Accidental Surrogate

Negotiations Sinclair I storm down the hallway on my way to the meeting, but I’m gratified to see Roger waiting there for me at the door, leaning against the wall. I nod to him, not breaking my stride, but he falls in with me as we head inside.

“So, what’d you bring?” Roger asks, his voice serious.

“What?” I ask, half turning to him in my confusion.

“To kill the prince,” Roger says, his face deadpan. “Like a gun, or something more dramatic like a morning star? Or are you just going to like, tear him limb from limb -” “Roger,” I sigh, shaking my head as I arrive at the head of the table but his face just breaks out into a grin.

“What is it?” our father asks, looking between us. I know that he can tell from my serious face that something’s up, and from Roger’s joking one that it’s well enough under control that we don’t need to take major action now.

“Don’t worry about it, dad,” І murmur, not wanting to get into it with the Atalaxian delegation already filtering into the room.

“Prince Calvin asked Ella on a date,” Roger says, leaning close so that dad can hear but speaking loud enough that I know what he said. I sigh deeply, grabbing a packet of papers off the desk and flipping idly through them, making a mental note to beat the crap out of my brother at the earliest opportunity.

“What?” dad says, looking at me with wide eyes.

“It’s not like that,” I growl, glaring at Roger. “Can we just drop it for now? We’ve got more important things to worry about.” Dad glares at Roger too, taking my side as the majority of the persons attending this meeting begin to take their seats. Roger laughs a little but comes around to my other side, sinking into the chair on my right while my father takes his place on my left. King Gabriel is here as an advisor on our side, ready to argue staunchly against war, as well as six other pack members from our territories.

My eyes scan the room, noting the presence of nine Atalaxian delegates with one empty chair.

Just as an aid begins to close the door, the final delegate appears: Prince Calvin, slipping into the room and heading for his chair without even looking at me.

I glare daggers at him, unable to help it, willing him to look at me, to face me.

he doesn’t

him to know that I know what the hell he’s up to, even if Ella doesn’t

he’s either clever or a coward, because

move on and begin the meeting by greeting everyone and thanking them for their presence. I express my sincere hopes that we can find a path to peace, stating that neither of our nations will truly benefit from a war. Then, with

were correct: that they came here wanting war, that they likely hoped Xander would do something

unlikely to

lot of sense for

and excellent military powers. Moon Valley is smaller, and while we have better technology, better

think to myself, scowling inwardly.

Damon’s war is what tore us apart, made us a wounded animal ready for Atalaxia to come in for a

wipe our nation out, to annex this territory and all of

an ideological coup as well. A lot of powerful men in that nation have some truly awful ideas about gender and

as I think about it, the warrior in me wanting to go to war, to wipe the Atalaxians off the face of the earth in

responsible for his people, and who knows that this nation

to a close – I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment as I realize that…that Rafe could even fight in this war, if it goes for as long as I think it could. That if I fail in these negotiations, I could be signing my own son’s death warrant on the battlefield A shudder passes

a deep breath,

Ella and I do about Rafe’s future. That he didn’t tell me everything he and Cora saw at the moonlight baptism we asked him not to but he told me that Rafe’s life isn’t a tragic one, even if it has hard

deal of relief rushes through me at the thought and I send a prayer up to the Goddess, thanking her both for my brother

end, this is all about him, isn’t it? About the world in

my eyes I look directly at Calvin over the table, who I find looking right at me for