A Gift from the Goddess by Dawn Rosewood

Chapter Sixty–Six 

A loud knocking sounded at my door the following morning, instantly waking me up. 

It was dark, maybe dim morning light, but definitely earlier than I had expected to be disturbed that day. It was so early that I knew even Lucy wouldn‘t have arrived yet. 

Despite my best efforts, my brain had refused to quieten down after I‘d gone to sleep the night before. Figuring out a possible theory to do with Thea had awakened a new spark within me, one which had prevented me from settling my mind down. As a result, I felt exhausted from the little rest I had managed to get. 

I pulled myself out of bed sluggishly and made my way to the door, opening it to see a dishevelled looking Aleric on my doorstep. It appeared that early mornings still disagreed with him even after all this time. 

“...Aleric? Why are you here so early?” | yawned, too tired to conduct the required formalities. 

“So you just open the door for anyone without checking first?” he asked, ignoring my question. “What if I were someone here to kill you? I get that we‘re in the packhouse but it‘s not like we haven‘t had spies here before.” 

I stared back at him completely unfazed, my eyelids heavy. “If it meant that I didn‘t need to be awake right now or go to this meeting, maybe I would welcome the hostile intrusion,” Treplied. “Besides, what kind of murderer knocks on the door to announce their presence virst? Not very subtle.” 

He stood frozen for a few seconds, confusion showing on his face momentarily, before finally, his lip twitched in a small smile. What was he confused about? 

Oh. It was the first attempt at humour I‘d made to him in months. 

Maybe I had been letting this place affect me too much. I could definitely feel that having something different finally happening today did help to dissociate myself from the less pleasant memories in this room. It made me more... aware. 

“Come inside and wait,” I offered, opening the door wider for him to enter. “I need to get changed and grab the last of my things.” 

“Don‘t take too long. We need to get going.” 

I frowned. He‘d shown up almost two hours earlier than he needed to. Why was he in such a rush? 

After getting changed and attempting to cover up the unpleasant new features of my face with makeup, i grabbed my bag and took one last look in the mirror 

Once dressed up and nicely presented, it was easy to miss the signs of my own inner struggles the last few months. That is, of course, if you were also blind and completely ignored the collar sported around m y neck 

I sighed. There was no getting out of this now. 

Refocusing on the task at hand, I headed back to where Aleric was waiting for me. 

Surprisingly, in the time it took for me io get ready, he had somehow managed to tame his wavy hair a bit better and looked more presentable for the meeting ahead. 

“Ready to go,” I announced, walking towards the front door. 

“Wait, I‘ve got something for you,” he said, making me pause. 

Chapter Sixty Six 

I watched as he then pulled out a length of quality violet fabric from a bag and showed it to me. It was a scarf. 

“I figured you‘d feel more comfortable with something like this to hide the ah....” His gaze lowered to my collar. 

Teyed the gift sceptically. “...We don‘t have very cold weather right now.” 

He shrugged. “The fabric is a bit thinner so it could be more of a fashion thing? I don‘t know. I‘m not good with that stuff. Just... here.” 

nice sentiment if not for his

the metal up in curiosity to

“You get used t o it. Mostly it‘s just a mild burn that you tune out just like the handcuffs. The problem is that, since it‘s on all day long, the

he looked into my eyes, I could tell

you know I‘m

not your fault,” I said,

attempt to break the serious air surrounding us. “Anyway, you said we were in a

remembering why we were here again, and cleared his throat. “Yeah... let‘s go. The house is still sleeping

closely behind through the familiar halls, the eerie silence of those sleeping around us evident,

Whatever it was, I took a second to breathe it in, greedily indulging in something

and I followed after, throwing my bag in the back.

were driving for a while before I finally spoke. It was something that had been bothering me since his arrival this

know that I‘m going to

though there should have been, not to mention it was far too early in the morning; way earlier than we should have needed to make it to the meeting on time. With all of

was sneaking

was quiet for a minute before

me yesterday that he knew about this.”

will know... I left him a

evident in my silence to which he laughed. “What‘s he going

that‘ll look great on our

mean?

to the aftermath of my punishment. But I would be lying if I said that

in a tight line as if

“...Aleric?” | pressed. 

he started. “There‘s been a bit of stirring, a few accusations... After all, you just went missing one day, holing yourself up in those quarters. Tytus made an announcement to say you were taking some personal time off to recover following the death of Myra. Of course, that didn‘t make much sense given the timeline of events. A few people weren‘t happy

think actually happened?” I asked.

being imprisonment which is problematic. There was also a lot of petitioning for your release happening. Not just from within the Winter Mist

“...And the collar?” 

but unfortunately, that one has spread around

assumed as much. It was to be expected that people were curious regarding the collar since this sort of thing was completely

myself indoors anyway. I knew it was petty of me to take pleasure, since causing more civil unrest was the last thing I should be advocating for,

saw the border in sight. Several warriors from the Diamond Claw pack were standing guard, screening everyone a s they came across. I wondered whether the added security measures were introduced from hearing about all the rogue attacks and deaths the Winter

within our neighbouring territories would know who he

almost borderline rude. But I knew why they were doing it... after all, their eyes were directed

to distract myself instead Coming here was a bad idea. If the lower ranks were this blatantly obvious, who knew how

low warning growl rumbled out next to me, and I looked up in surprise to see Aleric‘s attention pointed towards the

threat that was impossible to miss, but your lack of

Chapter Sixty Six 

the meeting today? Recommend that your pack looks to invest more into its training if this

white, eyes wide with fear. Aleric could rip his throat out if he wanted and this pack wouldn‘t be able

behaviour, it was something I knew I should probably intervene

a hand out and gently touched

him. “Let it go. I‘m sure you‘ve scared him enough for a lifetime. If can‘t cope under the gaze of someone like him, then there is no chance

tension releasing from

leaning forward to address the warrior directly; a warrior