Page 6 of Wedlock

“I promise I’ll care for him, My Lady,” the woman in the white pinafore says as she curtsies before me. “I’m very experienced, and I’ll stay by his side as he’s fed. He won’t leave my sight.”

“No.”

“Angelina,” Eleanor signals for the woman to leave the room and waits for the door to shut before continuing her diatribe. “Be rational. The child will be returned to you regularly for feeding, and you’ll have time to shower and rest in between his demands. You’re still bleeding. The doctor said your body’s repairing fast, but you need to be careful.”

“Did you have a wetnurse, or nanny, or whatever you claim she is?”

“I had a nanny. Not a wetnurse.”

I snort and hold up my hands,giving her a ‘there we go’ expression.

“Unlike you, I bore the bite,” she says wearily, “and therefore I healed more quickly than a normal human woman would. Hupotasso, while a curse, does have benefits — immortality and the ability to heal much faster than humans.”

I widen my eyes as I consider whether this might be a way of letting her know I’m under a thrall. After all, the bite marks around my nipples heal within hours. A normal woman would be scarred. My throat constricts, warning that I’m thinking dangerously forbidden thoughts, as she goes on.

“Youare merely mortal, Angelina. It’s important you get enough food, enough iron particularly, given his unique dietary requirements, and enough sleep if you’re to raise a strong heir.”

“A strong heir,” I repeat quietly. “And yet you and I both know there’s no guarantee he will ever be that, given that he’s not Falcon’s son.”

“Is he not?” She asks quietly, her eyes never leaving mine.

“If he was, he’d have a name by now,” I whisper, “yet he’s three days old and you won’t let me name him.”

“The naming is Falcon’s choice,” she sighs heavily, “but due to your constant badgering on the issue I have spoken to my son about that.”

My heart skips a beat.

‘She’s spoken to him?’

“Howis he?” I squeak.“Where is he?”

‘Is he OK? Is Jag OK?’

Ever since she told me a vampire’s love was eternal, I’d ached for Falcon, but more, I’d ached for Jag. Falcon had mistreated me, spanked me, threatened me and hurt me, and although he’s heartbroken now, I know he’s strong enough to endure it.

But Jag…

He’d never been cruel to me. He’d championed me. And he’d loved not one, but two human women, if his vow to me was true. Somehow I’d trumped his Coquette and he’d fallen for me, and I’d encouraged it every step of the way. I’d treated him as if he was the only man in the world for me, told him so repeatedly, as ordered, and then betrayed him. If he was alive out there somewhere I know he must be hurting, and I can’t bear that I’m the one responsible.

“Where my son is at this time is not your concern,” Eleanor straightens her shoulders, her face a closed book. “He has given instruction for the naming.”

I swallow hard, waiting for the guillotine to fall. I know having spoken to him aboutthiswhenwe werein TheGames,thathisfirst-bornsonshouldbenamed, as is tradition, after his father, Scorpion, but that he planned to break with this and name him after his great-grandfather, Talon.

Eleanor told me that she’d informed the Queen of the birth, which meant Falcon’s title was secure. So technically my son was the heir. Only, if I’d learned anything from being in this castle for so long, it’s that nothing is ever what it seems, and the games of nobility were more convoluted than a twisted slinky. I also know Falcon doesn’t think the child is his, and knowing Falcon and his pride, he won’t take that lightly.

“The boy will be called Tiger,” Eleanor says tightly.

‘I knewit.’

“Tiger? But Falcon wanted his heir to be called Talon.”

“Yes.”

“So,”Ishakemyhead,myteethclenchingattheimplicationsofthe naming. “My son isn’t going to be the Dragonspur heir.”

“He was named after Jaguar’s father,” she says in a monotone, her eyes still pinned on mine. “And Jaguar cannot claim himashisheir, even if he desired this, as the child was born out of wedlock.”

“Does he? I mean, have you spoken to Jag about the baby and his name?”