Twas evening when the door tae my room opened. I rose from the bed but the guards dinna enter, instead they pushed a woman in and then left, closin’ the door behind them.

I sat staring at her.

She leveled her gaze at me.

After a moment I asked, “Who are ye?”

“Donnan sent me. I’m a gift for you.”

“A gift for…” I crossed the room and banged on the door. “Donnan! Guards! Bring the guards back!” I had yelled in the past though and no one ever came, just my voice echoin’ through the hallways of the castle.

I turned back tae the room and the strange woman inside it. She was verra beautiful and had nae enough clothes on. Simply a wee cloth across her breasts and at her hips. I cleared my throat. “You arna welcome. I daena want a gift.”

She said, “I volunteered. I’m Donnan’s favorite and yet, when I saw you… I wanted to be yours. Now I’m here. I can’t leave. I’m not allowed to. I’m a gift.”

I took a deep breath. “I have nae need for a woman in my—”

She came close tae me and pressed against my chest. I stepped back. She followed me and pressed against my chest even more.

I pulled her hands off and pushed her back a step. “I have nae need for ye—”

She pointed at the spot behind my ear, the place where the metal patch was adhered tae my skin. She leaned forward and pushed the dark hair from her shoulder exposing the patch on the back of her own neck. She shook her head and repeated, “I’m a gift for you.”

She nodded her head lookin’ intae my eyes. “I can’t leave. I’m not allowed to.” She nodded again. She stroked down the side of my neck. “When presented with a gift like me, what do you say, Magnus? Would it be thank you? Would you welcome me?”

She nodded, but all the while lookin’ in my eyes, beseechin’ me tae understand. I said, “Aye, thank ye.”

She nodded and smiled. “Would you thank Donnan for providing you with his favorite mistress?” She nodded more.

“Thank ye, Donnan, for the gift.”

She ran her hands over my chest, spreading the folds of fabric. “Perfect. Thank you for the welcome. We’re going to have fun.” The words echoed in my head, remindin’ me of Kaitlyn sayin’, “Want to do something fun?”

She led me by the hand tae the bed and crawled intae it. I faltered standin’ beside it. She put a finger to her lips tae tell me tae be quiet and mouthed the words, trust me. She patted the bed beside her, giving me space tae lay down without crowdin’ me.

I asked, “What is your name?”

“My name is Bella.”

I climbed in and she pulled the covers tae my chest and patted it. Then she curled up on her side and grew quiet. Nae touchin’ just going tae sleep.

It was verra hard for me tae do the same with a beautiful woman in my bed.

I had my face buried in Kaitlyn’s hospital gown. I was cryin’ intae the folds. Her belly was soft with emptiness instead of full and round, and I was pulling the cloth tae m’face and tellin’ her twould be okay and burrowin’ deeper intae the cloth and then the cloth was empty, was nothin’ but folds of fabric and loss and I couldna release my hands from it, couldna move—

Air rushed intae my lungs. I woke sittin’ up in bed clutchin’ the covers.

The woman — what was her name, Bella? — asked, “My Magnus, are you okay?” with a familiarity that made me want tae grab her by the arm and shove her through the door tae the hall, but I couldna because there wasna a way tae unlock the door.

I was a prisoner. She was a prisoner. Someone was listenin’ tae us. Watching us. Lockin’ us together when I only wanted tae be alone.

“Nae.” I swung my legs tae the floor and stormed intae the bathroom tae shower.

The rest of the day was uncomfortable. The woman who lived here now got our meals when they were passed through the door and set them on the table and talked of inane things I dinna want tae talk of.

And as the day wore on her familiarity became more irritatin’ tae my mood.

She kept the lighted images projectin’ along the walls going with news stories. Twas too loud, images of explosions and war and — “Turn it off. I canna watch it. Tis too loud.”

She asked the room tae turn down the volume.

I said, “The pictures are too loud as well.”

“Oh, My Magnus, pictures can’t be loud!” She laughed and asked the room tae turn the volume back up. “You are the son of the king. You have to know what is happening in the world.” I watched the light-cast, bairn cryin’ in a street of rubble. She watched my face. “Now that we live here together, I should teach you as much as I can about the world.”

I stood and went tae the bathroom and stayed there prayin’ on my knees, asking for guidance, until the voice in my ear reminded me twas time tae head tae the ground floor and the trainin’ hall.

When I returned tae my apartments later I was resigned —Bella was a fellow prisoner and acceptin’ her presence was the first step in figurin’ out how tae survive.

The problem though with fellow prisoners is they want tae survive too and that made them dangerous.

I would need tae keep on my guard. “I want ye tae turn off the images. I canna think with it blarin’ in the room.”

“Yes, My Magnus.” She was sprawled on my bed wrapped in the bedding with one of her legs exposed from the waist down.

