Page 216 of A Courage of the Chosen

All that time I spent worrying if I’d be a good queen, and if the people would accept me? A waste.

In the two weeks since my official coronation, things have been smoother than I ever thought possible. The council have been immensely supportive in helping with efforts to make sure the lessons of the past aren’t forgotten again, and guiding me as I learn what it truly means to be queen. Even Lord Fettis has become more of an ally than someone who tolerates my presence.

Rebuilding what was destroyed will take time, especially where entire villages have been obliterated.

Freya has received reports that, while towns and villages still lie in ruins, the land that was once void of life is now thriving again. The soil is fresh, and ready to be tilled with new seed, plants have sprung back to life, and wildlife has returned. If it weren’t for the piles of crumbled stone, there wouldn’t be any trace of the Dorche left.

Even the barrier has restored itself. I learned that it opens only on the summer and winter solstice, except to the one that bears the Craobh Beatha. And there’s something about knowing I can go and visit the human world at any time that makes letting my old life completely go an easy transition.

We had a delayed birthday celebration for me, where we had dessert for dinner and my family showered me with gifts. Perhaps my favorite was the sketchpad from Callahan, that was filled with pages of my own face. Which would probably sound weird to anyone else, but I took it for what it was—my very own love letter, filled with all the things he’s noticed, even down to the small tattoo on my hip, the freckles on my back, and the way the scar puckers on my chest.

It’s early on a Sunday morning when the tug that led me to Tavish rouses again, strong and insistent. I was already awake though, disturbed by a nightmare, where I was bound to a stone altar and bled open. Tavish may be gone, but the trauma of what he did still lingers.

Sighing as I soak in the soft yellow and pink sky, I call out into the void in my head while fighting my smile. She’s never far. “Is this how it’s going to work now? You summoning me across the entirety of Elfayne because you can?”

Ishbel’s laughter peels through my mind. “Come, child.”

She’s been quiet since she left me in the meadow, as though she’s been at peace as well as the rest of us.

My magic is already rising but she halts me. “Bring your husband.” It still thrills me to call him that, and as I tiptoe into our bedroom to wake him, my grin forms fully.

“Cal.” I nudge him.

He grumbles and throws an arm over his face.

“Cal, wake up.” I haul the sheets off him and he groans loudly.

“Wife. It’s too early,” he grouses.

“Come with me.”

He perks up at that. Well, if you can call peering at me through half an open eye ‘perking up’.

“What is it?” he asks.

“Just get dressed, would you.”

I’ve already donned a pair of thick leggings, an oversized sweater, and some boots this morning. I thought I might go out for a ride with Mabel, but it seems Dhia has other ideas for me.

Leaving him to get ready, I head back into the living room and wait for Callahan. All the while, she keeps summoning me.

It doesn’t take him long, and he’s fixing the belt with a short sword attached at his hip as he groggily ambles over, even though he has no need for it. Some habits are harder to shake.

I offer him my hand, that he takes without hesitation. “Where are we going?”

“No idea,” I reply, and I let Ishbel guide me as I shadow-walk us both blindly in the direction she wants me to go.

One blink. Two. Three. Four.

“Holy fuck!” I yell, as a mountaintop covered in inches of thick snow materializes around us, and Callahan braces his hands on his knees.

“Nope. Don’t like that,” he breathes.

The wind whistles violently, but the village is somewhat protected from the high rock face that surrounds the group of stone homes.

The Druids are already waiting, assembled in neat lines with their hoods down, pale, scarred skin on full display.

Callahan notices their presence, and jerks me behind him as he slips his sword free. They weren’t exactly helpful or welcoming the last time we came to Ruival.