Page 142 of A Courage of the Chosen

“We’ll stay with you.” Reyne grips Freya’s hand, and Eòghann moves to sit on her other side. Rachel and Callahan’s mother nods absently, and the rest of us pile into the bedroom, where Lorna shuts the door behind us.

Rach lies still in the middle of the bed. She’d look peaceful, if it weren’t for the shackles on her wrists, where they rest on her abdomen.

“I’ll need to wake her up for this,” Lorna confirms. “And we’ll need to remove the chains.”

Callahan is quick to rebuff her. “Absolutely not. She could hurt someone. She could hurt Elsie.”

He really wasn’t happy about this plan. We’d discussed it a few nights ago, after Lorna suggested I use my light to see if I could tear the magic away. He offered himself instead, but Lorna said he wasn’t as strong as me, and since it was his sister, he wouldn’t push when he needed to.

“Is that all you care about?” Brodie spits.

I cut off the impending argument. “We’ll do what we have to.”

“She’ll still be restrained,” Lorna adds. “But we’ll need to lift the suppression on her magic, so I can draw it to the surface enough for Elsie to try and destroy it without killing Rachel.”

“She might die doing this?” Brodie asks, turning his pointed glare at the Seelie who’s worked tirelessly the last seven days. “You failed to mention that when you concocted this little plan.”

Lorna braces her hands on her hips. “I’ve tried everything else. This is your last hope, Broderic. If you want her back, you have to be prepared to take the risk.”

He seems to trust what she’s saying, since he moves to the bed and begins swapping the chains for the ropes we used to get Rachel back to the palace and have kept nearby.

Callahan comes to my side and our connection throbs with his wariness. “Be careful.” He places a tender kiss in the center of my palm.

Brodie tracks the movement, and something fragile works through his scowl, a fracture in his anger as he watches us together.

Once Rachel is bound only by ropes, Lorna shifts to the left side of her bed, indicating for me to move to the other.

Callahan and Brodie stand shoulder to shoulder at the bottom, a few feet away from the mattress in case Rachel lunges for them.

“We’ll need to be quick once she comes around. She’ll likely dive for the first one of us she sees.”

I drag in a steadying breath. “I’m ready.”

Lorna unstoppers a potion contained within an amber-colored vial, and cups the back of Rachel’s head as she pours a few drops down her throat.

I begin to summon on my light, keeping tight control over the other power that lives within my chest. The healer was very clear with me on what I needed to do. I have to wait until Rach is shifting into Brollachan, as Lorna drags all of her new powers to the surface.

There’ll be a brief moment, an infinitesimal second where the Dorche magic will be separate from Rach, and I’ll need to work my light between the two of them to sever the hold.

We have no idea if it’ll work, or what the ramifications will be. Lorna thinks it will mean Rach won’t have the ability to wield again if we’re successful, but she might live a normal Seelie life. A price everyone here is prepared to pay. But this also carries a massive risk that I’ll end up killing her.

We wait for the potion to rouse Rachel from her magic-induced coma, lungs stalled, my magic primed. Warmth begins gathering around Lorna, whose hands are steady and eyes focused.

Rachel’s feet move first. A small wiggle of her toes beneath the sheets. Then her fingers. Then, a small groan.

Brodie goes to take a step forward at the sound, but Callahan catches his arm.

Her eyes flicker open, and Rachel stares at the ceiling for all of thirty seconds before her head snaps in my direction, where my light gathers in my palms.

That dark ring pulses around her irises, and she smiles a wicked grin. “Let’s play.”

She rolls onto her knees, shadow springing from her fingers and aiming straight for me. I dodge one bolt of shadow and it shatters into the drawers, splintering it into pieces. Another flies, crafted into a sharp boomerang targeted at my throat.

It narrowly misses me.

Both Callahan and Brodie move to interfere this time.

“No!” Lorna barks, her healing power exploding out and enveloping Rachel. She drops to her hands on the bed, staring at me as though she wants to tear the magic from my bones and crush it beneath hers.