Page 65 of Destined for Dreams
Chapter 17
Cori
Cori stared at her cards—a king and a seven of diamonds—and debated drawing another. It was rather risky, considering she’d lost the last five games. She should have known better than to play against a fallen angel who still had her prescient abilities.
For several moments, she tapped her fingers on the table and pondered what to do. “I’ll hold.”
Ariel nodded. “Wise decision.”
The former archangel sat across from Cori in a small booth inside her luxurious camper. This was Ariel’s home for the time being until she recovered from her confinement in Hell. To look at her, one would think of her as soft and delicate. She had thick, long brown hair that ran all the way to her waist, fair skin with a hint of gold, and amber eyes. Her body was still frail, but that was likely because she wasn’t eating enough. She hadn’t needed food before and wouldn’t listen to anyone who tried to explain that falling from grace meant she would have to do some human things from now on. When Cori cooked, she ate, but otherwise, she rarely bothered. Even stocking food in her RV didn’t tempt her. There was still a hint of haughtiness in the way Ariel thought and behaved, which made her reluctant to do anything that would require excreting bodily waste—because of course, that was an awful thing to have to do.
Cori had decided to come by and visit that morning before work so she could check on the former archangel and keep her company. It was something she tried to do whenever she could, but it wasn’t easy now that business was picking up at the tattoo shop again. Derrick had put the word out a few days ago after the human trials were a success, which had made quite a difference at her shop. She was almost back up to the level of business she’d been at before her problems started.
“What about you?” Cori gestured at her opponent. “What are you going to do?”
Ariel studied her two cards for a moment, closed her eyes, and knitted her brows. A slow smile spread across her face and her long lashes lifted. She reached for another card, revealing a five. She set it face up next to a jack and a four.
This was the sixth win for her today—probably the fiftieth over the last month or so.
“Using your abilities is cheating, you know,” Cori said, narrowing her eyes.
“So you say.” The fallen angel rounded up the cards. “But you keep coming back for more. And, regardless, I merely ‘look’ to see what I will draw next, but I don’tcheat.”
“If you say so.”
Cori knew Ariel wasn’t stacking the deck in her favor because she’d had Melena—using her lie detector skills—ask the former archangel about it after losing for the dozenth time. There was no trickery other than peeking with her foresight. The deck was shuffled properly without using any special powers, and she swore she never rearranged it during a game. Still, the only reason Cori ever won was that sometimes the cards were naturally stacked in her favor.
“Try playing for even one day without using your abilities and see how things go,” she said, cutting the deck after Ariel set it down.
Cori was purposely baiting the fallen angel for fun because it helped them both get other problems off their minds. The time she spent with Ariel helped remind her that things could always be worse—like getting tortured in Hell for months. Cori might have barely survived being kidnapped by an ex-husband and nearly killed, plus she was suffering from the distance between her and Bartol, but those issues were small in comparison to what the woman across the table had been through. Ariel had lost her wings, her grace, her celestial home, and she’d suffered major physical and psychological trauma.
“You behave as if,” the former archangel began, pursing her lips, “you would not do the same thing if you had the ability.”
“I wouldn’t,” Cori said, defensive.
Ariel let out a delicate snort. “You’ve already developed one new ability and plan to use it for personal gain. What will you do if you gain more gifts in the future?”
Cori could get more abilities? Having the one had seemed liked a huge deal to her, but the former archangel almost seemed to be hinting more could come along. She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and leaned forward. “What do you mean by that?”
“When you become immortal, you’ll find out.”
Cori gritted her teeth. “I haven’t decided on that yet.”
“Well, there is no rush for now,” Ariel said, not looking up as she dealt the next hand. “But when the time is right, you’ll know.”
Cori checked her cards, finding she had a ten and a two. “You sound so sure of yourself.”
“You are in a state of denial, but events will happen to change your mind.” The former archangel stared at her own cards, frowning. “It is only a matter of time.”
“What could possibly happen to change my mind?”
“There are some things you must discover on your own,” Ariel replied curtly.
The damn woman had spent countless millennia acting as an angel who rarely gave direct answers to anything. Falling hadn’t changed that. “I must be a glutton for punishment to keep coming here.”
“You come here so you won’t have to think about your own life.” Ariel waited for Cori to draw another card—a four—and smiled. “And because you think keeping me company will somehow draw me into socializing again.”
Cori chose to ignore the first part of her comment. “Is it helping?”
