Page 40 of Wedlock

“We must let Falcon know about his brother,” she sighs, shaking her head. “He won’t take this well.”

30

It’s not written in Angelina’s handwriting, so I don’t expect anything different from the hundreds of other notes I’d torn open this evening until I read it, a groan bursting unbidden from my lips as the words sink in.

‘Eleanor, I’ve run because Viper bit me and had me under his control. He’s working to undermine Falcon and take the title. You made a mistake choosing me. Your world is not mine; I want no part of it. Angie.’

Throwing the note from me as though it’s poison, I roar at the ceiling.

Shewasunder a thrall.

All this time.

Under a thrall from my own brother.

I drop my head into my hands as the ramifications of what she’s written fall into place, and an unfamiliar lump builds in my throat.

Just when did he bite her? Did he find out Mother had selected her and bite her before she even entered The Games? Or was it the first time they met, when the director intimated Viper had done something terrible? So terrible he’d wiped the footage. But when I’d asked Angelina she’d said nothing happened.

‘No, she’d neatly avoided the issue. Oh, Christ. Had she even then been under a thrall? Even then, as we’d spent those halcyon first nights together on The Games, exploring each other’s bodies and sharing our inner thoughts? Even then?’

My thoughts spin from one chaotic scenario to the next, my hands shaking in rage and impotence as the hours tick by and I don’t move. More than one person knocks to gain entry, and there’s more than one entreaty for me to come out.

The sun comes up and sets again, and still I remain seated. I’d locked the door after Revna left; no one can disturb me. But the reality is, I can’t be any more disturbed than I already am.

Finally, getting myself back under control, I re-read the note, one line in particular standing out.

‘I want no part of it.’

Yes, she’d been under a thrall when she told me she hated me. But when she’d penned these words her mind was clear. She wanted no part of me, even when she was free and able to return and tell me everything. Which could only mean she wasn’t lying when she said she hated me.

My phone buzzes for the millionth time, and I open my messages.

There are several from Wolf, several dozen from Revna, the last telling me she’s going home but expects my answer to her proposal within the week.

And one message from Mother.

It’s short and to the point and a chill runs up my spine as I get a feeling of d?jà vu.

Rising, I make for her suites, finding her as I had for centuries, seated at her desk, her back to the window, a China tea set before her, face inscrutable.

“Mother,” I grunt as I sit before her and watch impatiently as she pours us both tea. “Your note said it was urgent, a matter of life and death.”

“It is,” she says quietly, raising her eyes to mine.

I accept the cup, wishing it were something stronger but not daring to say so in case she starts on again about my drinking. She can be peculiarly frustrating when she feels like it.

‘Then again, can’t they all?’

“I’ll get straight to the point, darling,” she sighs after taking a sip, “there’s no other way to say this. Your brother is dead.”

Jolting to my feet I stare down at her, shoving my hands in my pockets so she can’t see how badly they’re shaking.

“And the baby is definitely yours.”

“What?”

I shake my head, as if to rattle out the words that seem to have invaded my ears. Words and assertions piled too fast to comprehend. Her claim that Viper, my baby brother, is dead had barely registered when she’d added that the baby was mine.