Page 27 of The Women of Wild Hill
Sadie felt fate closing in on her. “But why must I marry Angus Campbell? He’s revolting.”
“That is your sacrifice. We must all offer one.”
“Sacrifice is how women like us have survived the centuries.”
“We give of ourselves so our descendants will flourish.”
“Why is it always us?” Sadie groused. “I don’t see men making many sacrifices.”
“And that is our advantage. It is why we prevail.”
SO SADIE DUNCAN TOOK ONEfor the mission and married Angus Campbell, who’d always gotten everything he desired. The sacrifice didn’t seem so fucking small the first time he pried her legs apart and climbed between them. After five minutes being pinned beneath Angus, enduring his thrusts and beastly groans, Sadie was certain she’d been led astray. She cursed her father, Malcolm, and all three ghost witches every hour of her journey across the ocean to America.
The newlywed couple were meant to live in the Campbell family’s Manhattan mansion. They stayed in the city for all of forty-eight hours. That was how long it took for the elder Mrs. Campbell to go from praising Sadie’s beauty to declaring the marriage an utter disaster. Her son’s new bride, however pretty, had displayed an unfortunate penchant for wearing pants, smoking pipes, and saying whatever the hell came to her mind—no matter how obscene or offensive.
“I think you would both be happier at our country home,” Angus’s mother informed the couple as the servants packed up their things. “It’s been empty since my husband’s untimely death, which is a terrible shame. The grounds are lovely,” she added. “Room for horses if you like such things.”
“Wild Hill is infamously haunted,” Angus informed Sadie after they’d been all but shoved into a carriage. “My mother claims they were run out of the mansion less than three days after they moved in. She’s convinced the fright was responsible for my father’s death the following year. I do believe she is trying to scare you away. Not to worry, though. I have plans.”
Sadie laughed for the first time since she got married. Angus’s plans aside, it sounded as though things might work out, after all. And when they arrived at Wild Hill, she no longer had any doubt.
THE MOMENT THE GATES OPENED,Sadie felt the power wash over her like water rushing from a ruptured dam. The mansion came into view, its doors and windows sealed by vines and guarded by thorns. She sensed someone watching them as they pulled up in front of the caretaker’s cottage.
“There’s a powerful genius loci here,” she told her husband.
“A powerful what?” he responded. “I don’t speak French.”
“There’s a spirit that resides on this land,” she said. “I can feel it.”
“I told you about the ghost,” Angus said. “Apparently, she makes quite a ruckus at night. We’ll be staying in the caretaker’s cottage for the time being.”
“Do you know who the spirit is?”
“Haven’t a clue.” He didn’t seem terribly interested, either. “I do hope she keeps it down this time, though. You know how I enjoy my sleep.”
Angus thought sex was the best sleeping draught. He climbed on top of Sadie that night as he did every evening. There was no getting out of it, as he was a very large man. Sadie did her duty, though it wasn’t the one he thought she was fulfilling. After it was over, all was quiet, and with the help of a few drops of opium she’d added to his regular nightcap, Angus fell into a deep sleep. Sadie slid out of bed and left him behind. Outside, the moon lit a vast meadow that rolled down to the ocean. Beneath one of its beams stood a woman in a white gown, her chestnut hair tousled by the wind.
“Hello,” Sadie said to her in the language of the north.
“You speak my native tongue,” the woman replied. They were the first words she’d uttered since she’d cursed the colony’s men.
“Yes,” Sadie said. “My ancestors taught me.”
The woman nodded. “So we are of a kind.”
“If you are a witch, then the answer is yes,” Sadie said.
“When is the best time to harvest herbs?”
“The last phase of the waning moon.”
“And when does the hag gather wood for the winter?” the witch asked.
“Imbolc.”
The witch nodded. “You wish to stay here on this hill?”
“Only with your permission,” Sadie told her.
