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 conversationtonight.

“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 Iclosed 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 theborder 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 somethingwent 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 havingthis conversation.

"Fine then,” I snapped back, turning to look at him. “You want to know what went wrong? The entirething. The whole plan. How stupid do you think Tytus is that he wouldn't replace out that you wereplanning to hide me in the Silver Lake?"

His eyes widened a little in surprise. “You're joking, right? Cai didn’t organise to move yousomewhere else?”

“More like didn’t want to move me somewhere else,’ I thought, recalling our earlier exchange. Andthat was only after replaceing 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'talmost 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 mysilence.

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 tellingyou."

.. That did it.

His words struck a nerve, igniting me once more despite my exhaustion. Crumbling that final pieceinside me that still cared about what he would think once he finally heard the truth.

“Fair? I asked him, my eyes now ablaze. “You want to talk about “fair’, Aleric? What you said in thatcar was not fair- not fair to me. In fact, it was the cruellest thing anyone has ever said to methroughout my lives. I would have preferred it if you had just told me you were trying to get rid ofme because at least that would be something I could believe and know how to deal with.” 1

“Did you say "lives?"

“I'm sick of whatever this is,” I said, waving a hand towards him. “This version of you who is sogoddamn unpredictable that I feel as though everything I learnt the first time around is completelyuseless. That it was meaningless. That I went through years of hell, living with your abuse, forabsolutely no benefit. How i

s that fair?”

"Aria, what the fuck are you talking about?”

“The truth!” I snapped, moving to the edge of the bed. “I'm telling you what you always wanted toknow! The reason I was so scared of you, the reason I always looked at you as if you were amonster. Because i n my eyes you were, Aleric. You were my torturer, my abuser, and you wouldparade that bitch Thea in front of me like a prized possession you loved more than anything; nevercaring what it did to me, never caring that it hurt me. Me, your mate.”

“Aria-."

“I gave you everything,” I continued, my eyes now filling with tears. “Everything. Anything that waswithin my power to give, I gave it to you. You wanted the world to kneel before you? I gave you thepath to do it. You wanted my heart, my soul and complete servitude? I gave it to you. I let you lockme away, isolated

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

did it for you. I did it so that maybe you would love me... so that maybe you would just look at me,Aleric.”

JOU

I wiped angrily at the tears on my face and gritted my teeth. “And then suddenly I'm brought backby 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 stop myself frombecoming your Luna, to stop you from trapping and hurting me again... and to stop myself fromever having to love you again... because I couldn't bear the thought of living through your rejectiontwice. That alone had been more painful than anything else.”

"What the hell is this? You're saying I apparently rejected you? Hurt you? ...None of this is makingany sense.”

A humourless laugh then escaped my lips, realising I'd forgotten the best part.

"Oh no, haha...Oh no, no no, not just rejected,” I said, a smile slowly creeping onto my face. “Yousee, to be reborn, you don't just get plucked out of thin air by Selene and sent back. No, no... youhave to die first, Aleric. I died. And guess whose face I saw in my nightmares every single day?”

He could see where I was going with this, his face quickly starting to pale, and my smile only grewdespite my tears.

“Yours,” I answered. “It was yours, Aleric. It was you who believed Thea over me, you who convictedme o f crimes I never committed, and you who held the sword as it came crashing down, slicingthrough my neck at the trial grounds. You killed me, Aleric. You killed me once I was no longer ofany use to you anymore. And you wondered why I was so scared of you for so long? Why I'm soangry at you now given

Chapter Seventy Theo

everything you put me through?”

He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. Instead, he just looked at me, his eyes full ofconfusion, and, slowly, my breathing turned into sobs.

I quickly glared down at my hands which were now balled into fists, tightened around the blanketbeneath me, and watched as my tears hit the fabric

"..You don't get to dictate what's unfair this time...” I choked out slowly. “And you don’t get to saythat you love me. It's nine years too late for that.”

