Page 144 of A Courage of the Chosen

Lorna moves quickly to give her more of the concoction that has kept her asleep, and Brodie springs for the healer. “What are you doing? She was right there! She recognized me!”

Lorna ignores him and forces it down.

“No, no, no, no, it was working!” Brodie bundles Rach into his arms. “She was right fucking there!” Tears track down his cheeks, and I drop to my knees, exhaustion hauling me down.

Callahan is beside me in an instant, a protective arm around my shoulders, defeat an iron casket in his chest. “She’s gone, Brodie. It’s done.”

Dhia’s presence fills me as he murmurs it, and her sadness echoes into me. “There is no defeating the dark.”

Chapter 42

Tavish

Two weeks.

Two weeks since I last saw and felt her.

I’ve purposely kept away, thinking and hoping that she might finally be giving in to this connection that exists between us. Elsie looked me in the eye as she opened it, let me in willingly, to tell me that what she was about to do to my father was her exacting revenge. She was evening things.

She’s far more wicked than she’d ever admit, and it’s part of the reason I’m drawn to her. Elsie’s monsters dance to the same tune as mine.

I ought to thank her really, she made the choice easy for me, and the thunk of that arrow embedding into him will satisfy me until my dying day.

Finally, the path that began building when I discovered Elsie is unobstructed. Together, light and dark will rule in perfect balance with each other. A king and a queen born of two powers, to bring the Seelie into a new world.

I’ve since called every Dorche and Brollachan to our hiding place deep within the mountains, and have patiently waited for their arrival. The stone throne that Father built is quite possibly the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever sat on, but it serves a purpose, and it’s finally mine.

Without question.

The large underground cavern is filled with the quiet murmurings of my soldiers as they discuss the impending war. How the flesh of the Aotrom will feel as they fold beneath their swords.

The choice is simple for this world now. You bow or you die. Some will fight, many will fall, but there’s no way they’ll be able to stand against us. Stand against me.

Elsie slammed the door on me as she mutilated my father with hers and Callahan’s magic, and it’s remained firmly shut since. The last lock has clicked into place and she can keep me out almost completely. Almost.

I’ve considered opening it a time or two, but there’s been too much for me to do. Now that I sit upon my throne, the work nearly done, there’s only one thing I’m missing.

My queen.

As if I’ve summoned her, the dark threads hum to life and demand my attention. There’s her usual wall at the other end, and as my consciousness probes along the outer reaches of her mind seeking a way in, a tiny crack forms.

I grab at the opening with both hands, and once I’m inside, an overwhelming ache fills me. It reminds me of how lost I felt when my darkness manifested the first time and took my mother’s life. I thought it would never end.

“Leave me alone, Tavish.”

She’s the first to speak, and if I wasn’t sitting I’d likely keel over in surprise. There’s no venom there, only a deep resignation tinged with hurt.

For some Dhia-forsaken reason, I hate it, and the urge to comfort her bubbles up from soft places that only exist for Elsie.

Curling my fingers over the edge of the stone arms, I reach out. “You know I can’t.”

It’s one of the most truthful things I’ve ever said to her.

She is the key to it all, and leaving her to live her life isn’t an option for either of us anymore, too much of the road has been travelled.

She hesitates before the question floods into my mind. “Can it be undone?”

Elsie loathes that she’s asking me this, but there’s enough of a desperate twang lurking beneath her indifference that tells me she knows there’s no other option.