Page 47 of Wedlock

‘Will need it for three years.’

I frown as I walk to the nanny, already waiting in my room for me, and take the baby, my mind flicking back to my conversation with Asumpta. I still have no real answers as to why I need to breastfeed for three years, other than her cryptic reply, which had made no sense.

The nanny hands me the baby, curtsies and leaves. As requested, she leaves the door open. I can’t stand being shut in this room any longer, and it’s also a reminder to her not to accidentally lock me in as she did last night. She’d apologised profusely, but it’s not a chance I’m willing to take again. I need to be free now, free to pursue my plans.

Almost on autopilot, I sit, stifling a gasp as I put him to my breast. Gazing into the flames of the fireplace I think over what I must do next and try not to concentrate on the pain. I’d told Yin not to answer any correspondence from me at all, ever, because I might still be under Viper’s thrall. But now that he was dead, perhaps The Free Men would learn of his demise and pass that information on. Then Yin might be able to help me escape. It would be helpful if I could pinpoint who’d killed Viper, but apart from a feeling Jag had done it, I actually have no proof he had. Eleanor said she didn’t know how he’d come upon the information that I was under a thrall, and none of us knew if he’d then pursued Viper and destroyed him. I thank God for smallmercies that Jag had the sense not to reveal that my family knew about the bite.

‘Even then, even when his heart must have been breaking, he’d protected me.’

I shake my head at the thought and continue mulling over all I know.

None of us knew where Viper had been hanging out, although I did have the image I’d seen right before he’d died. The trees, the landscape. Maybe someone, someone close to him, might know where that was…and if so, I could point Yin to his body.

“I have to go see Asumpta,” I whisper to my son.

“Asumpta?” Eleanor asks from the doorway. “Why on earth would you need to see my stepdaughter?”

34

I squeeze my phone tightly. If the woman on the other end of the line was here right now I’d fucking throttle her, princess or no princess. Taking a deep breath, I consciously release my grip on the device. I can’t keep replacing phones, I seem to lose all my contacts every time and my new butler is too stupid to figure out how to get them back.

“I’m not going to say it again, Revna,” I growl, trying to ignore Wolf’s guffaw in the background. “You overstepped the mark and I’m fucking pissed. Leave me alone and I’ll think about what you’ve requested, push me and you won’t like the result.”

“It wasn’t a REQUEST, Falco,” she screams, “it was a fucking PROPOSAL!”

I still for a fraction of a second.

“I think it would be best if we don’t see each other for a while, Princess.”

“What?”

“I can’t give you what you want right now, Revna. I may never be able to if how I’m feeling about you now is any indication, and I don’t want you waiting another two hundred years for me. I want you to move on.”

“You can’t be serious,” she gasps.

I nod as I think through what I’ve just said and all the ramifications, given she has the ear of the Queen, but I know what I’ve decided is final. I knew it the moment Angie entered my study last night.

“I’mdeadlyserious.”

“You’re making a grave mistake, Falco.”

The line goes dead, and I look across to Wolf, where he’s lounging, still laughing, and shake my head.

“Not helpful.”

“Hey,” he shrugs, “it’s not every day you hear your friend tell a princess, a member ofThe Families, no less, that you’ll rip her heart out and feed it to the dogs if she ever touches your wife again and, oh, ‘by the way, I don’t want to marry you.”

I snort.

“She got the drift.”

“You’re treading a dangerous line here. You know that, right?”

“Wolf,” I sigh, swallowing my whisky in one gulp before choking and spitting the whisky rocks onto the floor.

Kicking the rocks into the fireplace, I shake my head.

“I should never have listened to your advice to reignite anything with the Princess. Women are nothing but trouble. It doesn’t matter what species; they’ll all work their way into your intestines and twist you into a knot. And right when you’re doubled over in agony, they’ll kick you in the balls.”