Page 125 of Wedlock

“Shall we?”

I nod and we both turn to walk up the mountain towards the retreat. He takes my hand in his as we walk, and I don’t pull away. Soon enough, soon enough our hands will part.

“I didn’t ask you,” I murmur as we walk, “why it was that you came back the night Revna attacked? Did you get word from the guards you had here? The secret guards, I might add, that you didn’t tell me you’d placed around the mountain?”

“You can’t expect me to have left you undefended,” he snorts. “You know me better than that. It’s not just the Princess I worry about. The Families still seek Yin. Spider and his son are still out in the world. We’ve been enemies too long for me to think one setback will still his hand against my house. Having his title only adds to that target, something I’m sure the Queen knew when she bestowed it upon me.

“Why would she do that?” I frown. “Why continue a feud that kills her subjects and other royals?”

“Life gets pretty boring when you’re immortal,” he snorts. “As forwhyI came back, it’s because I know you better than you think, Angie. You attempting to seduce me before our date to your parents’ home isn’t in your nature. I knew something was wrong when you asked me to kiss you as I landed. With one thing and another, it wasn’t addressed. I came back to get to the bottom of it.”

I shake my head, and he stops. Pulling me to a halt, he reaches out with his free hand to grip my shoulder and turn me to face him.

“I know now why you didn’t want to continue a relationship with me, Angie. Our son, our second son, your fae blood…”

“It’s not just that,” I shake my head.

“The Princess will always be a threat,” he nods, misunderstanding what I’m saying. “I was going to marry her, Angie.”

“What?”

“When I left here I entrusted her to Wolf’s care until I could figure out how to proceed. I believed my only option was to marry her and dissolve my seat. I wanted you and the boys to live together, safely, far away from the madness of The Families. I knew she’d agree to that if I consented to take her hand.”

“Falcon, you can’t, I told you…”

“Yes,” he says quietly, “the talk of templates, or whatever. I hardly trust anything my mother says any more, especially when she told me there were no more secrets between us, only to disclose she chose you for your blood.”

“She’s lived for so long,” I shake my head, “and has so many secrets, I think she’s probably forgotten half of them. Did her talk of templates shock you?”

“We didn’t get into that.”

“What?”

“It’s of no consequence. I see the way forward now. Mother says she chose you because my father loved Spider’s mother partly due to her fae blood. She thought I could only love someone truly if they, too, had that blood.”

“That’s very noble of her,” I murmur. “And you believe her?”

“I have to, because it’s true. I do love you as my father loved Spider’s mother. It’s obsessive and wholly consuming.”

“Need I remind you that your fatherkilledthe woman he proclaimed to love?”

“As I almost killed you,” he murmurs, “and would have if Jag hadn’t stepped in and saved you.”

He takes a deep breath and rushes on.

“But I’m not that man any longer, Angie. I need you to know that I’ve always had enemies. Being who I am, I always will. And I’ve always had a temper, you know that. I control it now as much asI can, but it’s there, plain and simple. Despite all this, I promise you, Ivowto you, that I will protect you and our sons once we are man and wife again in the true sense of the word and you are once more under my roof.”

I pull my hand from his and step back, shaking my head vehemently.

“No, no Falcon. I’ll never, I can’t ever return to your castle — nothing you say or do will make me agree to that.”

“Do you think I’d force you back as Lady Dragonspur because our son can fly?” He groans, running his hands through his hair in agitation. “Of course you do. What have I ever done to you, or for you, to make you think any better of me?”

“No, it’s not that.”

“You fear hupotasso.”

‘What? He thinks I’ll let him bite me and we’ll live happily ever after? Oh Jesus! This, this is the reason I can get him to give me up!’