I heard him step closer towards me but, even once he kneeled down to eye level, I still refused toraise m y head.

“Aria, look at me,” he said.

But I shook my head, wiping at my face. “No.”

"Aria, *look at me,” he repeated.

Another sob escaped me but I just shook my head once more.

“Aria, look.”

Losing patience, he gently grabbed my chin and raised my head up to finally meet his gaze, to meethis green eyes that were only too familiar.

“If what you're telling me is true... then there is literally nothing I can say that will make whathappened to you okay,” he said, his expression serious. “Because the reality is... it's not okay. And Ican apologise for those things if you want, to say that I'm sorry but, at the end of the day, even if Idid, it wouldn't mean anything. Yes, I'm sorry that those things happened to you, but I cant lookyou in the eye and genuinely apologise for something I never did, and I guarantee you that itwouldn't make you feel any better even if I

did.”

"...You're still young,” I whispered. “You have time to change, time to become that person.”

I pulled my chin out of his grasp and looked back down at my hands, making him sigh.

“You told me that you were wrongfully convicted of crimes you had no part in, that you died forthose very charges,” he continued. "And yet you want to persecute me for sins I've nevercommitted? When have I, m e personally, ever hurt you, Aria? When have I ever given you a reasonto not trust me? It's true that there i s nothing I can say to make right what happened to you, but Ihope that my actions over these last few years have at least proven to you that, whoever the fuckyou're talking about... they're not me.”

..I knew he was right.

It was the very same thing I had been trying to convince myself of, but it still didn't lessen the stingThe cold truth was... I was never going to get my sincere apology. And the things that I wentthrough were never going to be okay. Because the person I needed to hear the apology from wasdead in another timeline that was now destroyed. *My* Aleric was gone. And, knowing him, it waslikely that he didn’t regret what he did to me, even during his final breaths.

But this Aleric in front of me had never given me a reason to not trust him. In fact, he had proven tome time and time again that I could. And yet I still refused to let myself give in. On even the smallchance that things turned bad once more, I knew that it would break me beyond repair. It would bethe final betrayal I couldnt survive.

"... I'm sorry, Aleric, but... regardless of who you are this time, I can't be the person you want me tobe,” II said, moving away from him. “I cant become a Luna again, always living in your shadow andhoping that what i do ensures my survival for one more day. I refuse to live in another war-tornworld created by us.”

nupied scrantyce

..Then don't,” he said, making me look up sharply in surprise. “I never expected you to sit backpassively i in the shadows as a Luna anyway. I just want you to help me make this pack the best itcan be.”

I frowned, not seeing how it was all that much different. It still sounded basically the same as whatI did for him in the past.

“I know you want change, Aria. That much is obvious,” he continued. “You think I haven't noticedhow messed up things have been? Hate me for the rest of your life if you want, but I would ratherwe work together than end up divided in a civil war for power, something that benefits neither usnor the pack. I'm not so naive as to assume you haven't at least considered taking over once you'reof age. Especially after what Tytus has done to you.” 2

He wasn't wrong. Only days earlier I'd had this exact conversation with this but had turned her downknowing the impact it would have on Aleric. At the time, I couldn't risk tarnishing our currentrelationship for fear it would lead to the very doom I was trying to prevent

But it was clear now.

If what he was offering was true then this was the best way forward

No secrets, no power struggle, no ruined friendship He was oftenng me mutual control, somethingthat was the last thing I ever expected to hear from his mouth This would mean no Alphacommanding servitude from a Luna But more like split Alphas working together towards a commoncause

It was a guarantee that, no matter what happened, whether it be Thea or some other imposingthreat per Selene’s warning, that I would still maintain enough control to handle it the way I neededto, all the while ensuring Aleric didn't fall back into the path I feared.

