Page 63 of Wedlock

“Of course not,” she shakes her head and gives me a ‘don’t be an idiot’ look. “I brought him here to swap him with your son. You and your baby will come with me today. This baby will stay behind as the Dragonspur heir. For all intents and purposes, Falcon will think you ran and left the child. Hopefully he’ll let you go, but at the very least he won’thaveto search for you in order to keep his title, so there might not be such urgency in his pursuit.”

“Oh my God, Yin, you’re a literal genius,” I grin.

“I know,” she smiles broadly, “but we need to leave now. Take this baby and give it to your new nanny. I’ll take yours to the car.”

Unwrapping the child in her arms she hands him to me in just his little romper suit and wraps my baby in the thick, black blanket she’d come in with. Being daylight, my boy couldn’t have any skin exposed when outside.

I nod and leave the kitchen. I have so many questions, but no time to ask them right now. As I hurry along the corridors I feel guilty that I’m happy Sophie’s dead, while simultaneously sad that this baby will never know a mother.

“But you’ll have your father,” I whisper. “He knows you’re his now, so he’ll look after you. You’re his heir,Tiger.”

As I say this, I smile. This boy can bear that name; my own will be the Talon I’ve always called him privately.

Reaching my room, I ring the bell for the nanny and frown as the phone in my pocket buzzes. When Jag had given me his mobile he’d assured me it was a silent number that no one but he knew. I hold my breath and briefly consider not answering, but I know this isn’t an option. I’d hoped that the next time I spoke to him I’d be long, long gone.

“Angie?”

“Jag. I didn’t expect you to call so soon,” I squeak, clearing my voice before continuing. “Ah, you said it would take a week to find a secure place for me and organise my extraction.”

“I’ve found somewhere, but I’ve called because there’s something you need to know.”

I stay silent, waiting for whatever dire news he has while knowing it won’t make a lick of difference to my plan. I feel bad for running without him, for tricking him into believing I’d let him take me away somewhere while leaving my baby behind as Falcon’s heir. But if there was one thing I’d learned from my time in this castle, it’s that everyone keeps secrets, and no one can ever really be trusted. Me included.

“Falcon’s been arrested for the murder of Countess Sophie Dartlore. The punishment is execution.”

“What? Did he do it?”

“Do you think he did it?” He murmurs.

I ponder for a long second. Falcon’s a cold-blooded killer, no doubt about it. But from all I’d seen and heard about his relationship with Sophie, I couldn’t believe he’d kill her. After all, he’d once wanted to marry her. He’d saved her from Spider, and the evidence lies in my arms right now to indicate he must have still had feelings for her to have continued to share her bed despite everything she’d done.”

“No,” I sigh, “he wouldn’t have done that.”

“I know,” he says quietly, “and he’s going to need every friend he can find to help prove that’s the case.”

I say nothing, my thoughts spinning as I try to process what he’s saying, what he’s asking.

“Angie?”

“Yeah, I’m still here.”

“I’m not asking you to do, or say, anything. I’ll take you away from all this and Falcon’s fate can be left in the hands of the gods.”

“You don’t need to ask,” I whisper, “you already know what I’m going to do.”

“Yes,” he murmurs, “I already know.”

“Tell me everything,” I sigh, handing the baby over to the nanny as she enters the room and heading down the hall, almost on autopilot, to where Yin waits in our getaway car.

I listen carefully as I traverse the halls and staircases, and Jag fills me in on everything he knows. The whole entrapment and arrest seems like it has Spider’s sticky fingers all over it, and Jag agrees. The problem is that no one really knows anything about the relationship Falcon had with Sophie. No one, that is, except Spider, me, Eleanor, and Jag. And as it stood, Falcon had banished his mother, and he wouldn’t have anything to do with his former best friend.

When I reach Yin she takes one look at my face and shakes her head.

“Yin,” I murmur, my eyes searching behind her to where my son lies strapped in a baby carrier.

I have no choice. I’d known it the moment Jag’s words reached my ears and his previous unanswered question flew straight from my heart to my brain. I do still love my husband. I need to save him.

“Look after my babies.”