Accidental Surrogate

A Story to Come Cora The images of Ariel’s future come in quick flashes, and somehow I get the impression that the Goddess is eager to share these glimpses of her life.

The ones that come first are what I sort of expected, especially after seeing some images of Rafe’s childhood and hearing about the ones that Ella and Sinclair saw during Jesse’s baptism. But these ones focus on an angelic little girl with rose-gold hair who is just… ridiculously happy.

My ears fill almost instantly with tears to see her running and playing with the boys who are so clearly Rafe and Jesse. Ariel – she’s always at the center of their games, always laughing so heartily her eyes are barely open above her rosy cheeks. In one flash, Jesse’s climbed up onto the branch of a tree and is reaching a hand down for her as Rafe boosts her up from below. In another, Ariel is cuddled between her brother and her cousin, all wrapped up in a big blanket as the three sit around a campfire, their eyes wide and bright as they roast marshmallows and look with awe up at Roger, who is clearly in the midst of telling a scary story.

Roger laughs beside me at the sight and I press myself close to them as we get more insight into her life as she grows older, her teenager years as she becomes the Nation’s princess, as she grows into a beautiful, graceful young woman but still one full of pranks, running through the halls of the palace with her brother and Jesse chasing behind.

And then I gasp, a little, to see our little girl dressed as a bride – My hand goes to my mouth- because she looks so young and so afraid – My stomach drops when I see her what looks like a moment later, her back pressed to a door as she sobs in her wedding gown as two young men who are so clearly my son and my nephew jump to her side.

Ariel, an expert sniper, crouching on top of a tower and hitting the bullseye of a target that must be half a mile away Ariel, curled up in a chair by the fire, sitting in the lap of a very handsome young man whose jaw could cut glass and whose adorable dimples are And joy swells in me, because I know it instantly, that that boy – he’s her mate But then I gasp again because the image changes – and Ariel is looking up at another young man powerfully built, scowling down at her in some hallway made of stone, but she shoves him, hard, and whips a finger up to point in his face, a defiant snarl on her lips, looking so much like her mother – And even as a shocked little laugh spills from my mouth, anxiety twists in my stomach, because I know… I know just

my little baby niece, who burbles and looks up at the moon – Two fated mates, just like her father… And suddenly, what the Goddess said to

now – too swift to catch them all – and I see of our children training hard, laughing together, working to build their lives and help each other and serve our nation –

Rafe and Jesse on either side as they always are and her two mates behind her. All standing together on a battlefield with Ariel at the center, magic welling between her hands and passing

they look at something gathering

The image disperses.

I stay still for a long moment, and I’m only shaken out of it by a little mewling