Page 155 of A Courage of the Chosen

I’m filled by Callahan. The bridge between our light still exists but it pales in comparison to the way he’s just there, and I’m grateful that I told him of my Dorche powers before this moment. That I offered him the chance to walk away before it was too late, because there’s no hiding from each other now.

His power thrums in his chest, and if I wanted, I could reach out and merge it with mine. There’s no part of him, no part of me, that’s concealed from the other.

Unlike what I felt yesterday, there’s no pain, no crumbling at my core. Only him, and the knowledge that this kind, brave, strong, resilient man has chosen me. He said it was his honor to be my Anamara, but the truth is, being chosen by him is the greatest honor of all.

The magic around us fades, until there’s nothing left but our harsh breathing, and the faint scent of copper where we carved into ourselves to perform the ritual.

It’s done.

Callahan wipes his bloodied hand, and then snakes the same arm around my back while his clean fingers weave their way through my hair. “Mine.”

“Yours,” I reply breathily to the possessiveness that thrills me. Molten heat unfurls between my legs, and I fist his shirt as I plaster myself against him.

“Mine,” I echo.

The grin on his face is downright sinful. “Yours.”

Chapter 46

Callahan

It wasn’t long before we were interrupted. Or at least I don’t think it was. Time ceased to have any meaning when Elsie kissed me the way she did last night.

All I know is that Reyne knocked on the door as my hand was cupping Elsie’s breast and she was in the process of unfastening my pants.

Her hair was wild when we disentangled ourselves, and her lips were swollen in the most delicious way. It made my cock pulse behind my zipper, and the temptation to ignore Reyne short-circuited something in my brain. Although, I suspect Dhia wouldn’t be appreciative of me fucking Elsie senseless in her place of worship.

My soon-to-be wife laughed as she tried to smooth down the wrinkles in her shirt and neaten her hair. The sound was entirely free, and the acidic scent that had been tainting her completely vanished. She held my gaze without guarding parts of her mind, or dropping those mesmerizing eyes when she thinks I’m getting too close to working it out.

Now it’s gone, I can see how much that secret burdened her. I found myself asking what I would’ve done in Elsie’s situation as I strolled back to my rooms in an unusually bright mood.

We need to determine what it means for her to possess both magics, but at least now it’s a problem we can work out together. She isn’t hiding from me anymore.

Her and Reyne bid me goodnight before they left arm-in-arm, and as I watched them walk away, even Reyne could tell how much lighter Elsie seemed. As she glanced back at me, her mouth curled up at the edge with knowing.

I gave her a solitary nod and they disappeared.

As I lay in bed that night, I replayed it all in my head.

I meant every word I’d said to Elsie. I don’t care that she has both powers, because I know her. I know that her heart is pure and selfless. That she’s brave, breathtaking, and brilliant. I’m entirely unworthy of someone like her, and I intend to spend the rest of my days trying to prove myself.

A part of her now lives within me, and while we didn’t speak to each other down our connection, Elsie was still close, even though she was at the other end of the royal wing.

My mother and uncle came to have breakfast with me this morning, the latter bringing a fine jacket of deep green, embroidered in silver at the cuffs and collar. It apparently belonged to his father, my grandfather, and it’s tradition for the men in the Sellar family to wear this color on their wedding day.

My family’s history is woven into this fabric, and as I strode from the bedroom fully dressed, my mother’s eyes glassed over as she came over to straighten my already neat collar.

“Your father would be so proud of you, Callahan,” she whispered. “As am I.”

We didn’t discuss him often. In fact, I knew very little about the man who died in the Dorche attack that forced my family into the human world. Whenever I brought the subject up in the past, mother would disengage, a haunted look passing over her face.

She kissed my cheek, and I held her as a small sob shook her body, as it often did when big life events happened without him.

In true Freya fashion, she pulled herself together quickly, blotting her tears away with the back of her hand. “Let’s get you married.”

Sunset. That’s when Elsie said she wanted the ceremony. She didn’t provide any reason as to why, but I knew.

Dawn and dusk were Màiri’s favorites, too.