Page 127 of Wedlock

I won’t do that again. I wasn’t joking when I said my desire for her was obsessive and all-consuming.

She’s all I think about.

By the time I’ve transferred to the Lear, I’ve made up my mind.

99

“Yes,” I mutter to Yin where I stand by the window, the phone pressed to my ear, my eyes on the lake below where his chopper has just landed. “I think I gave him a lot to think about. It’s been five days since his last visit.”

“And you think he’s coming tonight to capitulate, to tell you he understands?”

“I guess so.”

“And if not you’ll offer him the olive branch we discussed?”

I nod and chew my lip.

‘What choice do we have? What choice do my babies have? This is the only way. Especially after what Phil revealed.’

“Yes.”

Yin sighs her relief, and I couldn’t agree more. Today had been full of revelations, all unwelcome, and we’d had to brainstorm a solution fast now that we know about Eleanor. Yin and I had thought long and hard about why she could possibly want flying children, and our only guess was that she was going to try and use them somehow for her own gain. But neither of us imagined just how diabolical she truly was.

When Yin phoned, I almost couldn’t believe what she was telling me.

Phil had revealed that Eleanor was the one who poisoned Tiger.

She’d done it because she knew he was a bastard, and she wanted me to be returned, with Talon. She was also confident Talon was going to fly because she knew without a doubt that my blood was part fae.

She’s known all along.

What she planned to do after my return is still a mystery. It’s possible she’s also in league with The Free Men for even darker objectives, but Phil died before he could articulate anything else. We can only guess what she’s up to now. But as Yin reminded me, there was always a price with The Free Men.

I suspect my daughter was that price.

“Yin, he’s almost here. I have to go. Once again, I’m so sorry about Phil.”

“Shoganai.”

“Yes, I murmur, “it can’t be helped.”

‘But can I?’

She hangs up just as my vampire knocks on the door.

Sighing, I open it, my heart hammering at the thought of seeing him again, yet breaking for the same reason.

If I’m right, this is truly goodbye.

He smiles as I open the door and steps forward to kiss me on the cheek.

“If you’ve come to say goodbye,” I murmur, not moving from the doorway, “then let’s get it over and done with, Falcon. We’ve had plenty of practice.”

“On the contrary,” he shakes his head, “I’ve come up with a solution to our quandary.”

‘Of course he wouldn’t give up that easily.’

“I think I might have too,” I sigh, walking through to the living room to sit, my heart racing at what Yin and I have decided to offer him.