Page 30 of Bought By the Revenant
“That was not their sister. That was my wife, Amity.”
“They said she had been kidnapped months ago,” Blackwell continues while he looks me up and down with clear doubt onhis face. “That they had finally found her and needed to bring her home for medical attention.”
“They lied. They are the kidnappers.”
Blackwell examines me from my white hair to my stitched hands, and his expression tells me exactly what he thinks of my story.
“That is preposterous. No woman would marry... someone like you.”
I take a deep breath and let his words roll off me.
“Lord Blackwell,” I say in my most reasonable tone. “What state was the woman in when these men brought her to your door?”
He shifts his weight from foot to foot, looking uncomfortable. “She appeared to be unconscious. There might have been blood, but I wasn’t certain in the poor light. I assumed she was ill.”
“And you let them take her without question?”
Guilt flashes across his face before he replaces it with defensive anger. “They paid the fee. It’s not my business to interrogate my customers.”
“I need to use your portal,” I say. “Now.”
“Impossible. My family is asleep. The hour is most indecent…”
I reach inside my coat and pull out a heavy leather pouch full of gold coins. The servant’s eyes grow huge. Lord Blackwell stops talking with his mouth still open.
“This should cover the fee,” I say and hold out the pouch. “And compensate for the terrible inconvenience.”
Blackwell takes the pouch and weighs it in his palm before peeking inside at the coins. His whole attitude changes.
“This is... most generous. I believe I can accommodate your request.”
I know the amount I’m giving him is ten times what anyone should pay for portal use, but I don’t care about money right now.
“This way, please.”
Blackwell leads me through hallways that drip with expensive decorations to a library at the back of the house. Books cover every wall from floor to ceiling, though the perfect condition of their spines tells me no one has bothered to read them. A portal stands in the middle of the room – a metal ring about seven feet across that stands upright on a stone base. When I look through the inactive ring, I see the wall on the other side of the library.
“Has anyone else used the portal since those men?” I ask.
“No,” Blackwell replies. “No one else has requested access. It was late at night, and it isn’t even proper dawn, after all.”
He keeps reminding me that I dragged him out of bed because he wants me to feel guilty, but I don’t.
“Then their destination should still be in the portal’s memory.”
Blackwell nods at his servant. “Activate it.”
The servant walks to a panel of buttons beside the ring and presses them in a specific order. The empty space inside the ring shimmers and then fills with swirling colors that spiral around each other in shades of blue and purple.
I step toward the portal but then stop myself.
“What destination did they name?”
“A place called Witherglen,” Blackwell says. “I’ve never heard of it.”
I haven’t heard of it either, and my stomach clenches when I realize this might be Amity’s village. We’ve been married for weeks now, and I know almost nothing about her past. The few times I tried to ask her, she was guarded, not wanting to talk about it, offering me the smallest crumbs. I want to know everything about her, and here I am, not knowing a single thing, and I’ve already lost her. Maybe not yet. Maybe if I hurry…
I step through the portal. The feeling makes my stomach lurch as I pass through what feels like a sheet of flowing light. Colorswash over me, and my whole body tingles while my atoms pull apart before coming back together. I’ve traveled through portals before, but I still hate how it feels.
