Chapter 3
Rahil paid the magistrate and swept me out of the building.
I threw one last look over my shoulder as my new husband flagged down a carriage, handed me inside, and gave the driver directions.
We trundled past the worship center where Nadia and I had shared so many meals and huddled together for warmth during long winter nights.
It had broken my heart to see such sadness in the old minister’s eyes as he told me that he couldn’t in good conscience attend my wedding, not if I was being married to a man like Rahil.
I hadn’t invited anyone else, and neither had Rahil. For all of his wealth and supposed power, it seemed he didn’t have a friend in the world.
He reached over to uncork a wine bottle. “Here’s hoping our marriage will be a long, happy one.” He poured me a glass, but I didn’t take it.
“I didn’t poison it,” he said, rather indignantly.
To prove it, he threw his head back and swallowed the glass’s contents, then daintily dabbed at his mouth with his pocket handkerchief.
“I know you don’t trust me and we don’t love each other, but I’m not a bad person, I promise. I’ll take care of you.”
He couldn’t expect me to believe that. No man who was on his sixth wife in ten years could even pretend to care for the well-being and safety of the women he married.
But as much as I distrusted him, I still needed him to agree to release Nadia once the month was up.
So I accepted the next glass he handed to me and raised it.
“To our marriage and getting exactly what we each deserve.”
Rahil smirked at my wording. “I do love a wife with a strong personality. This will be an entertaining marriage, if nothing else.”
I matched his smirk. “Undoubtedly. I’m sure it’ll be memorable for both of us.”
Was that amusement in his eyes? Certainly, there was no fear.
Was he trying to toy with me? Had he done so with Samira before killing her?
I eyed his broad shoulders. He was undoubtedly strong enough to hurt me if he wanted to, and I wouldn’t physically be able to stop him.
If only I had some scorchwing venom with me.
Pity I’d been taken into custody before I could raid my stock of potions.
Rahil tsked quietly. “Such a cruel glare from such a pretty face.” He reached out to touch me, but I jerked away. He chuckled low in his throat. “Don’t worry. This will be an advantageous arrangement for you. You’ll get anything you want as my bride.”
“That’s a dangerous thing to offer a woman.”
“Maybe I like to live dangerously.”
He sat back and downed another glass of wine. “I’ll allow you to throw as many parties as you want, bring any family or friends to visit, buy anything you like… Whatever I have is yours.”
“And my sister?”
“She’ll be released a month after our marriage and is welcome to live with us. I have an ample number of rooms.” He raised his eyebrows. “You understand I can’t have her released today or you would scamper off and I’d never find you again.”
“No, I wouldn’t,” I lied smoothly. “Like you said, I have a good setup here.”
Any other woman might be delighted with such financial freedom, but it wasn’t worth it with all the strings that had to be attached.
He wanted something from me. I could see it in his beady eyes, but there was no telling what it was.
He hadn’t been physically aggressive and had never so much as kissed me other than the brief one across the altar.
There had to be a catch, some hidden promise I wasn’t yet aware of… but what?
He was offering everything I never had as a child—stable meals, unlimited money…
Why was he offering me so much? He would gain no elevated status with a street rat like me as a wife.
I came with no dowry, no title, not even any friends.
There was no benefit at all for him. I had simply been available to coerce at a convenient time.
“You’re wondering why I’ve been so eager to get married,” Rahil rumbled. “Especially since we didn’t even know each other until yesterday.”
I tilted my head. “The thought crossed my mind once or twice.”
“Then let me be clear. I was left a considerable inheritance when I was a young man, but the will stipulates that I can only stay in possession of it if I’m wed. My parents wanted very much for me to get married.”
“How incredibly romantic,” I drawled sarcastically.
“I understand it isn’t optimal. If you prefer, we can be married on paper but never see each other at all.
My manor is large enough that you don’t need to do so much as say hello if you don’t want to.
” He sounded earnest enough, but I couldn’t let go of my distrust. Just looking at him made me want to leap from the carriage and run away.
He smiled, his teeth gleaming extra white from behind his bluish beard. “It would seem that my reputation precedes me. I know the things they whisper about me behind my back, but I promise I’m simply in this to keep my inheritance.”