The only concern now was whether our interests would be aligned come time to make difficultdecisions ... and whether he would end up betraying my trust anyway. A trust that came at the priceof more thani could afford to lose

It was a leap of faith that demanded the most nisk, yer offered the highest reward The kind of berthat was either all in, or nothing at all,

So just how much was I willing to gamble?

I slowly got up on my feet and stood before him on unsteady legs, my exhaustion still weighingheavily on me.

“Then swear to me,” I said, and watched as he followed in standing up too. “Swear to me on yourname and title that you will do night by me, that you will honour this pact for mutual control thatyou will allow m e to have equal say in all pack matters and, in return.”

I paused for a moment, my heart pounding In return, I will personally ensure that you receive myfut! support in bringing prosperity to this pack, as well as pose no direct threat to completelyremove you as Alpha.”

It was a deal i couldn't believe I was making, an offer I had promised myself I would never give toAleric again Was I going to regrei this in the moming once I'd had time to sleep? Was any of thiseven real right now?

“But make no mistake, Alenic,” I continued, turning away from his gaze. “1 offer you my hand butnothing more. I once made the mistake of giving you everything I had to offer, my heart, my soul...my life. This deal is for my co-operation alone, to keep a peace that we both know is in the bestinterest of the pack. Because even though I trust you nght now. I still don't trust your future. Notyet, at least. I'm sure you wouldn't either if you were in my shoes, after seeing the things you wereonce capable of.*

I took a deep breath before looking back up, doing my best to maintain my composure and shakeoff the

memories. “These are my terms for this alliance. If you break your oath then I make no guaranteesfor the

repercussions that may result. Are these terms agreeable io you?”

He then placed a hand over his chest, a sign usually reserved for showing respect among alliedpacks,

and lowered his head ever so slightly in a bow.

“I swear, upon my name and future Alpha title, that I will uphold this agreement we have made formutual control and promise to do right by you.”

I scrutinised his face but could sense that he meant the words genuinely, that he intended to keepthis pledge. It was an ethereal experience, all things considered. And even though I stood a footshorter than him, I couldn“t help but feel as though we were on equal footing for once; a first in ourhistory.

There was no fear, no deceit, no questioning his ultimate goal anymore... just two people who wereonce again forced together, bound by fate, now attempting to sacrifice something for the greatergood; Aleric with his birthright, myself for my trust in him once more.

And so, despite the compromise, and despite my extreme fatigue, it was the best I'd felt in over tenyears. My head was spinning, yet I felt very much alive inside.

A sense of calm then started to wash over me, feeling as though I'd finally won at least one of thebattles I'd been fighting for almost a decade. And whilst it could easily still prove disastrous, for justthis moment, I allowed myself the tiniest bit of respite.

Unexpectedly, my legs then gave out from under me, too tired to support myself anymore, and myvision blurred.

“Aria,” Aleric said, quickly reaching out to stop me from hitting the ground.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. I could feel as my brain was starting to quickly switch off, hungry for the sweetnothingness that sleep would provide; something it had been sorely deprived of too much recently.It seemed as though the debt was finally being collected and faster than anticipated. “I'm just...really tired

He quickly helped me back into bed and threw the blanket over me, settling me in for theremainder of the night.

“There won't be any warriors in the packhouse for another few hours,” he said, crouching down tospeak t 0 me. “I'm going to crash on the couch in the other room until they're able to take overguarding you. I'll b e in there if you need anything.”

He stood up to leave but I reached out to grab his arm before he could go.

"Wait," I said, my eyelids becoming too heavy to stay open. Everything was quickly turning to blackbut I fought against it for just a little bit longer. “..Aleric... about tonight..."

“Aria... don't. You need to rest.”

"... Thank you for believing me.”

Theard him quietly sigh. “It's fine. Get some sleep and I'll come to see you once you're awake.”"..Night, Aleric,” I mumbled, finally letting him go.

The light then turned off, absorbing me fully into the darkness.

*..Night, Aria.” And sleep immediately carried me away.