All Chapters of A Gift from the Goddess: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

"It looks like everyone is here now," Aleric said, projecting into the crowd. "We are gathered here today to bear witness to the trial of Ariadne Chrysalis, former Luna to the Winter Mist pack."  His eyes scanned over the faces of everyone around before finally landing on me. "Do you swear on the Goddess' name, Ariadne, that you will tell the whole truth during this trial?" Aleric asked. I met his piercing green eyes, a shiver going down my spine. How those eyes haunted me. "I do," I replied loudly and confidently.  "And how do you plead?"  I held my breath, my heart racing in my chest.  "Not guilty."  .   ** Two weeks earlier **   "She's pregnant," Aleric told me.  I stared at him in shock, my face paling. My destined mate, the love of my life, was telling me that he had gotten a girl pregnant. A girl who was not me.

A shiver went down my spine. I knew this expression well. …He was furious at me.  I immediately tried to back away from him but I knew it was too late. He strode up and quickly grabbed my neck in his hand, pinning me against the wall behind me. And, instantly, the pain shot down from my shoulder where it hit the wall roughly.  "Aleric... Please...," I whimpered out against his choke, struggling to breathe.  His hand loosened slightly but only to ensure I listened to him properly.  It was crazy, but even in a moment like this, the mate bond was still making sparks erupt from where his hand touched my skin. It was sickening how a Goddess could do this to her child, make them feel these sensations even in a situation like this.  "Do you think you're so important that you can treat Thea that way?" he roared into my face.  "Aleric... she came to me first and𑁋." "Enough!" he cut me off. "I don't

The cells were cold, damp and dingy, with little amenities. Only a bed, toilet and basin were given to me, a single blanket being the only thing to warm myself. There was minimal space, each cell having three stone walls and bars along the wall where the door was.  Seven days had now passed and so today, finally, I was set to stand trial before the pack for my alleged murder. I knew the evidence was stacked against me. In fact, it would be almost impossible for me to win this. The only hope I had left was that Sophie was still alive. If she could testify saying she had witnessed firsthand how I’d been inside my chambers all week, therefore making it impossible to have poisoned Thea, then they would be forced to open the floor to the possibility I was not the culprit.  "Get up," a guard gruffly ordered from outside my cell. I recognised him. His name was James and I had visited his family on multiple occas

The last piece of hope I had inside me died at her words. Sophie had betrayed me, thrown me out and lied blatantly to everyone. How could she do this to me after everything we'd been through? I had loved her so much, trusted her implicitly, and yet she was now acting as if I meant nothing to her. Sophie's eyes began to fill with tears as her voice wavered into the crowd. "Ariadne had been distraught by the news of Miss Woods' pregnancy and I saw how this began to erode at her sanity; something I'd seen was already dwindling prior. Whilst in her employment, I saw her experience several fits of hysteria, laughing at the most horrible of things. And her mood swings were even worse. Sometimes she was so sweet, other times she would change like a light switch, become irritable and angry without warning." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She was taking one small incident and magnifying it, warping it with more lies to suit the agenda. Had she really d

There was an alarm ringing in my head. It was so loud, aggressively thrashing against my already sore brain. However, it wasn't until I turned towards the source and opened my eyes that I realised it was an alarm clock. An alarm clock I hadn't seen in years. I instantly sat upright in bed and took in my surroundings. This was the bedroom of my family home, the bedroom I had lived in up until my coming of age. Everything looked exactly the same. Was it all a dream? Had I really died? I jumped out of bed, running towards my mirror, and instantly, I could feel the difference when I moved. I was shorter, lighter. My limbs didn't feel as muscled. ...And I felt strange. Like something was missing. As I looked at my reflection, I quickly realised that I was young. Very much so. My cheeks were plumper and my eyes rounder. The stress lines I'd accumulated over my years of mistreatment were completely gone. I looked almost... pretty. Had I ever thought that before? I'd been so focused on c