“It would be more easily kept if you married one woman and kept her alive, rather than constantly remarrying.” The barb came out before I could think of a more tactful thing to say.
An immense sadness came over Rahil and he rotated the ring on his finger. “You have no idea how many times I’ve wanted that very thing. But not all wishes come true in the way we would hope.”
For the first time, the tiniest twinge of doubt flickered in my mind. What if I was wrong? What if all my suspicions and misgivings about him were unfounded? After all, I really didn’t know the first thing about him, only rumors.
We came to a stop in front of the largest and grandest manor I’d ever seen. Rahil sprang down first, then turned and put a hand out to help me down from the carriage. I rested my fingertips as lightly as I could against his, mouth hanging open at the sight before me.
The coachman cracked his whip as soon as he’d been paid, and the carriage trundled away, leaving only a cloud of dust behind it.
“Your new home,” Rahil said, offering me his elbow to escort me inside. “May I get you anything? Food? Drink?”
“No, I’m fine,” I told him, releasing his arm the moment we crossed the threshold. My footsteps echoed in the vast marble hallways, but it gave the impression of a great emptiness along with the wealth. Most eerily, no maids or other servants came to greet us.
“Where are your servants?” I asked.
“I don’t have any.”
“Then who cleans and cooks and does the laundry?”
“No one. The house stays clean. Have you heard of dragons being able to enchant things?”
“Yes.”
He waved his hand at the vast hall. “This house is similar to that. It provides everything—meals, clean laundry, entertainment, everything. I don’t have a single servant. You’ll find that your bags will already be in your personal room.”
I shot him a suspicious look. “My personal room? It’s not our room?”
“I assumed you’d prefer to have privacy given the contractual nature of our marriage. But if you’re open to other arrangements…”
“No,” I said quickly. “Separate rooms suit me fine. Which one is mine?”
“Yours is upstairs and mine is downstairs near the library. Now, you’re the mistress of this house, and you’re free to explore wherever and whenever you like.
Each room is enchanted to entertain. There are fountains, arboretums, menageries, pools, rooms for painting and sewing, a library… I’m sure you’ll be very happy here.”
“That does sound intriguing,” I said, impressed against my will.
Rahil took me up a tall, sweeping staircase to reveal a long hallway with many more doors. “I’m afraid I don’t get out much, so I had the house enchanted to provide everything I desire. I conduct my business affairs from my study and all our needs are provided for by the house.”
“Staying in a house all the time must get dull,” I commented, gazing down the lengthy hallway lined with doors. The manor was enormous, but no estate was big enough to make me feel anything but trapped when I was confined to a single building.
“You’ll discover that the rooms are larger than they appear,” he said with a quiet chuckle. “Explore a bit and you’ll find that out.”
“So, I can go anywhere? Even your study? Your bedroom? I can leave the house entirely?”
He hesitated. “You’re welcome to go anywhere in the house, but if you leave without me, I would be forced to keep your sister in jail instead of petitioning for an early release, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want that.
You are of course welcome in my study or bedroom, but I forgot to mention one off-limits area.
” He pointed at a small door at the far end of the hallway.
If he hadn’t pointed it out, I would have assumed it was some long-forgotten coat closet.
Compared to the rest of the manor, that door was downright shabby.
Paint was peeling around the edges, the hinges were rusted over, and cracks spiderwebbed across the surface.
“Why not? What’s in it?” I asked, my curiosity instantly piqued.
His previous wives had disappeared; had Rahil given them the same rule?
Did it contain some dangerous enchantment or wild animal that would destroy anyone who opened the door?
Did it hold clues to the mysterious disappearances of his former wives?
“It isn’t for anyone other than me and I keep it locked at all times,” he said. His easygoing, generous personality evaporated in an instant. “Promise me you’ll never enter that room, ever.”
“I won’t go in,” I told him. “But you can’t blame a girl for being curious.”
He turned me away from the forbidden door.
“You can be curious about any of the other rooms. I promise you’ll find them wildly enchanting.
And speaking of enchantments…” He dug into his vest pocket and held out a small, round object to me.
“I got you a wedding gift. I purchased it on the way to our ceremony.”