A Gift from the Goddess by Dawn Rosewood novel Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty-Eight It had Alpha Tytus written all over it. He had ‘coincidentally’ chosen a night my father was out of town and my mother was shifted t o work at the hospital. This meant it would be just me… and Aleric. It seemed I had assumed incorrectly that Tytus was done trying to play matchmaker with us. When I had been accepted as a probationary Beta heir, naturally I had thought the surprise dates would come to an end. Did he think I was going to fail in my endeavour to best Alexander? Or was his idea that I could be persuaded to drop out of the running for the title if I fell for Aleric?

Putting all of that aside, I now found myself with less than seven hours to get the entire house ready.

To have the Alpha or Alpha heir come for dinner was considered a high enough honour already, but hosting Aleric would just make things more difficult. I‘d never found him an easy person to please in my past.

I worked tirelessly, from the moment I found out he was coming, to organise everything down to the most minute detail. From briefing the attendants on behaviours to avoid around him, to creating a menu for the cooks so they could prepare Aleric’s preferred foods, nothing was left to chance.

By the time I was finally finished organising, I found I only had an hour for myself to get ready and dressed.

And then, finally, the time came.

As Aleric entered the house, I saw him pause a moment to take it all in. I wondered what was going through his mind and couldn’t recall if he‘d ever come here before. But judging from his face, he didn’t remember either.

“Greetings, Alpha heir,” I said, bowing my head.

“Evening, Ariadne,” he replied. 

I looked up and saw him staring at me strangely already. Had I done something off? I wracked my brain but couldn‘t think of anything. 

“It‘s an honour to receive you tonight,” I continued. “If you‘ll follow me to the parlour, we can sit there while we wait for our meals to be ready....” 

We walked into the large sitting area with two couches. I stood at the doorway, allowing him t o move first to choose where he would sit. When he‘d made himself comfortable, I purposely sat on the opposite couch with just enough distance. Close enough to not be rude, but far away enough that I didn’t have to worry about flinching at any of his sudden movements.

“So, how have you been, Ariadne?” he asked finally, after several moments of silence had passed. “It’s been… a week since our last meeting?” “Yes, Alpha heir,” I said. “I‘ve been well. Yourself?” 

“I‘ve been good...,” he said, his face turning that same odd frown again. “You can call me Aleric, you realise? You’re a Beta heir now. The formalities aren‘t required.” Oh… so this was why he’d given me that look at the door. I’d found it easier to call him Alpha heir these last few months, the sound of his real name on my lips always leaving a bitter taste.

I clenched my jaw, preparing myself to force to words out. “Apologies… Aleric.” He regarded me warily. Obviously, something else was still bothering him that he hadn’t mentioned.

But he didn’t end up bringing it up as, not long afterwards, one of the attendants came in to announce dinner was ready. I breathed out a sigh of relief. At least having food in front of me would give me an excuse to not keep the conversation going. We sat down in the dining room, Aleric at the head of the table, myself to his right; just as it always had been. I could feel the anxiety begin to creep into my chest at his proximity, knowing I was within arms reach of him at any given moment. But I pushed it aside. I was stronger than that now.

The food started to come out then and I was grateful everything had been prepared exactly the way I had instructed. The spread was diverse enough for even four people, but I hadn’t wanted to leave anything to chance. I looked up to check on Aleric, to gauge his reaction, but he seemed completely fine; this being at least one comfort to my anxiety. I knew I’d never know for sure though since he was impossible to read.

“Is everything to your liking… Aleric?” I asked.

“Yes, it‘s all great,” he said. “Thank you.” That didn’t tell me much but at the very least he hadn’t hated it right away.

And with that, we both began to eat.

However, several minutes in, I realised he still hadn’t said anything… and I was beginning to worry I’d done something wrong. I cleared my throat. “So… how was your exchange?” He looked directly up at me as he spoke, and I tried not to jump at the sudden eye contact. “It was good. I went to a northern territory called the Opal Tide. It‘s the central pack for the region up there.” I wasn’t overly familiar with them but I knew they were a fairly powerful pack. Aleric had spared them during his tyrant years. I guess now I knew why. “That‘s... good,” I said before taking another bite of my food.

“Ariadne…,” he said, trailing off. “Yes?” 

He looked confused, as if he wanted to talk about something but wasn’t sure if he should.

“Nevermind.”

to the airport 

He clenched his jaw and went back to eating his food. A part of me was curious and wanted to know what he’d wanted to say, but I thought better of pushing him for answers.

We ended up eating the rest of our meal in silence after that. I wasn’t sure what to talk about o r whether I should even try to start a conversation or not, and so I let him be.

When he was finally done, he placed his utensils on the table. “That was delicious, thank you. Please tell the cook they did a great job.” “I’m glad to hear that,” I said, genuinely relieved everything had gone as planned. “Do you think I could trouble you for a cup of tea?” Oh, he wanted tea? I suppose I could make him some. I stood up and began walking to the kitchen. “Ariadne, what are you....” 

I stared at him confused. He said he wanted tea? I was getting him tea.... 

He saw how I was, how my face had completely paled. “I said it’s fine, Ariadne,” he repeated with a tone of irritation now. And then he started walking towards me, looking unsettled by my reaction as I continued to

I wanted to say something, to give a plausible explanation for why I was so scared of him. But there was no good reason I could think of that didn‘t involve mentioning my past life. What could I possibly tell him? Because he glares at me in meetings? Because he was sarcastic at me that one time? Because he gets angry when other men carry me off?