Page 204 of A Courage of the Chosen

We turn back down the hill, pacing toward the treeline for the march back to the city. I fish out a piece of leather to replace the broken chain of the Craobh, and hook it over her head so it rests over her armor. Exactly where it belongs.

“Thank you,” she murmurs quietly. Sadly. Today will stain her as it will me, in more ways than we can count.

“Look!” a soldier calls out, pointing to the mass of bones.

Glancing behind us, a dense patch of Dorche magic begins to swirl amongst the remains of those it possessed, striking through the corpses as though seeking a new host. I tug Elsie away, patting myself down for a weapon that I don’t have to protect her. Instead, she steps around me.

“It’s okay.” Elsie moves, brushing a hand over my upper arm as she skirts past my attempts to stop her.

My heart hammers in my chest as she confidently strides toward the magic that’s now formed into a thick cloud of darkness.

She gets way too close to that thing for my fucking liking, and when Elsie reaches a hand out, I dart forward. “I swear to Dhia, if you touch that. You’re in trouble.”

Her chuckle carries to me on a breeze, and she winks over her shoulder. Elsie swallows the shroud of magic with her own. Light and dark working in unison to defeat the last of the corruption in a battle that’s swift and decisive.

I’m not sure what it is she does, but when her power recedes, there’s nothing left of that terrible orb.

This world is hers now, and everything that exists obeys her.

She’s still smiling when she faces me, and the thousands gathered here, but it falters when her gaze passes over the soldiers waiting to return home.

They whisper and shuffle, and the burden of their distrust bubbles deep in my gut.

They don’t know her yet. Don’t know how good and pure and strong she is. Even though she just saved them, all they see is the darkness that almost won, a power she possesses.

My mouth opens to defend her—not that I have much sway, as someone they’re still learning to trust, too—but I’m beaten to it.

Will-o-the-wisps wink into life, dancing and bobbing and curling around her until they gather in a cluster right next to Elsie. A willowy form floats inches above the ground, dazzling light sweeping over all of us.

For the second time in my life, I’m dumbfounded by Dhia’s presence, and I’m amongst the first to throw myself to my knees at the mercy of the Seelie goddess.

“Many of you will look upon this woman with wary eyes.” Dhia takes Elsie’s hand as her head dips low in respect.

“For that, you will be forgiven. But Queen Elspeth is not like the others that have come before her.” The Goddess’s voice is power incarnate, and humbles every last one of us. “I have chosen her, as have the spirits of old, to lead you into a new world, free from suffering and pain. The darkness within her exists, as it always should have. You will not fear it, for she is your savior and your guardian, and you will thrive in the peace she has returned to these lands.”

Those able to press their foreheads to the ground in acceptance of Dhia’s words, as she lifts the hand joined with Elsie’s up high.

My wife, crowned, covered in the blood of her people and her enemies, stood side by side with our Goddess. It’s a vision of triumph. A testament to our past and our future.

And I know the sight will be painted for thousands of years to come.

Perhaps I will be the first.

Will-o-the-wisps eddy around them as her voice cuts through the crowd a final time before she disappears. “Long live the queen!”

“LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!” The royal army repeats.

And just like that, Dhia has made sure no one will look at Elsie as anything other than the Seelie who saved Elfayne.

Chapter 61

Elsie

The chants last for a few moments, and the brave men and women who put their lives on the line to fight the Dorche today bow before me in the wake of Dhia’s words.

Only Callahan standing to kiss me shifts the calls into a cheer, that can surely be heard in the city miles and miles away. It’s a celebration, filled with pure joy as Seelie embrace their victory.

While I may have played a role in the downfall of the Dorche, it didn’t belong to just one of us, it belonged to all. Those that stood defiantly against the darkness, those that fell to it, and those that simply held on and prayed for it to pass. This was for everyone.