A Gift from the Goddess by Dawn Rosewood novel Chapter 59

Chapter Fifty–Nine 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Aleric frantically whispered. “Do you have any idea how much shit you‘ll get into for this?” 

In an involuntary reaction, I quickly pulled the blanket up over my chest to hide myself even though I wasn‘t naked. And yet at the same time, I‘d never felt more exposed. 

There had been no time to react, no time to hide. I knew what Cai had been desperately looking for now; a nescape. But it would have been futile. There wasn‘t enough time to cover my scent and the window had outside privacy panels preventing me from squeezing through. Cai must have realised the same thing. All he could do was apologise for the fact that we were now in this situation. 

“We‘ve found it!” I heard a voice yell from somewhere in the house. 

Aleric‘s eyes suddenly showed signs of worry as he looked at me. Already he looked pale, confused, both of which I‘d never seen on him before, but it was his worry that unnerved me the most. Aleric was confident in everything he did, never showing weakness, and yet he looked now as if he was about to be sick. 

He stuck his head back out the door as he tried to compose himself, replying to what I assumed were warriors inside the house. “Bag it and take it back to evidence,” he ordered. “I‘ve got Caius here detained and will handle the bedroom search. Everyone is to await further instructions back at the packhouse. Anthony, stay behind and wait for me in the car.” 

“Detained?” I asked, finally finding my voice again. “Aleric, what the hell is going on? Why are you here?” 

“Caius is being detained for questioning,” he said quietly. Neither of us were raising our voices too loud for fear we‘d be overheard. “I‘ve got orders to take him in immediately.” 

“On what grounds!?” I hissed back. “What has he done?” 

“The warrior in charge of watching the evidence locker was attacked two nights ago and something was stolen,” he answered. “He can‘t recall much but remembers being given an Alpha order to stand down. Only neither I nor my father set that command. Since there is currently no record of any other Alpha bloods staying with us right now, naturally Caius is under suspicion.” 

“Don‘t be ridiculous! That‘s not enough evidence to bring him in! How could an allied pack‘s Alpha heir possibly overrule an order given to one of our warriors? That‘s impossible.” 

“Aria,” he said sternly. “We just found the missing item inside this house... a silver dagger by the front door. It doesn‘t matter if it doesn‘t make sense, we just acquired the proof. He‘s technically under arrest now.” 

The silver dagger ** stole. The dagger *I* dropped. I‘d just left breadcrumbs of clues leading back to here, back to Cai. 

“Aleric, please, it‘s not him,” I pleaded. 

“Come on,” he said to Cai, ignoring my words. “Get up. We‘ve got to go before they decide to come back here and check why I‘m taking so long. I hope I don‘t need to remind you to not make this difficult or cause a scene here, do I? We both know what will happen if anyone finds her here with you.” 

Cai had been silently regarding the exchange the entire time, knowing that his hands were tied being in foreign territory, but he nodded his head in compliance. Anything he said, or did, could be used against him in a trial from the moment Aleric had confirmed he was being taken in. 

True to Aleric‘s words, he didn‘t put up a fight or argue. Instead, he just tugged on some clothes over his 

whaterstone 

boxers before walking over to Aleric without fuss. 

I ran to Cai though as soon as I saw the handcuffs he was restrained in, no longer caring if Aleric was there, and grabbed on to him. 

*Please, don‘t do this, please…,” I cried. 

“Wait here,” Aleric instructed. “I‘ll come to get you when the area is clear.‘ 

But I refused to let go of Cai, my grip only tightening. “No...please.” 

“Aria!” Aleric hissed. “Seriously, you need to let him go. Do you want others to see you right now? If my father finds out that you were here with him, this whole thing will get so much worse. Are you intentionally being naive right now?” 

“Aria...,” Cai said calmly to me, cutting through the panic. “It‘s okay. Let me go.” 

I could barely see through the tears blurring my vision. “No, I don‘t want to....” 

“Aria. Let me go,” he repeated. 

I knew he was right. There was nothing I could do. Not here and not now anyway. 

“I‘m going to get your name cleared, I promise,” I said. “You‘ll be out in no time.” 

He gave me a half–smile in an attempt to reassure me but it only made me feel worse. It should have been me comforting him right now, not the reverse. 

“You‘ll be lucky if I don‘t drown you in a lake on our way to the cells,” Aleric replied, his voice getting further away until I couldn‘t hear them anymore. “Fucking idiot....” 

His green eyes were sharpened like daggers as they met mine, ready for an argument. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn‘t–” 

“How could you possibly know that, Aria? We literally found the dagger here,” he argued, backing up against a wall in his attempt to free himself from my grip. “Why are you being so blind to all of this?” 

“Because it was me!” I yelled, “I was the one who stole the dagger from the evidence locker and attacked the warrior, not Cai. I–I wanted it to kill Thea. I wanted revenge for what she did to Myra. And you and my father acted like you didn‘t even believe me… So I took matters into my own hands.” 

He was avoiding my gaze as he tried to gently pry my hands off without much success. “Stop making shit up just to spare him. And I never said that I didn‘t believe you. I stopped you from committing murder without evidence in front of an entire crowd of warriors. You‘d be on trial right now if you‘d actually gone through with it. You should be thanking me.” 

“I‘m not making this up!” | insisted, a tone of frustration in my words. “It was me. I attacked Ray and ordered him to stand down so I could steal the dagger. How else would I know who it was when you never said the warrior‘s name?” 

“You‘re not even remotely high enough in rank for that,” he argued, “You‘re a Beta heir, a half one at that.” 

“I‘m a goddamn Saintess first and foremosi, Aleric, or have you forgotten?” I spat back, his eyes finally meeting mine. “My authority is whatever the fuck I want it to be, including higher than yours if I was ever s o inclined one day.”