Page 189 of A Courage of the Chosen

“Please tell me your dad isn’t Tavish? There’s not enough therapy in the world to undo that,” Rach grimaces.

“No, Rachel. Elsie’s father was one of Raghnall’s men, sent to search for the last light wielder,” Dhia confirms.

Even though I knew Granny and Grandpa killed my dad, I still sigh with the confirmation.

“So you’re telling me, that Dorche—Brollachan—can procreate? That there are teeny tiny demons running around somewhere in Elfayne?” She takes on a slightly hysterical tone.

“No, child,” Ishbel answers. “Those who have been corrupted cannot create life.”

Puzzled, I focus on the first Seelie queen. “So how am I alive?”

Ishbel folds her hands in her lap. “When I died, the spirits showed me what was to come. They showed me what atrocities Raghnall would commit. What it would mean for the people I gave everything to protect. I had set off a chain of events that changed the fabric of Seelie entirely. And in doing so, created an enemy greater than anything this world has ever seen. He would be strong, the balance in him would be too dark, and he would destroy everything if he was allowed to rise without someone to equal him.”

Tavish.

“I asked the spirits what could be done to stop him, and they told me I could not intervene, because another would come. She would be born of two worlds and two powers, and in her, true balance would be restored to the realm of Elfayne. Born in a shroud of mist and shadows and darkness and light, the spirits would choose this Seelie born in the human world, and gift her something the likes of which has never been seen before.”

My blood freezes in my veins. I wasn’t chosen by Dhia. She just helped me, in the only way she could.

“All that is would belong to her.” She whispers the phrase that’s followed me, and in a startling moment of clarity, it all slots together.

I was chosen by the spirits, to save the entirety of Elfayne. I’m the balance to Tavish, and if I don’t defeat him, there’s no going back.

Ishbel continues, without knowing that my stomach sinks further into my feet. “I saw you, Elsie, blood of my blood. I saw what you would have to endure, and I hated that you would have to experience the same kind of pain that I did. Worse, even.”

Rach’s hand finds mine. “She survived it.”

I bite the inside of my cheek and blood fills my mouth. My palms start to sweat, my pulse thundering in my ears.

“She did, because she had to. There would be no stopping what came next if Elsie failed.”

I knew being The Chosen meant something beyond my comprehension, but understanding what that actually means seems like an impossible mountain to climb. A year ago, none of this existed, and now the fate of the world I’ve fallen in love with rests on my shoulders.

Pushing to my feet, I run my hands through my hair. “But I did fail. Tavish has the Craobh. He just took it, and I let him. And I could barely even save Rachel.” I throw my arm in the direction of my friend scowling up at me from the ground. “At every opportunity, I’ve failed. I’m not fit to be queen, or The Chosen. Any of it!”

Ishbel rises too, and pads toward me on light feet. “Why do you think you have failed, Elspeth?”

“Umm . . . did you not hear anything I just said?”

She cocks her head and observes me. “I heard every word, an taghadh. Tavish took the Craobh Beatha because my power runs in his veins. When his father gave him that magic in the womb, he was born of it. That’s why it didn’t react in his presence. It recognized him the same way it would you.”

“But I can’t defeat the dark without it. Can’t defeat him without it.”

“There is no defeating the dark, child.”

Helpful, I scoff internally, as anxiety spikes higher.

Ishbel quirks a brow as if she heard my sarcasm. “There is no defeating the dark because you cannot have one without the other. Light wielders faded because I took the shadows and darkness away from our people. There wasn’t a need for them anymore. And when Raghnall inadvertently created this new version of Dorche, it grew because there were so few light bearers to return the balance. It was too powerful, even those that could wield mist were lost to it.”

Rach joins us on her feet, standing by my side. “Okay, I can’t be the only one who doesn’t have a clue what you’re saying?”

I nod, because what the fuck?

“When the two powers exist as they should, they feed one another. The dark feeds the strength of the light, and the light balances the savagery of the dark.”

“I’ve felt it,” I add, thinking on the times when my light should have weakened like Callahan’s, but something surged back and replenished those reserves.

“They can exist separately, but only to an extent,” Ishbel explains.