Page 75 of A Courage of the Chosen

“I present, Elspeth Aitken.”

Chapter 21

Callahan

The air in the room holds still, every Seelie frozen where they stand. Lord Garside doesn’t mince his words. He cuts straight to the truth in a way I can’t help but respect.

A single footstep on my right pulls the focus of hundreds, and my heart literally skips a fucking beat in my chest. With her hands folded in front of her, Elsie emerges from one of the alcoves.

The deep blue dress skims over her figure, highlighting everything that drives me wild. Her trim waist, full hips, and long legs visible in a tasteful display of raw beauty. She’s decadence and ruin in the same breath. Everything I want, and everything I’m scared to lose.

She cuts through the crowd, people clearing out of her way as gossamer floats down from her shoulders and follows her every step. Her long hair is pinned low to the back of her head with a few tendrils left out to frame her face. A face tight with a hesitation that reaches for me down our bond as she draws closer to where I wait for her on the dais.

Her green eyes are piercing in their clarity, and the pink on her lips glistens beneath the lights.

She looks perfect for what she needs to do. Claim her throne, and finally show the council that she’s not fucking around anymore.

My mouth dries, and my body aches with the need to touch her. I’ve wanted so desperately to be inside her again, but I’ve held back, something I haven’t done in as long as I can remember.

Tonight might be the night my control snaps.

Instead of whisking her away to the bed we’ve shared for the last fortnight, I take the couple of steps down, and offer a hand to help her navigate them in a gown that I don’t know whether to curse or worship.

The possessive part of me wants no one else to see Elsie like this. To witness the quiet, unmistakable beauty I haven’t been able to resist since the first time I met her. But the other part of me wants them all to see exactly who she is. To be captivated by her loyalty and bravery and strength the same way I am.

When her hand slips into my grasp, everything inside me goes silent. She’s the calm amidst my storm, and having her heat against mine is the easiest I’ve ever breathed. The first time it happened, I was rocked to my core, and spent so long uselessly fighting the way I was drawn in.

I guide her so she’s at the center of everything, stood with her throne at her back, looking down on her people.

Again, Elsie clasps her hands in front of her, something I’ve seen Màiri do on more than one occasion, when her mind was elsewhere during our training sessions all those years ago.

Elsie lifts herself to her full height as she prepares. Rachel and Reyne join us on the dais, moving to stand by Brodie and Paul, leaving Elsie at the head of us all.

Right where she should be.

“Some of you will know me. Have seen me around this palace and believed me to be a human who had made her way to Elfayne by mistake.” Nervousness twists through every inch of her, and it streaks down the connection so strongly that even my palms begin to sweat, but her voice holds steady and clear.

“Only part of that statement is true. I’m no human. I never have been. It might have been fate that brought me here, and that will always remain a mystery, but it was no mistake. During my stay within these walls I discovered a secret that’s been hidden for a long time. A secret that now needs to be shared with you all.”

They listen to her every word in stunned silence.

“After the attack on this palace that saw the murder of King Murdoch, my grandmother escaped with her life to the human world. There, she had a child.” Elsie’s voice quivers slightly as she speaks about her mother, another person ripped away from her. “My mother was murdered, and my grandmother was captured. She was brought back to Elfayne, where she endured eighteen months of torture at the hands of the Dorche.”

Elsie pauses again, only briefly, to grant her a reprieve before what comes next. “Her name was Màiri Darrow.”

Tension vibrates the room, stretched so tight that even the slightest sound will shatter it into oblivion. Elsie continues with her head held high, growing in confidence.

“You may question if I’m half-Seelie, as the council have. But I’m as much a Seelie as everyone in this room.” I feel it then, the building of static energy that gathers around her.

Like a moth to the flame, mine answers. Power surges in my body, ready to obey her every command. I wrestle it down as mist begins to gather around her feet, dancing around the gown pooled on the floor as she shows them all exactly how magnificent she is.

When Elsie’s light cuts through the dense fog of her mist magic, those nearest the dais step back away from her display. She doesn’t tell them what it means. She lets her claim speak for itself.

Light welding is the only power in our world that is familial, passed down genetically to those strong enough to bear it. And Elsie is stronger than us all.

I knew it when I saw her explosion the first time she wielded. The unfettered force that flowed from her was like nothing I’d ever seen. She controls it now, honed in a way I’m not even sure she’s aware of.

Quietly, over time, Elsie has begun to master the thing she feared for so long. I know she doesn’t think she’s made enough progress, but I sincerely wish she could see what I see.