Page 55 of Beyond the Winter Kingdom
The crimson-eyed woman narrowed her gaze, opening the door a fraction further to reveal a shock of dark hair.
“What makes you think I have the power to open such a portal? I’m nothing more than a simple witch.”
“We have a reliable source,” Kaia said, twisting her words expertly. I might have been impressed with how Kaia was handling her had I not been rendered immobile.
“Hmm. The same reliable source that gave you my address?” Kaia didn’t answer, but apparently her nonreaction was more than enough. “So, you have the leprechaun, then. Few know where I live, and few know the depths of my powers. Combined, the list is rather short.”
Kaia exhaled stiffly. “Yes. Lucian is our source.”
Amelia widened her eyes playfully, humming in amusement. “Lucian, is it? That was the name he gave you? That’s simply ... delightful. He so rarely gives out that name. Evenmorerare is the likelihood of him giving out his name, my abilities,andmy address, all to the same person.”
“He wasn’t as forthcoming as you might believe. He had ... incentive.”
“Ah, I see. Still suffering in the dungeons now, I’m assuming?” When she didn’t get a response from either of us, she tutted, but it was lacking sincerity. “Poor dear. Always hard to control, that one. But it would seem you could be his Achilles heel, Commander. Must be quite the crush he has on you for him to give away so much information, ‘incentive’ or not.”
“So it would seem. And now you know that we know you can open the portal, Amelia, so let’s get on with it.”
The sound of her sigh brushed over my skin, and I tensed. It was new and familiar all at once.
She stepped back and opened the door, giving the first full view of her. At five foot nothing with long black hair, she waspretty, but not the most remarkable beauty I’d ever seen ... and yet she was. The idea of it warred within me.
“Fine, I’ll make your portal, but I expect payment first.”
She didn’t look at me. Not for a second.
My brows furrowed in confusion. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe this feeling was mistaken, but that isn’t how it worked.
“There is more where this came from. Name your price,” Kaia said, unloosing a pouch from her waist that was filled to the brim with gold coins.
The witch, a woman with rounded ears and sun-kissed skin, laughed quietly. The hairs on my nape stood straight. A chill crawled down my spine.
“I don’t take coin,” the witch said, seemingly annoyed. “And I suspect your leprechaun captive told you as much, but you think you can offer it still. You’re asking for a portal into the Fold. No amount of gold is worth the magical backlash of something like that if it were to go awry.”
Kaia hid her frustration well, but I’d known her long enough to tell what the pucker between her brows meant. “We didn’t ask for one into the Fold. We asked for?—”
“You don’t know what you are asking for,” she said, cutting in sharply. “Eversus and Evorsus are overlapping realms that run on different timelines. If I were to open a portal into one of them, who’s to say it would open now, or six months from now, on the other side?”
Kaia had no answer, and I couldn’t speak.
“Have your attention, now, don’t I? I can do what you ask, but I can’t manipulate space and time in the twin hells. I don’t know where the portal would appear. There is no map of either realm, and they could be stuck in one or the other for months, or even years. So yes, Commander, you’re asking for a portal into the Fold. It’s a convergence of the ley lines, and it’s the only location that exists in both realms at the same place and time.Regardless of which realm they are in, they can access it ... assuming they have a means tofindthe Fold, of course.” She lifted a sharp, sculpted eyebrow and Kaia scowled.
“They have a guide that can lead them.”
Amelia snorted. “Must be one hell of a guide.” Her lips curled up on one side in a Cheshire smile. “So, as I said, you want a portal through the ley lines, which is going to costme,therefore it’s going to costyou.I won’t make it without my payment upfront.”
“If not coin, then what is it you want?”
Amelia’s lips curled into a sinister smile. In the long silence, I heard the music playing in the background. Nothing I was familiar with, but the emotion was heard with every word sung. Love. Desire. I wanted nothing to do with either.
“A favor to be paid later, for a favor now.”
Kaia stilled. “I?—”
“Not from you,” the witch said. For the first time since she’d opened the door, that crimson gaze slid over Kaia and onto me. There was a weight there that a lesser man would crumble under. “Fromyou.”
Those were the first words my second-chance mate spoke to me.
And if I had my way, they’d be the last.
