Page 25 of Wedlock

‘Please, please don’t let her tell me that Falcon killed Jag.’

“Eleanor, I can’t help but notice something is on your mind. You’re not still mad about my ‘cutting your throat’ comment, are you?”

She turns her worried gaze from the wall, where she’d been staring for a full minute.

“Pardon?”

“What’s worrying you? Is it Falcon? Has something happened?”

“You could say that,” she mutters, looking down at the baby and shaking her head.

“Is it…” I take a deep breath, “he hasn’t fulfilled his vow, has he?”

“Vow?”

“To, ah, kill Jag. He hasn’t done that, has he?”

She says nothing, continuing to stare blankly at my son.

“Eleanor?”

Frowning, she looks up at me.

“Is that all you’re worried about? That your lover might have been harmed?”

I jerk upright, startled by her vehemence.

“No, I, it was just one of the scenarios…”

“Let me paint you another scenario,” she snaps. “One where your husband flies back into the web of a woman who will one day suck him dry like the spider she is, and all that will remain of him is the outer husk of the man he once was.”

“What?”

She shakes her head and hands me the baby.

“I have to go.”

“No, Eleanor, please. If Falcon’s in some kind of trouble, I’d like to know.”

Standing, she stares down at me, looking more royal and unapproachable than I’ve ever seen her.

‘And more dangerous.’

“Really, Angelina? Why? You profess to despise him, tell him you’ve never loved him, present a baby purporting to be from another liaison. Why would you possibly care if my son is in peril, after everything you’ve done to him?”

I clamp my lips shut. Everything she’s said is true, but if she knew the reality she’d know that my heart aches for my husband. My eyes glitter with tears as I shake my head and look down at the child in my lap.

“If you must know,” she growls, “he’s with his former vampire partner, Princess Revna of Denmark. He was in love with her once and destined to marry her. Your treachery has sent him back to her.”

I don’t look up; her words are so painful I can hardly breathe.

‘He’s returned to a former lover? A vampire princess, no less? So much for ‘eternal love’ and his broken heart.’

“I would have thought,” I whisper, “that you’d be happy he was moving on.”

“Happy?” Her voice rises. “If my son marries the Princess, this castle and seat will go to Viper.”

“Oh fuck!”