Page 104 of A Courage of the Chosen

My pulse races, and I remind myself of all the lessons Callahan taught me.

I’m in control, and I will master whatever this new power is, but I need to understand it in order to do that.

I repeat the mantra until the tremble in my fingers calms, and I’m ready to greet what will be waiting for me when I open my eyes.

Tight ringlets of mist orbit in a steady cadence around the bright spheres. Along the surface, tiny fissures of shadow grow amongst the light, seemingly weaving together in harmony.

It reminds me of how light and dark flowed together through the runes in the chamber where Tavish took a blade to my flesh. The two powers called to each other then as much as they do now.

As if in answer to my silent thoughts, the shadows surge, the lines getting thicker and darker. My light crackles brighter, the spheres stretching so they’re almost swallowing my hands, and the heat of them borders on intolerable.

I sink into every second of it. The warmth my light brings is perfectly balanced by the iciness of the shadows that streak down my arms, acting as a blanket against their might. A push and pull like waves and the orbiting moon. One gives, the other takes. Over and over again, they dance and beckon each other.

It’s . . . mesmerizing. Beautiful, in a harsh way that can only be found in two things that attract and repel in equal measure.

Balance.

Tavish wanted my light for balance. Is this what he meant?

“You are special, little warrior.” An unmistakable timbre, spoken down a bond I thought I had control over for the time being.

When I search inside myself, there’s a solitary thread woven between us. Enough that my wonder and fear have reached for him without my knowledge.

Dread digs its claws in, and with a panicked gasp, I draw everything back into myself.

“You have no idea, do you?” Tavish opens the door between our minds as far as he can with me blocking him, fighting this out of fear of what it means.

I nearly give in. Desperately wanting to tell him to fuck off and leave me alone. But speaking to Tavish, at least willingly, is too close to accepting what this all means. What I’ve rejected for longer than I’d ever dare admit.

“Shall I tell you?”

My chest rises and falls rapidly, traitorous curiosity igniting despite myself.

Tavish waits, and the dark bond between us vibrates with temptation, like he’s speaking what I want to know but muting the words.

Don’t do it. Don’t ask him.

Don’t you want to know what he means? What this means?

My consciousness flits uneasily between each of the questions, half of me tired of not having any answers, and the other half determined to keep as much distance between me and the prince as is physically and emotionally possible.

Before I can stop myself, my thoughts reach out. Compelled by the need to know, and one too many mysteries unsolved.

“Tell me what.”

“Hello, my queen.”

“Tell me what, Tavish.”

He pauses, leaving me teetering on the edge. “That you’re like me.”

I actually laugh out loud. “I am nothing like you.”

“Aren’t you though?” He takes advantage of the opening I left him, and pushes further in. “We were born to it, you and I. Born in a shroud of mist and shadows.”

The blood drains from my face.

“You can feel it. I know you can. That ice in your heart? I didn’t do that to you, Elsie. It was always there. In your temper. Your determination. Your stubbornness.”