I sat down on one of the chairs. “Where are you from?”

“From Spain. I came here when I was eighteen. I’m twenty-nine now.”

“Och, and when — what year?”

She leaned up on an arm. “You don’t believe I’m a woman from here, now?”

“I haena any idea. I haena met any women from this time. But Donnan is a collector. If he can bring sons from the past, I’m certain he brings women too.”

She smiled. “You are correct. I came from 1640. It was quite a shock when I arrived. But I was trained in the arts of speech and beauty so I wouldn’t be quite so uncivilized.” She laid back on the bed, raised one beautiful leg up in the air, pointed her toes tae the sky, and then brought it down daintily.

I looked away.

She watched my face while I tried tae think of my next question. “Where are we?”

“Donnan’s country estate.”

“I meant the place name — the region or the name of the country, anythin’.”

“I’m not allowed to tell you.”

I sighed. “Can ye tell me, the mountains, what direction are they are in?”

“West, but you—”

“Where does Donnan keep the vessels, I mean the Tempus Omegas?”

“I don’t know. And I wouldn’t be able to tell you anyway. I’m not allowed to tell you anything.” She sighed. “But you need to forget about returning to the past and live here and make the best of it.”

Kaitlyn’s words, Begin where we are, ran through my head. She would be devastated if she ken this woman was in my bed—

Bella noticed I scowled. “What are you thinking of, My Magnus?”

I put my elbows on my knees and watched her. “My wife, the one I left.” It hurt tae say it that way, but twas also true.

“You regret leaving her? To come here and take your throne?” She stretched long, her arms over her head, makin’ herself verra desirable. She was beautiful, dark long hair, brown skin. She was well-curved and had a nice smile. “You get to live with me. Did your wife look like me?”

“Nae, she is taller in stature than ye. Her eyes are green and her hair a bit like yours, long, but of a different color. A chestnut, like a horse I once…”

“My Magnus, are you describing your wife like a horse?”

I shook my head. Magnus are you comparing me to a horse? “I dinna mean tae, but I canna think of another way tae describe it. It had a touch of sunshine on it. Golden in the light. Have ye ever seen eyes like — her eyes, when she smiled, looked like sunsets — have ye ever seen that? A smile that fills the eyes and draws ye in tae the horizon?” I finished, “She was verra beautiful. I spend a great deal of time thinkin’ on her.”

She sadly said, “My Magnus are you saying I’m not as beautiful as the wife you left?”

“I’m simply telling ye of her. Nae comparin’.”

“Would you like to show me a picture?”

“Nae, I canna — nae.”

“It is good though, you’re speaking of her in the past tense. You left her. You’re here with me now. This is the present. Being here with me in the present doesn’t change how you felt about her in the past. They are two very different times.”

I turned my ring around and around on my finger.

“One last thing. I heard another of Donnan’s sons is here. I wanted you to know so you would be ready.”

“You think twill be tomorrow?” I rubbed m’shoulder. It had been sore during the trainin’.

“It could be. If you’re injured during the battle—” She seemed tae struggle with finding the right words. “If you’re injured…” She looked intae my eyes noddin’ slowly. “Don’t argue, let them take you to the infirmary. Okay?” She crawled across the bed then rose tae her feet and came tae my chair.

She trailed a finger across my chest and prowled around draggin’ it along my shoulders as she walked. She paused behind me and tugged on the back of my shirt. Her finger rubbed along one of my scars. “You have many scars here, My Magnus,” she whispered. “What happened to you?”

“I was flogged.” I pulled my shirt back tae rights.

“That must have been terrible. Who did it?” Her finger trailed as she came back to stand in front of me.

“Lady Mairead’s husband, Lord Delapointe.”

“Ah, you must be furious with her, that’s good.” She tucked a bit of hair behind my ear and seemed to change the subject. “I don’t know what will happen to me if you don’t survive, so go to the infirmary.”

I furrowed my brow.

She said, “Promise.”

“I daena like hospitals but I will go.”

“Good, that’s excellent.” She kissed me on the forehead then she returned tae the bed, climbed on it, and rolled up in the bedding. She was sprawled across all the pillows starin’ at the ceiling. “One more thing, My Magnus, make sure you tell everyone that you live with Bella now. Will you remember that?”

I watched her across the room. “What?”

“Say, to everyone, if they ask, that you live with Bella now. Just do.”

I said, “Fine, if I get injured I will go tae the infirmary. If I’m in the infirmary, I will tell them that I live with you.”

“Bella.”

“I live with Bella.”

She patted the bed beside her. “Want to come lie down, My Magnus?”

“Nae.”

“Okay, suit yourself.”

She continued runnin’ her fingers along the wrinkles of the fabric staring at it as if she was used to being imprisoned, wastin’ time, doin’ nothing.