Page 156 of A Courage of the Chosen

I stand before the statue of Dhia, where only hours ago, Elsie and I tethered ourselves together for eternity. I wasn’t nervous last night. Regardless of our matrimony, my soul belonged to Elsie. Yet, as I wait for her arrival, my pulse is thumping much faster than it needs to, and there’s a fluttering inside my stomach.

The candles have been replaced with fresh ones, and the pedestal holding the dagger has been removed. The stained-glass windows throw patterns of green and gold and orange onto the floor, adding to the soft ambiance of the room.

Mother is sat on one of the wooden benches with Uncle, who also told me he was proud of me in a moment alone before we left my rooms, in an uncharacteristic display of affection.

Erin is tucked into Mother’s side, with the stuffed bear she’s grown attached to since I brought it to her during her first few days. They’ve found a small comfort in one another recently. Erin doesn’t have any grandparents, and my mother has silently waited for a grandchild. The pairing works.

Reyne is helping Elsie get ready, and Eòghann stands at my side. Brodie was always the one I’d pictured with me on the rare occasion I thought about a wedding, and his absence is a knife through the gut.

Rachel should be with us, too, helping Elsie prepare for the biggest commitment she’s ever going to make. She can walk away from this world, her title, at any point. But there’s no walking away from us. Not now.

Finneus will be the one to bind us together in marriage, and Paul will be the one to walk alongside Elsie.

He cried when we told him, too, and then explained what to expect of the Anamara bond and the ritual to complete it. He’s the only Seelie I know who has experienced this type of connection, and I was relieved to hear that it wouldn’t be painful, like Elsie experienced two nights ago.

The council are also here, because Elsie isn’t just a normal Seelie, they have to be present to witness the marriage of a monarch.

I expected them to push back on her union with someone like me. But their objections came from how she wanted to be married, not the who. They’ve split themselves across the remaining benches. Lady Calder sits behind my uncle, leaning in to chat with him and Mother quietly, while Lord Garside, Lord Haddow, and Hector sit in the first row on the opposite bench, leaving a space at the end for Elsie’s grandfather and Reyne.

Lord Fettis sits by himself behind them.

The door creaks open and Reyne slips into the room, throwing me a wink and a smile as she takes her place next to her father.

Fuck. This is it.

Any minute now, Elsie is going to walk through that door and change my world entirely. Gravity will no longer be the thing tying me to this plane of existence. It will be her.

The hinges groan a second time, and my heart catapults into my mouth . . . as dark hair and dark eyes peer around the door frame. My spine straightens.

We’ve barely spoken more than a few angry words to each other in recent weeks, and the chasm between my brother and I has never been bigger. Him showing up for Elsie, for me, is the olive branch I’ve been too stubborn to offer myself.

Brodie stands a few feet away in the middle of the aisle, more put-together than I’ve seen in these long weeks. “Things are all kinds of fucked up, Brother, but I couldn’t miss this.” He swallows heavily. “She . . . she will never forgive me if I’m not here for you today.”

Eòghann claps my shoulder as he steps aside with a wide grin. “Kept your spot warm,” he shoots at the Seelie who has been my friend, my companion, for almost all of my life.

Brodie offers him a half smile.

I’ve never known Brodie to be a sheepish man, but when he turns back to me and asks, “Are you okay with that?” I fucking hate every second of the way I reacted when I couldn’t think around the pain of seeing that happen to my sister.

Striding forward, I clasp his forearm and tug him to me. “Couldn’t do it without you.”

We hold onto each other, everything that needs to be said passing in the embrace, and in that moment, I know we’re going to be okay.

Brodie wipes at his eyes and takes his position. “Never thought you’d be the one getting married before me.”

I chuckle despite the nerves rattling their way through me. “Aye, me neither.”

The long overdue conversation between us is cut short, and the doors to the Caibeal are thrown open. All thoughts about my sister, the war, the reason we’re doing this, empty.

There’s nothing but her.

Elsie stands in the hall, a bouquet of white heather grasped in her trembling hands, wearing a simple white gown that looks as though it’s been poured onto her body. Half of her hair is braided on the top of her head while the rest tumbles down in golden waves. Beneath understated makeup, her pale-green eyes sparkle in the evening sun.

Her face splits into a captivating smile when she sees me, and the twenty feet between us may as well be miles as she takes the first unhurried step forward, her arm threaded through Paul’s.

Someone sniffles, likely my mother, or maybe Elsie’s grandfather. But my focus is so locked on her that I couldn’t break away even if I wanted to. Her eyes don’t leave mine either, and everything else melts away until only the two of us exist.

As she nears me, I notice the slit in her dress that exposes the creamy expanse of her thigh, and the awestruck thoughts are replaced with ones of a far more possessive nature.