Page 52 of Wedlock

“Falcon?”

“Why did you hide that Viper wasn’t my true brother?”

“Oh, darling,” she whispers, tears springing to her eyes.

37

Reaching the kitchens, I push open the double doors and see her exactly where I expect to see her, sharpening her weapons, one booted foot up on a chair, her long, muscular legs clad in tight, black leather, as usual.

“What are you doing here?” She snaps, her eyes flicking behind me and back so fast I could almost have imagined it.

I turn around but notice nothing other than the giant door I’d slipped through had closed behind me, just a crack open, just as it had been the night I’d listened to Asumpta’s conversation with Eleanor.

If she’s waiting for someone then I have even less time than I thought.

It’s on the tip of my tongue to say that I’m visiting today because I’m going to try and manipulate a vicious vampire who’s quicker than a rattlesnake, both physically and in temper, into helping me escape. But obviously, I don’t say that.

I’d had a bit of a revelation this morning after thinking over Falcon’s visit, and his mother’s visit before that, when I’d revealed where I’d seen Viper. After she’d said where she thought he was I’d been ecstatic. But before I could extrapolate that this was surely proof he was aligned with Spider, since this wasn’t the first time I’d seen him there, she’d risen, saying she needed to figure out a way to get this information to Falconbefore he killed Jag.

It wasn’t until long after she’d left and the baby was sound asleep that I put two and two together and got four. Was she worried Falcon would kill Jag because he’d obviously gone to Spider’s estate and killed Viper? Or was she worried Falcon would kill an innocent Jag? What on earth could she have extrapolated? That Spider killed Viper? Or…

It hit me then, someone had killed Viper before Jag could. Someone who knew exactly where he’d be, for exactly the reason I’d thought. Asumpta killed him. She must have. She knew where he was because Falcon wouldn’t allow him to eat kids here. Just as I’d suspected, she’d regularly delivered his meals to a forest far away. That forest was on Spider’s estate.

When Eleanor said she had to ‘figure out’ a way to get this information to Falcon, I thought she meant without revealing the two-way link that was forged through the obedience bite. But I think now that what she really meant was to figure out a way to let him know where Viper’s body was without revealing Asumpta’s role,ormine.

‘Or hers. Because, as sure as eggs, she knew when she told Asumpta that Falcon would kill Jag that her step-daughter would never allow that to happen. She’d ensured Viper’s death with that conversation because she knew the procurer cared for Jag.’

Which meant I now had double the bargaining chips with which to barter with, or blackmail, Asumpta into helping me escape. Chip one, I knew she was aligned with Viper, and possibly Spider, and Eleanor didn’t know that. Asumpta wouldn’t want her step-mother, who she cared for, or Falcon for that matter, to know about that. Chip two, I knew she’d killed Viper, and she wouldn’t want Falcon to know that either.

‘Chip three, Eleanor wouldn’t want Falcon knowing she’d engineered his brother’s death.’

Smiling now, I sit on the edge of the table near Asumpta, about to get straight to the point. But she beats me to it.

“Why didn’t you tell Falcon I knew?” She scowls, raising her sword point and putting the tip against the side of my neck, not deep enough to cut, but deep enough to hurt.

“Ow! Knew what?”

“Don’t play games. Why didn’t you tell him I knew Viper had you under his control?”

“Because now you fucking owe me,” I scowl, pushing the sword away roughly and staring into her eyes, my own full of rage, “and I plan to call in that debt. And do you mind not sticking me with anything? We’re not all immortal around here, you know. Some of us can actually bleed to death.”

“Debt? What makes you think I’ll do anything for you?” She sniggers, returning to sharpening the sword as though she hadn’t just threatened my life.

“Because, apart from the fact that you’ll do anything to make Falcon’s life uncomfortable, I know that being part of this family actually means something to you,” I smirk, “and that even though you want to destroy it, part of you is a desperate little orphan hoping that one day you can take a seat at the big table.”

“Watch your mouth!” she hisses.

“Truth hurts, doesn’t it?” I snort.

Shaking my head in derision, I get straight to the point, the real reason I’d come down here tonight.

“I want your help.”

“To do what?”

“Escape.”

“I’ve told you, no.” She snaps. “You’re pushing your luck.”