A Gift from the Goddess by Dawn Rosewood novel Chapter 42

Chapter Forty-Two I sat by Aleric’s bed in the Golden Blade’s hospital, having waited a few hours now for him to wake up Much to my relief, the doctors said he would make a full recovery despite everything that had happened. They successfully managed to remove the knife and seal him up until his body’s natural healing ability could kick in.

Any minute now he would be waking up… and that ended up being exactly the case. He opened his eyes slowly, looking around the room with eyelids still heavy, until he finally saw me.

“Aria…?” he mumbled weakly.

“I’m here,” I replied, moving a bit closer. I guess the nickname was staying and I still wasn‘t sure how to feel about it. “What happened...?” I realised he must have had some drugs left in his system as he sounded a bit out of it all still. “It was a silver knife,” I explained. “You’re lucky to be alive.”

He just nodded drowsily, settling back into the bed again.

“You realise you shouldn’t have done that, right?” I asked. “You‘re the future of this pack. You can’t go around tanking knives for the sake of a Beta. And need I also remind you that you actually have two Betas currently? There’s no reason to risk your life.” He groaned out a bit, but I didn‘t think it was from the pain. More so because I was nagging him.

“Contrary to what you may believe, Aria,” he said quietly, closing his eyes again. “…I would actually care if you got killed.”

I didn’t know how to reply to that. Instead, I sort of just... stared at him. 

Did he realise how close I came to killing him? 

I felt sick just thinking about it now.

His face then became calm as if he were drifting back to sleep, and so I wasn’t sure if he heard what I said next. But I did end up managing to reply to him ever so quietly. “If you got killed… I’d care too,” I whispered finally, though I wasn’t sure if I was telling him o r myself.

Regardless of who I’d once known, this boy in front of me deserved the benefit of the doubt. I had to have faith that he could change. That there was a better future ahead of us this time. Shortly after he fell asleep again, I finally got up to leave, satisfied that he was going to be okay. I had instructions to head home without him and knew whoever was coming to pick me u p would be waiting.

ADRESSEN PRYWATAISYTISTA EN ESTE POSITIONS 

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I gathered up my things and left the hospital, however, I was surprised by who I found by the car. Waiting for me outside was my father, staring off to the side with a look on his face that told me he was extremely unimpressed.

“…Father? What are you doing here?” I asked. He looked up as soon as he heard my voice and instantly his body relaxed. He even made up the last few feet between us quickly and pulled me into a hug. “You scared me,” he said, relief flooded in his voice. “…I’m sorry.” Even though I was fine, it felt nice to be hugged by him. I still felt safe being with him, regardless of the fact that I had spent so long toughening up these last few months. His presence brought me an immeasurable comfort.

After a few seconds, he finally pulled away, shaking his head.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. If those damn warriors had done their fucking jobs, none of this would have happened.” I was surprised to hear my father swear for the first time. He really must have been furious. I could only imagine the punishment waiting for those poor warriors once they returned home. Not that it was their fault. Aleric and I had been the ones to wander off without telling them, after all.

“It’s okay, I’m fine,” I assured him. “Weirdly enough… Aleric saved my life.”

“Yes…. I heard.”

His face then became conflicted like he wanted to say something. “What is it...?” I asked. I found his reaction odd since it was unusual these days for him to hide anything from me, especially after what we’d shared. “Well, it’s not that strange to hear he saved you...,” he finally said. “I‘ve been wanting to tell you this for months now but I couldn’t. In fact, I still shouldn‘t. But I think it‘s important so you can get the full picture given your history.” I frowned, worried over whatever he was about to say.

“The day of the meeting for your admittance to be trained as a Beta heir,” he started. “The confidential discussion didn‘t play out the way you probably thought. The way it was standing was a four to five sway… and Aleric held the last vote to decide. If he didn‘t vote in your favour, Aria, you would have lost.”

I stood shocked, unsure what to make of that. If that were true, then he knowingly agreed to, not only work alongside me as a team, but also supported what would inevitably mean rejecting him as my mate one day. Multiple different theories started going through my mind as to why he would give me a chance to become Beta, but none of them really made sense. Not really, anyway. 

live in wilderna 

If anything, all I felt now was more confused. I agreed to keep the information my father told me to myself. After all, none of the participants were meant to know what went on during that meeting room whilst we stood outside. If I told anyone then my father would end up with pretty severe consequences.

A lot of time passed after the events at the Golden Blade. For starters, I turned sixteen finally.

It was something I had been waiting to happen for so long, and I was already extremely excited to start my full responsibilities as Beta heir. With it also came the added bonus of finally being able to drop high school and begin full-time training for the future ranked position

The relationship between Aleric and I became much better also. We now spent a lot of our days in the gym sparring and practising, even doing close combat. It didn’t feel as weird anymore and, on a certain level, we had even built up a level of trust with each other; as most would expect after he had saved my life. Some might even say we were friendly now. However, neither of us had brought up what he’d said in the hospital since coming home, and I didn’t dare ask if he’d heard my last words either… but I was getting used to him calling me Aria now at the very least. It seemed like such a small insignificant thing and yet… it had been something that held a lot of weight for me in my past life. My full name had always been something that seemed to create more distance between us, like a wall he used to keep me out.

But there were more changes too.

I debated wearing attire more fitting for a Beta heir; maybe some pants and a shirt. Something that would tell others I took my role seriously. But it didn‘t take long for me to realise how dumb that was. I hadn’t spent all this time arguing for my right to be taken seriously as a female Beta just to try and impress anyone now by dressing more masculine. If they were going to doubt me over just the clothes I wore then they weren’t worth my time anyway. I had a right to feel both pretty and pretty badass at the same time without their judgment. And so I went with a violet dress that matched my eyes. It was definitely more embellished and delicate than what I would have chosen normally, but given the event, I felt it was necessary. Lucy also had a ridiculous amount of fun styling my hair, something I‘d normally tell her not to fuss over. But she took it to the next level and the results were, admittedly, actually very stunning.