Page 86 of Wedlock

She gives me her ‘get to the point’ look.

“Are you going to fill in some gaps for me here?”

“I kept hearing ‘three years’ all the time. How a mother had to breastfeed her first vampire baby for three years, and I couldn’t understand why.”

“You haven’t,” Yin shrugs, “and they’re fine.”

“Exactly, the twins have been on solids, cow's milk, and donated blood for ages, and they’re as healthy as horses. This should have made me question even more what was so important about that three-year time frame, but I kind of forgot once I left the castle.”

“Did Eleanor ever mention it?”

“Only in vague terms. I asked Asumpta and she gave me a cryptic bullshit answer.”

“Which was?” Yin asks, her tone exasperated.

“She said because some vampires could do something that others couldn’t.”

“And you think she meant fly?”

“Yes! I think they start to fly at three.”

“This makes no sense,” Yin frowns. “Falcon can’t fly.”

“I know. Very few can anymore, apparently. Spider could, though.”

“But if Falcon can’t fly, there must be something inyourblood, a recessive gene or something that you passed onto the twins…or maybe your blood combined with his is special in some way.”

“Which might be why Eleanor chose me to begin with,” I extrapolate out loud, “which makes a hell of a lot more sense than her just thinking I’d be compatible with Falcon. Me, an ordinary teacher.”

“This is not good,” Yin says quietly. “Not good at all.”

“Why?”

“Because if what you say is true, a wife who produces flying vampires would be rare and valuable.”

“Oh, shit. That’s why they say wives have to breastfeed for three years and can’t be dispensed with before then. It’s not really about feeding. They need to know if the human woman is special.”

Yin nods, her brow furrowing as she ponders the ramifications while I think out loud.

“Knowing vampire’s there’s some binding fucked-up loreandlaws that would have to be adhered to… Jesus, Yin. Have I gone through everything, The Games, the confinement in the castle, the thrall from Viper,everything,just so Falcon could have flying babies?”

“No,” she murmurs. “There has to be more to it than that.”

“Yes,” I frown, trying to think through the consequences of having such a special daughter. “If every firstborn royal daughter is taken as a template, then Eleanor must have known that any daughter I had, if she could fly, would be especially valuable to the royals. Do you think she hoped to use my daughter as some kind of leverage?”

“Or she plans to use her for some other purpose.”

“Something to do with The Free Men?” I tap my forehead with my fingers, willing my brain to draw the right conclusions.

“I don’t think so,” Yin shakes her head, “but I could make some enquiries. In the meantime, what we do know is that she letherdaughter be taken.”

“Yes, and she said her daughter was ‘no longer herself,’ so we have to assume she was used as a template and is a royal somewhere now.”

“Mmmm,” Yin nods, “we need to find out where, and if that’s actually the case. One thing’s for sure, though, she let her daughter be taken, and she’ll let yours go too.”

I stare at her. I’m sure my eyes are as round as saucers, my heart’s racing so fast I feel like it’s going to burst out of my chest. “I’ve always known any daughter would be sacrificed; that’s one of my main reasons for running.”

“Yet it makes no sense for Eleanor to have revealed the templates, or the future of any royal daughter,” Yin murmurs, “unless she didn’t think you’d run.”