Page 63 of A Courage of the Chosen

“Did your daughter and her family make it to Morven?” The question bubbles from nowhere. Finneus had sent word to her in Claver for them to join him where they’d be safer.

“They did,” he beams in reply. “Not long after you’d departed. They travelled with us to the city and are staying with me for a while.”

I’m relieved to hear the news. When we were both held in dank cells, he’d talked about her, and I’d hoped that she was okay after Claver was attacked by Dorche. “I’m so happy, Finneus. I can’t wait to meet them.”

“Soon. She’s excited to meet you as well.”

Seeing the smile on his face, and the levity in his demeanor, is a balm after the state he was in when we escaped. Skin and bone was all he’d been, and it took him much longer than me to physically recover. I suspect he’ll never fully recover emotionally, just like me. I still jolt awake sometimes, fearing I’m back in that hell hole, or strapped to the altar as Tavish carved me open.

“So, how can I help this evening?” Finneus asks.

“What do you know about Ruival?” Callahan is all business now.

Finneus taps a finger on his chin thoughtfully. “That it’s incredibly hard to reach, and the Druids are notoriously secretive and don’t often allow visitors. Not that many stray that way. It’s serviced by Klunnoch at the foot of the mountain, but no one has traversed the path up in many years.”

“So, if we went there, would they welcome us? They won’t attack or anything?” I inquire.

“Who’s to say, my dear. Is there a reason you would like to know?”

I tell Finneus about the letters left by Granny, and her belief that’s where the answers are held, as well as our intent to travel there.

He listens intently. “I’m afraid there’s no answer to how they would receive you, Elsie. They’re not well documented, since so few have a use to visit with them.”

“Okay, thank you. I’m going to carry on our research in the meantime, see what else we can find. And I believe the scripts Raghnall kept have been returned too? Perhaps there’s something in there we can use?”

“I have some of them here that I’m reviewing,” he gestures to the books stacked on his desk. “The others are waiting for you. I trust you haven’t forgotten the way?” Finneus winks, not bothering to tell me that I don’t need to do this myself anymore.

Technically, I could command someone else to do this kind of work. But I crave the normalcy of it, and the assurance that underneath everything that’s going on, I’m still me. Still the researcher, the bookworm. Still the problem-solver.

“Never,” I reply with a smile.

He gives me another hug, that I return without second thought, and then led Callahan through the stacks to the area we’d tidied up together.

The piles of ash have gone, and everything is exactly where it always was. The only indicator that something happened here is the empty pedestal where the Seòlta once sat.

One of the desks has a pile of books waiting for us, just as Finneus promised, along with a tray of shortbread and pitcher of water. In the countless hours Finneus and I sat together, he always had cookies or shortbread or some kind of sweet treat to hand.

“What?” Callahan asks in response to my expression.

“Just thinking how stupid I was to not see that Finneus and I were related. He has a sweet tooth like me and Grandpa,” I say, picking up the crumbly goodness and taking a bite.

“The eyes too,” Callahan adds, taking his own slice of shortbread. “They’re exactly like Paul’s.”

I nod, and continue walking toward the back wall of the library.

Callahan remains a pace behind me. “Where are we going?”

“The chambers.”

“Chambers?”

“You’ll see.”

We reach the bare expanse of smooth rock nestled between the shelves at the very back of the library, and I rest my palm on it. The doors appear immediately and swing open, stone grating along stone. The low-hanging chandelier sparks to life, and the blue chairs Finneus and I sat in so many times have a new layer of dust coating them.

Callahan quietly scans the dome-shaped cavern, and the metal doors with the Darrow family emblem carved into them.

“These chambers only open for my bloodline,” I explain. “It’s how I discovered who I was, and where I found out that Granny was really Màiri Darrow.”