Page 146 of A Courage of the Chosen

With a growl of my own, I tear through the halls, back to the cavern where my army waits. They fall silent as I storm through them, the earth trembling beneath their feet in my wake.

“BOW!”

They drop to their knees, and even the Brollachan cease their hissing. When I’m stood in my rightful place above them all, with the ones I haven’t yet turned nearest to me, I offer one last opportunity.

I bully my way in, gathering more magic in order to break down her walls. “This is your final warning, my queen.”

Her laugh is calculated. “You’ve said that before, yet you keep coming back. It’s pathetic.”

She’s on me then, meeting me at my level as her demons unfurl wicked talons. They grip me in a vice and force their way into my mind as powerfully as I bullied my way into hers. And when Elsie whispers her next words, the little remains of my morality, that I held onto for only her, disintegrate into nothing.

“I’m in love with him, Tavish. And you will spend your final days with the knowledge that he has me in a way you never will.”

She disappears, taking the last of my heart with her.

The four-letter word she never gave me. It’s the one thing she could’ve said to me to hammer the point home. There is no going back for her. The chasm between us too wide.

My magic explodes.

Streams of pure night spill from me unrestrained, the Craobh giving me everything I need as I tunnel deeper than I ever have. My muscles bunch and strain with the effort of wielding so much, and tides of it wash over the soldiers knelt before me with blank expressions.

Every moment with her flashes before me. The sweet and tender. The hot and heavy. The ones I’ve lived, and the ones I’ve held onto the possibility of. She fears so much, who she is and the power that lives within her, but she doesn’t fear me anymore.

The tender heart Elsie possessed is now wrapped in thorns and sharp teeth, and blocked to me entirely. Maybe it’s time I listened to her words.

So fucking be it then.

I spear into the core of thirty thousand Seelie at the same time, my head tipped back, unleashing an animalistic roar that carves its way through the mountain.

My body thrums and aches, and thousands more threads connect from my mind to theirs. Black clouds over my eyes, and my army becomes nothing but magic, pumping through their bodies to my vision.

The earth rumbles even harder, stones and bits of rubble falling from the ceiling. There’s a tide of darkness swallowing everything, and when I feel the last tether to the last soldier not in my command, my body collapses.

On all fours, head dropped to my chest, I pant as sweat drips off the end of my nose.

Every last one of them belongs to me now, and I would sacrifice them all to get to her.

I lift my head, and my scarred, calloused hands have been replaced by blackened and scaly ones, ending in six-inch talons.

For so long I’ve kept it at bay. The monstrous creature that rivaled the one that possessed Father. Only where he had little control over it, I know exactly what this beast is made of.

The mist in my chest fights it, trying to maintain the careful balance that exists between my two powers. But the tables have turned and it’s no longer enough. Only light can balance out this dark.

I’m done pandering to her. If Elsie won’t willingly offer me a fragment of her soul, I’ll just have to take it instead.

Chapter 43

Elsie

The fucking nerve of him.

I’d love to know what delusion keeps him warm at night to think that there’s even a remote possibility that I’d give Tavish what he wants.

I was stupid to ask him if there was a way to save Rachel. Should’ve known he would use it to try and manipulate me. If there’s anything my feelings for Callahan have shown me, it’s that you’d do anything to avoid putting the person you love through any kind of pain. Tavish might think he loves me, but all he wants to do is use and possess me. Love and obsession aren’t the same thing.

Last night, I snapped, too many things threatening to consume me. So when he pushed and goaded, I let all the frustration out, and when he came back offering me one last chance, I delivered the blow that I knew would make him give up. Would make him see that we’re enemies with only one outcome. I told him I’m in love with Callahan, before I’d even given that to the man who deserves it.

With a new day, though, comes new regrets about the way I lashed out. Tavish brings out the worst in me, and the power I still don’t fully understand was quick to stir in his presence. He won’t have taken that well, and whatever comes next will be entirely my fault because I stooped to his level.