Page 145 of A Courage of the Chosen

I rise from my seat and stalk through the cavern to my chambers, even though the soldiers are waiting. I don’t want eyes on me while I engage in this conversation with Elsie. I hold on to the connection, praying she doesn’t shut me out in the few minutes it takes me to arrive some place private.

“Can what be undone?” I reply when I’m alone.

“Rachel.”

Her one-word reply throws everything into clarity. Her solemn mood. The reason she’s even entertaining me right now.

My cousin.

I’d nearly forgotten about what happened to her.

“There is a way,” I begin. I’m not a good man, I never will be, and right now there’s an opportunity before me. One that I’m more than prepared to exploit in getting what I want.

Elsie tentatively moves further along the bridge between our souls, slowly falling into the web I’m weaving just for her.

“Bring her to me, and I will replace his power with mine. She won’t shift unless I permit it.”

“She still won’t be herself,” Elsie objects.

“She’ll be more of herself than with my father’s darkness running through her veins. You saw what I can do.”

She bristles with the reminder, and I briefly sense her reliving my use of her family pendant in order to wield that kind of control over the Dorche.

“I saw,” she replies flatly.

Fuck. This is the most I’ve had of her in months, and I bask in it.

“Bring her to me, and I’ll do this for you, Elsie.”

“What’s the catch?”

I chuckle. Clever, clever little thing.

“You know what I want . . . my queen.”

I feel rather than hear the fissure of her growl, and it sends a tingle coursing over my whole body. The shadows within her begin to rise, and my own wake in answer.

“Bring her, agree to be mine, and it will be done. I’ll even leave Callahan well alone in the battles to come.”

I loathe to even speak his name, but he’s gotten under her skin, and maybe this is the way to persuade her. Elsie is loyal to a fault. She showed me how far she was willing to go to save them when she slid her hand into mine and subjected herself to weeks of torture. Even when I gave her the same out repeatedly, she didn’t break.

Her heart trips and my pulse matches the beat.

“Listen to me very carefully.” Elsie’s power begins to ricochet in my chest. Even with miles and miles separating us, the static energy has my defensive instincts bunching tight. A force that this world has never seen, and will likely never see again.

“This misguided notion you’re holding onto is foolish. This only ends in death. Either yours or mine.” She pauses, choosing her next words. “I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re using this to try and get your way.”

I pace around my chambers, shadows curling from beneath my feet with each step as her words lash into me.

“I know what I want, and I’ll do whatever it takes to have you be mine again.”

“Hear me when I say this, Prince. I would rather die a thousand deaths than let you within an inch of my soul. I will never choose you.”

Then she shoves me out, with mist and light and shadows, and a vicious snarl that’s as cruel as it is mesmerizing. And when my mind is empty, my magic prowling, the resolve behind her statement steadies in my gut.

I thought allowing her to kill my father would ease some of her vengeance. I thought helping her would make her see that I didn’t want what he did.

Clearly, I misjudged how deep her anger went.