Page 71 of Wedlock

As to where I’m going, I have no idea.

I pull my phone out of my pocket. Yin told me to leave it behind, to take nothing but the clothes on my back, but there’s something I have to do, something my conscience won’t let me forgive myself for if I don’t do it before I go. I’d made such a colossal fuck-up of my visit to the Queen, I’m quite certain I accidentally made things worse for Falcon just as Eleanor warned I would, so I need to try and make things right.

I dial her number quickly as the chopper banks a hard right.

“Angie?”

“Eleanor, you were right. I made things worse. Wolf says Falcon’s only hope is to marry the Princess. You can’t let that happen. You have to tell Falcon the truth about the templates, about why he can’t marry the Princess.”

There’s silence on the other end of the line for what seems like ages.

“Eleanor? Are you still there?”

“I’m here,” she sighs, “I know what options are before him. It’s a little more complicated than what you’ve heard, but I’m afraid Falcon won’t listen to anything I have to say, not now.”

“What? Cmon, he’s pissed at you at the moment, but he’ll get over it; he’s always forgiven you in the past. There must be a way you can get some information to him?”

“The only way is through Attracta, and I don’t even know if she’ll have his ear for much longer. I’m doing everything in my power, Angelina,” she sighs. “If you’d listened to me and not attended Court I might have had a much easier time. I fear you’ve turned the case against him in a new direction entirely, and that is now taking all my energy and focus.”

“A new direction?”

“The Queen is asserting that Falcon is suffering the same psychosis as his father — namely that his love for Countess Sophie Dartlore has driven him mad. She’s saying he’ll commence a blood rampage if he’s ever freed.”

‘Oh, shit, Wolf’s right.’

“Prior to your visit I might have had a chance to free him with evidence that he didn’t kill Sophie, but things seem to have gone way past that now. I’ve managed to get some information to him about his father, and while it might help a little, it’s driven a deeper wedge between he and I, perhaps one that will never be mended.

“Eleanor, this is all your fault!”

“How so?” She asks indignantly. “How can this possibly be my fault?”

“You should have told me that his father loved Spider’s mother. I would have taken a whole different tack. I had no idea. All I knew was that he killed her.”

“My dear girl, you were hardly fit to confide in any further upon your return to the castle. And even if you had been, do you honestly think I’d share our family interests with you after yourevealed Viper was Falcon’s half-brother? Let me remind you, I’m banished from my castle through your doing!”

“No, you’re banished through your own fucking secrets! And it sounds like you’ve just dropped another bombshell if Falcon is so mad that you suspect he’ll never speak to you again.”

“Yes. It was a bombshell, I suppose. But Angie, please assure me,” she says quietly, “that you didn’t reveal to the Queen my involvement with placing you in The Games.”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” I snap. “There, again, more secrets.”

Without waiting for her response, I hang up and move to throw the phone out the window, but change my mind at the last minute.

“I may be holding just as many secrets from Falcon as she is, but there’s one secret of hers that I’ll be damned if I’m going to keep any longer.”

54

“You can’t be serious,” I snap at Wolf as he repeats his assertion.

“I am,” he growls in response. “Say you’ll marry the Danish piece of skirt and be done with it.”

“And give up my title? Allow her to kill my wife and son?”

“They won’t be dead,” he throws his hands into the air and rolls his eyes, “that’s what I’m trying to tell you, we’ll work something out. Jag and I have committed to helping her in any way we can.”

“Of course you have,” I shake my head at him, “she has something about her that makes everyone want to aid her.”

“I’ll admit, for a human, she’s above average,” Wolf smirks. “I can see why you married her. She’s got spunk and brains. Speaking of, here,” he grunts and hands over a vibrating phone.