Page 59 of A Courage of the Chosen

“The life we’d built together was destroyed. Heather was murdered. Màiri taken against her will and brought back to Elfayne.”

His fingers tighten like he needs to tether himself to something real as he speaks about what happened to our family.

“She was taken and tortured by Tavish. And then he killed her. Brutally.”

His words land like a knife to my heart, each syllable laced with the anguish he carries now he doesn’t have her or Mom. We’re all that’s left.

Grandpa swallows, clears his throat, and continues. “I held Màiri as she took her last breath. I held my wife as she went to a place I couldn’t follow.”

Every sentence confirms what I’ve been telling them all for two weeks, and the hush is stilted while they process it.

“I’m disappointed to learn that you haven’t done more to help Elfayne, and that you’ve doubted Elsie so much. I expected better from the Seelie I knew, but I guess my accent isn’t the only thing that’s changed in these long years.” He makes a point to glare at them all as he delivers his judgement.

“Elsie is our grandchild, and the last living Darrow. You have no right to deny her the crown. It belongs to her, and her alone.”

With that, Grandpa leaves, refusing them the opportunity to question him and to poke at the truth that’s scarred him irrevocably. He smiles and lives, but underneath, his heart still grieves for Granny. There are trenches in his soul where she used to be. Ones that will never heal until he’s reunited with her in the afterlife.

I blink away the tears that have gathered and stare at the door for a long moment.

“While I don’t doubt his pain,” Lady Navin begins with fake empathy. “They are still just words.”

My laugh is disbelieving.

Brodie throws his hands into the air. “Are you shitting me?”

Hector buries his head in his hands and Reyne scowls at the woman to her right. Lady Calder’s jaw hangs open slightly.

“You still do not believe their story?” Lord Garside is calm, but his mouth is set in a grim line.

“I do not.” Lady Navin lifts her chin high.

“Nor do I.” Lord Fettis confirms.

Well, there’s a shocker.

Muscles dance in Callahan’s temple, and I can almost hear the grinding of his teeth as his eyes turn dangerous. It’s a good thing there’s a table between him and Lady Navin right now.

“Is there a way for me to prove it? Beyond the multiple accounts given that back me up?” I sigh, more than ready to end this. Short of dragging Tavish here and forcing his power out, I don’t see what else I can do.

I really thought Grandpa would be it. A man they believed to be dead, alive and breathing in front of them as he recounts his anguish.

Lord Haddow shifts in his seat, eyes tightening as he looks at Lady Navin before they settle on me.

“Yes, there is, my lady. But it is . . . painful.”

“I’ll do it,” I reply without hesitation.

“No.” The objection comes from Callahan, at the same time Brodie and Reyne say, “Are you sure?”

But it’s not them I look at as I speak confidently, it’s Lady Navin and Lord Fettis. “If it will prove to you who I am, then I’ll do whatever it takes. And frankly, after being sliced open over and over again, set upon by Brollachan, and tortured by darkness for weeks on end, I don’t fear whatever pain this might bring.”

Again, that approval flits across Lord Haddow’s face before it settles into determination. “Very well, I can perform the task before you address court tomorrow.”

“No. We do it now.”

Callahan’s objection slams into me and I open the connection between us. “What are you doing? You don’t owe these people anything.”

“I know I don’t. But if we’re going to win this war, we need to stop debating who I am and focus on what needs to be done. If doing this finally shuts them up about who my granny was, then I’ll do it.”