Page 41 of Wedlock

I feel like I’m reeling from one punch in the chest to the next.

“How do you know Viper’s…?”

“Angie felt it.”

I close my eyes for a long second, before collapsing back into my seat.

‘Gone? Dead? The brother I’d fought for our whole lives? The foolish playboy who constantly swung from one calamity to the next but never lost his devil-may-care attitude? No, my brother has nine lives; it’s his way to get in and out of scrapes more regularly than the tides. He can’t be gone. I need more proof, I can’t accept this.’

“Falcon?” Mother says gently. “Do you understand? Angelina’s mind was freed from his entrapment. That could only happen with his death.”

“Then why do you sit before me so calmly, Mother?” I groan, my eyes still closed as if I can block out words like light. “He was yourson, your youngest. Why aren’t you beating your chest with grief? I’ll tell you why: you don’t believe it either.”

“Sweetheart,” she sighs, “your brother and I have not been close for a very, very long time. I’ve watched you turn a blind eye to his vices. I’ve warned you of his follies and excesses for centuries, as have your friends. He was part of this family, and I’ll mourn his loss in my own way, but when I learned of his thrall bite on your wife I thought only of protectingyou. I know you loved him, but what he did this time was unpardonable. If someone else hadn’t killed him you would have been honour-bound to do so — and we both know you couldn’t have lived with yourself.”

“I found this,” I sigh as I open my eyes and reluctantly withdraw from my pocket the note I’d found amid the cards sent to the hospital. “It corroborates Angelina’s claim that she was under a thrall. But as to its veracity…”

“I’m glad you found it. But Falcon, you can’t still be questioning whether the thrall-bite was true. Angelina’s a different person. You need to see her, see it for yourself.”

‘No, I can’t face her.’

“I know it’strue, Mother. Like I said, I found the note. If Viper is really gone and her mind is freed there can be no doubt. But as to why he did it, whether he was forced to do so…there are many unanswered questions. And it’s not lost on me, and does you no justice, that your focus is not also on your youngest son, but instead solely on your purported grandson.”

“How can you say such a cruel thing?” She whispers. “My focus has always been on my family,allmy family. Your son is part of that.”

“You’re just glad she said the baby is mine,” I shake my head sadly, “something I’m sure I don’t need to remind you we can’t prove.”

“She said she’d been forced to seduce Jaguar for a few weeks prior to the quickening.”

‘Forced?’

“And you trust her word,” I murmur.

“I have no reason not to, and neither do you.”

Mother raises her chin defiantly and gives me a hard look.

“Wrong,” I point to the note. “Read it. She never wanted to be with me, never wantedme. Has it occurred to you that there’s some greater scheme at work here? She may have been bitten before she even entered The Games.”

“Oh, my poor darling boy,” she whispers, rising and walking to wrap her arms around my shoulders. “Falcon, no. She said she was bitten months after your marriage. She did love you. I believe she still does, deep down.”

“Mother, stop.”

“No, you stop. Stop thinking about the title and family honour and of long, long feuds. Think rationally and consider what you know in your heart to be true. Your brother wanted something he had no right to covet, and he used your paranoia about Spider and your love of your wife to try and claim it. By the grace of God, we found out before it was too late.”

I allow her to continue to hug me, but don’t move. Her sympathy is worse than her judgment. If what she says is true then I’ve been a fool, and it’s cost me something more precious than my title.

But if Angie’s note is anything to go by, then Mother is very wrong.

Either way, it’s definitely too late.

“There’s something else,” she says finally, sighing and moving back to her seat. “It’s about Princess Revna…”

“Christ!” I scowl, starting to rise. “Don’t you ever give up?”

“It’s not about you reacquainting yourself with her,” she starts.

“You mean fucking.”