A Gift from the Goddess by Dawn Rosewood

Chapter Forty-Five There she was. 

Two years I’d been looking for her and yet it was like she had just fallen out of the sky, having been completely untraceable this entire time.

And the nagging I’d been feeling inside my head? I should have met Thea months ago. Aleric first introduced us before his coming of age, so they should have already been dating at this point. I remembered that she hadn’t been allowed to attend tonight’s event however I couldn’t recall why exactly.

But she hadn’t shown herself even once this entire time I’d come back. And, as far as I knew, she hadn’t even shown herself to Aleric yet. And yet, here she was… Staring right up at me. Like she knew who I was. My body immediately tensed up as I realised she must have found out I’d hired someone to track her down. That would explain how she had been able to avoid being found this entire time. Well, I’d already worked out she had begun orchestrating my death from possibly years before it had happened. Her whole sweet, naive persona had been a charade from the beginning that I’d been too blinded by my jealousy to see. So, needless to say, I knew she had it in her to be smart enough and figure out I was trying to find her.

But why would that stop her from meeting Aleric? No one knew why I wanted to find her except me. Was it because Aleric and I were closer this time? Did she feel threatened?

I could feel my heart racing just looking at her. Neither of us moved, just standing frozen in place with eyes locked knowingly. The tension between us was thick.

Aleric may have been the one to swing the sword and break me emotionally beyond repair, but at the end of the day, my journey to death had started because of her. Because she had wanted Aleric for herself… because she had wanted to be Luna.

Suddenly, Thea was the first to break eye contact. She turned around and started walking towards the exit, blending in with the crowds of people below. 

But if this was my only chance to catch her then I couldn‘t let it go to waste. I needed to follow her. Maybe find out where she was living.

I quickly kicked my heels off, cursing my choice in footwear, and ran through the mass amounts of people, down the stairs, until I stood just below the balcony where I’d first seen her.

I had scanned every face I ran past, scrutinising them for any similarity to Thea… But none of them were her.

…She was gone.

I couldn’t see her anywhere and, without any decent sense of smell, I wasn’t going to be able t o track her either. She had completely managed to avoid passing me and maybe had even left

the party already by the time I’d gotten downstairs. Too many people had slowed me down as I had tried to catch up to her quickly. “Fuck!” I screamed, punching the tree next to me out of frustration. I’d been so close. She had really been here. Should I have just let her go, watching where she went before I ran downstairs? Should I have yelled out to her? What would I have even said? ‘Hey, I think you killed me in my past life, stay there while I ask you some questions in case you’re going to try that again’? I ended up waiting below that balcony for an hour, scanning the crowds for any sign of Thea, but she never returned. And the more time that passed, the angrier I became at myself. Everything that had happened this night had been a disaster and I had allowed myself to become invested in the wrong things.

When I finally conceded she wasn’t coming back, I headed straight home. I was completely shaken by the entire encounter and knew there was nothing good waiting for me if I went back inside. It seemed like an obvious choice that I should give the rest of the event a miss.

However, even once I returned home, I could still feel myself shaking.

first time. I didn’t feel like breaking

No… this time?

I felt pissed.

had private rooms on the second floor, of which ranked

public area was overly occupied. Not that it was a major issue, just that having constant stares and whispers from other people always made a workout less pleasant. “Knock, knock,” a voice suddenly came from the door. I had been hitting

greeted, hitting the bag again but this time with excessive force. Just in case he didn’t

but his lack of a

“Uhh...,” was all he said when I turned to him. He shook his head as if trying to

harter Forty rivers 

you think I‘d want to talk to

I brought you a gift,” he said with that stupid charismatic smile, holding up a plastic bag

it. “Come on, Aria. Just give me some time, please?” I exhaled, annoyed. “Fine.” I’d left my clothes

from his hand after

was

towel over my shoulder, brushing past him to leave the gym, and walked across the road to where a small park was; all without even looking back once. There was a large tree that was further in and mostly private. I sat myself down there under its shade and waited for Cai

have possibly gotten me to make up for that bullshit move you pulled last night?” “Well… I asked Myra what you like these days and she suggested this.” I pulled out a small foam box from inside the bag that felt warm to touch. So, of course, inside contained the one thing Myra knew I was weak for; nuggets and fries. “You brought me fried food to the gym?” I asked. “Are you telling me you don‘t want it?” He tilted

already.

I sighed.

it didn‘t mean I had to take it out on the food. And so, I started eating it, noticing the taste was even similar to the one from the cottage cafe. He either

you?” he asked, after watching me eat

like normal. It was more of a

his attempt at trying to get me to remember the ‘good ol‘ days‘?

“I assume that’s why you’re here since you’ve come all this way, seeking me out with a

shining through the trees and creating a shadow pattern across his face. Somehow the little bits of sunshine made his eyes burn brighter. But I was more mesmerised b y the way the shadows moved every

trying to refocus back on the issue at hand. He closed his eyes, his expression becoming

split second when I realised it was true that I had continuously cut him off last night. Maybe he really did have a good explanation? But it was a short lived sensation once I reminded myself about why I was angry in the first place. If anything, it was another reminder that Cai had that way about him; that presence that always made me want to give in and forgive him, even if I didn‘t want to. He was so stupidly charismatic with an energy that made me want to be around him. “How about you apologise first, and I’ll decide if I want to listen to you?” I asked, increasingly becoming warier at my own