#Chapter 498 – Baptizing the Princess
Ella
Three weeks later – Ariel was born under a waning quarter moon, not a new moon like her brother and her cousin – I stand anxiously in the woods, my little girl held tight in my arms.
“I’m sensing some anxiety,” Cora says, grinning at me with a little too much glee as she comes up to my side, dressed in a gorgeous silver gown, Jesse awake and interested on her hip.
“I wasn’t anxious like this when Rafe went in,” I sigh, reaching out to touch Jesse’s nose with my fingertip, making him giggle. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I was anxious – but it’s this one’s complicated little portent that has me all worked up.”
“I know,” Cora says, wrinkling her nose at me wickedly. “I can’t wait – the payback is real-”
“Don’t you dare,” I say, glaring at her and pointing a finger at her. “You’re trying to deliberately jinx my daughter just because your Jesse has some weird shadow magic coming his way – ”
“I would never!” Cora says, laughing and swatting my finger away. “I just like teasing you, Ella. Hear that, Ariel?” she says, leaning over to grin at her goddaughter. “I hope that your future comes out nice and safe and boring, for your mother’s sake.”
“Oh, hold your tongue,” I mutter, scowling and moving Ariel away from her aunt. “I don’t want her life to be boring, I just want…” I sigh, looking down at the little girl who has my whole heart. “I just want it all to be very good, and for her to be safe…but also to have some adventures along the way.”
“A big ask,” Sinclair says, ambling over to my side with a glass of champagne in one hand, Rafe perched on his hip. “Especially for a little girl named Baby Trouble.”
I grin when I hear the nickname, considering that…well, it’s a little bit true, even if the name so far has been a bit of a joke.
Honestly, we’ve called her Ariel very little she’s.baby trouble, most of the time. Or Princess Trouble. Or Princess Baby Bubble Trouble. Or whatever combination thereof inspires us at the moment. And, well, she hasn’t really lived up to it – not yet. Rafe – he was a tough newborn, at least for the first two weeks. But Ariel?
God, she’s been a little bit of a dream.
I can only hope that her nickname continues to be ironic for the rest of her days, but I know that’s too much to hope for.
Rafe eagerly leans forward from his father’s hip, reaching for his sister, spitting out an excited series of syllables that all start with “ba!”
“You like your sister, little guy?” Cora says, laughing and putting a hand on Rafe’s chest to keep him from excitedly spilling out of his father’s arms.
“We think he’s trying to say baby,” I say, grinning at my boy, pleasure and pride filling me from head to toe. I mean – I know every mom is proud of her children. But Rafe – he really is such a sweet baby and a clever boy, always wanting to be close to me, close to Ariel.
And his dad too, of course but Rafe and me? We’ve really got a special bond.
“All right,” Roger says, his own baby on his arm and glass of champagne in his hand, just like his brother. “Almost time! Are we ready to do this?”
“Don’t talk about it like a sports match, Roger,” I say, raising my chin at him jokingly. “It’s a sacred ritual. Please act with the gravity it deserves.”
“It’s our third one, Ella,” Roger says, playfully rolling his eyes at me. “It’s getting old – ”
“You’re fated to be the father of like six kids, Roger,” I say, rolling my eyes at him right back. “Tell me that when we get to your sixth baptism – ”
“At that point we’re just going to wander into the back yard in our pajamas,” he murmurs, nodding first towards the baby in my arms and then to Cora, silently indicating that I should hand her over. “We’re going to drink beer and hold the baby out to the moon on a dish towel, use a plastic baby pool instead of the sacred pond -”
“We are not,” Cora scoffs, gently taking Ariel into her arms as Sinclair and I laugh. Roger grins, leaning forward to kiss me on the cheek before passing Jesse to me.
“You know I’m kidding, right, Ells?” he whispers.
I smile at my brother-in-law and gently pat his cheek. “When in doubt, Roger,” I sigh, “I always assume you’re kidding.”
“This is why you’re my favorite sister- in-law,” he says, ruffling Jesse’s hair before turning towards the Goddess’ priestess, who begins to call everyone to order. “Now, let’s get this party started!”
Cora
I smile down at my perfect little niece, who is looking around the dark forest with interest. “Ready to meet your granny, little girl?” I whisper to her, holding her close and kissing her forehead. “She’s excited to meet you, she told me so.”
Ariel gives a little squeak, which sounds so much like a response that it makes me laugh.
Roger laughs too, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Remember the last time we were out here?” he murmurs, and I look up at him.
“Yup,” I say, grinning. “We fought the whole time. I was completely ready to shove you into that pond.”
“Oh, right back at you,” he says, nodding fervently. “It was either that, or grab you and kiss you – I didn’t know which I wanted more. Maybe both shove you into the pond, dive in after you, grab you, kiss you until we both drowned…”
I laugh, shaking my head. “Well, we know which one you settled on, in the end.”
“Well you were crying so much,” he says, rolling his eyes in pretend exhaustion, “I didn’t know how else to get you to stop -”
“Oh, you idiot,” I sigh, laughing and stopping for a second, wrapping my hand around the lapel of his suit jacket and pulling him to me. “Can’t you just for once say something nice?”
“What do you want to hear, Cora?” he asks, smirking down at me and taking my face between his hands. “That it was the happiest moment of my life to that point? That I’d been waiting to kiss you for months, and that afterwards I had to actively stop myself from grabbing you and kissing you every time you walked into a room?”
My smile grows. “Something like that,” I murmur, and I tug on his coat just a little, pulling him down for our second kiss in this forest – which is just as good as the first.
“I love you so much, Cora,” he sighs when he pulls away, his eyelids heavy as he stares down into my face.
“I love you too, Roger,” I say, smiling up at him, passing every ounce of love I feel down our bond so he knows I mean it. Because we tease – but god, do I love this man.
Roger leans in for another kiss, but a silver light flares at the edge of my vision.
“Oh,” I say, my eyebrows going up as I adjust the baby in my arms and turn towards the light. “I think mom is getting impatient.”
“Well then,” Roger says, his arm still around my shoulder, “let’s not keep the Goddess waiting.”
So together, my mate and I carry our little goddaughter forward to the edge of the pool that forms through the trees. I smile to see that this one is different surrounded by rocks this time, a tiny waterfall splashing into it at the edge. Secretive and peaceful, like a hidden hot spring.
Roger nods to me and I step forward, holding unwrapping the baby and holding her out into the moonlight that floods into the grove from above. And then he and I say the sacred words, dedicating our sweet Ariel to her grandmother the Goddess, pledging to love and protect her all our lives.
The moonlight grows brighter as we speak, and I feel a warmth and contentment fill me that I know comes from my mother, who is truly pleased with her granddaughter.
When the words are done, our attention shifts, because – as it did before – the premonition starts to take shape in the air above the water. And as we watch, Roger and my eyes go wide.
