasn't like any other vision I'd had previously. No, I wasn't watching i thappen to someone else this time. I was here, present at that moment. This was happening in myfuture.

But it was strange though... it was like my vision was frozen, a snapshot in time, allowing me amoment to get a grasp on what was happening. I couldn't move or speak and everything aroundme was eerily paused in motion.

I tried to keep calm and looked around, hoping to figure out where I was, but I didn’t recognise thearea at all in the dark. I could only see the tree line of a forest and a pathway leading from a dimly litarea at night. None of this was helpful. Suddenly, the person against me groaned out in pain andeverything began to move again; time resuming.

They grabbed at my shoulder and pushed themself off me, falling to the ground in front of m e. Andit was then that I realised what was happening. What my vision was showing me.

Because in my hand was a knife. A hot, sticky knife that had caused the source of all the blood...And in front of me laid a dying Aleric, slowly bleeding out.

I understood why I was here this time, why I was a participant and not a spectator. ...Because I wasgoing to kill Aleric.