Page 124 of A Courage of the Chosen

I can’t take it anymore. “Elsie, what was all that about?”

No reply.

“Talk to me mo-sholas.” I think it, but it goes nowhere.

Halting our progress down the mountain, I grab the tops of her arms and wait for Elsie to lift her face to mine. She looks but doesn’t really see. “Elsie? What was that about? You didn’t even challenge them.”

Rachel’s hand drops onto my forearm. “Leave her, Cal. She’ll talk when she’s ready.” She looks at Elsie, worry furrowing her features before a flicker of guilt passes over her expression.

“What do you know, Rachel?”

Her eyes focus on me, surprised I caught that look. But as twins, we know each other better than we know ourselves at times. She knows something.

My sister casts a furtive glance at her friend, noting the blankness in her stare. It’s far too similar to the way Paul looked after Màiri died, and I’m powerless to help Elsie right now.

Rachel sighs heavily. “I don’t know fully. But it’s not the first time she’s been called an taghadh. The Chosen. And it’s not the first time she’s been told ‘all that is belongs to her’.”

“Explain,” I demand.

Rachel tells me about a Colpach, malevolent water spirits that occupy the Loch’s across our world, that appeared before Elsie, uttering the same words the Druids had. And the last thing Màiri said to Elsie before she died. That same phrase she couldn’t have possibly known. When Rachel tells me about the Spreits’ reaction to Elsie when they took Marbh Pass to Braemar, her fear the second time we rode through makes so much sense.

“How could they all know this?” Brodie asks. “How could they all say the same thing to her?”

Collectively, we look at the woman who has suffered so much in a short space of time, and is now leading a kingdom she barely knows into a war that she had no idea about less than twelve months ago.

Is this what she’s been keeping from me? That she’s somehow Chosen, and she’s working through what that means? It’s not something I would want to share either, especially with so many other questions unanswered.

As we navigate our way back down the mountain, Elsie slowly begins to return to herself, and the embers of her stir next to my magic.

I can admit that the relief of feeling her presence taking root inside me again is enough to bring me to my knees, and if we weren’t in the dead of night and scaling our way down a perilous path, I’d pull her to me and kiss her senseless while murmuring that I’ve got her.

She’s been distant, as have I. But I’ll never walk away from her.

“May I have a drink, please?” At the sound of her voice, the rest of us heave a sigh, and we pause to lean our backs against the cold stone on our right as we catch our breath.

“Of course.” I grab her water bottle.

“Thank you.” She takes a few sips.

After a few moments of quiet, Brodie breaks it in the most him way he could possibly manage. “Well, that was a waste of fucking nightmares.”

The corners of Elsie’s mouth twitch, and I’ve never been more grateful to the Seelie I chose as my brother.

Chapter 36

Elsie

Truthfully, I don’t fully remember the trek down from Ruival. My legs do, though, and I’d take back-to-back training sessions with Reyne at her most savage over this. Muscles I didn’t know I had are throbbing with the acute awareness that we’ve been hiking for almost twenty-four hours straight. As we finally reach Klunnoch again, I’m leaning heavily on Cal, who doesn’t seem fazed.

My stomach rumbles loudly but I suspect we ran out of the food we brought on the trip back down. Right now, eating is secondary to getting these boots off, and my aching feet into a bath that’s hotter than the surface of the sun.

We say goodbye to Brodie and Rach along the corridor of the inn. Rach hugs me, asking if I’m okay on a quiet whisper before she admits to telling Brodie and Cal about the Colpach and the Spreits, and what Granny said.

“It’s okay,” I murmur. “I can’t hide it forever.” And the truth of that sent me spiraling, after what the Druids said.

I retreated so far into myself that for a moment, I feared I wouldn’t resurface. Each scenario that I mapped in my mind was worse than the last. Callahan discovering I’m part Dorche and walking away from me. Being shunned by the people who have barely begun to accept me as their queen. Us losing this war and the Dorche taking over. Me becoming a Brollachan, and Callahan being the only one able to kill me with his light.

I’d pinned too many of my hopes in us getting to Ruival, and finding what Granny said would be the answers, and I’m left with just one question that speaks louder than the rest . . . what now?