Page 49 of Wedlock (Vampire Bachelor Games #3)

Holding my fake baby, or, should I say, Falcon’s heir, I bounce my knee as much to soothe him as to quell my nerves as I wait for my audience with the Queen.

I’ve never been to the court before. Eleanor and Falcon had done their utmost to ensure that every time I was ordered to do so there had been an excuse for my absence.

And to be fair, I hadn’t wanted to go. But today I haven’t been ordered or invited; instead, I’d requested an audience.

Me, the supposedly suicidal post-partum depressed bride of an alleged psychotic countess killer.

Apparently I’d piqued her interest, because my request had been approved, and despite Eleanor's fervent entreaties over the phone that I don’t do it, here I was.

I can’t honestly think of any other way to help Falcon other than to tell everything I know about his relationship with Sophie.

Hopefully the Queen will see that he had no reason to kill her and would never have done so.

But she’s kept me waiting hours now.

I look up quickly as one of her servants approaches.

“Her royal highness will see you now.”

‘About fucking time.’

Shouldering the baby, I follow the guard, or herald, or whatever he is, through to her rooms. I’m nervous to meet her, not because she’s a queen, but because she has the power of life or death over pretty much everyone.

I have no regard now for royalty, especially since I’d lived as one for the past few years.

Most, if not all, of the vampires I’d met were mentally deranged, power-hungry monsters.

The Queen may be the top of this food chain, but she’s someone I could never respect.

Nevertheless, despite having seen her photo in magazines and her image on television and on all the coins in this country, my knees start trembling the moment I see her in the flesh.

Even seated as she is, she’s honestly the most dangerous, hideously beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

And I realise, instantly, that I’ve made a mistake coming here.

I know she’s a baby killer, I know she’s older than antiquity and residing in a younger body, donated unwillingly by a template.

I know she’s smart and cruel and all-powerful.

But all this pales into significance when I feel the aura she exudes as she meets my eyes, and I notice the woman standing beside her right shoulder.

I feel like a deer in headlights, a rabbit in a snare, a chicken with its head on the block.

Every inch of my body is tensed to run, but I have to remain still.

‘Shit! Shit, shit, shiiiiiiiiiiit.’

“So, this is the little media sensation,” she snorts as I stand before her and the Princess.

Swallowing hard, I curtsy as I know I’m expected, although it galls me when Revna smirks as though I’d had to bend the knee to her too.

I keep my eyes determinedly on the monarch, not acknowledging the bitch behind her, as the Queen sneers, just a tiny edge of fang showing.

“I gather you’ve already had the pleasure of meeting Princess Revna of Denmark.”

I grit my teeth and don’t rise to the bait. I’ll bet she knows full well the nature of our meeting.

“I have.”

The Queen narrows her eyes slightly at me, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s disappointed I don’t babble to her about how the Princess tried to kill me and wants my husband.

But Eleanor had, upon realising I was not going to back down from visiting the court, schooled me on keeping my mouth firmly shut and not rising to any bait.

She doesn’t know me very well, I’m a pro at that.

“So, you’re here to plead your husband’s innocence, I take?” The Queen asks, her tone bored.

“Yes, Your Majesty. He didn’t kill Sophie. In fact his attachment to her was so strong that he planned to kill me after The Games and marry her.”

I notice out of the corner of my eye that Revna’s fangs have descended, but I keep my focus on the Queen.

I don’t add that I think Falcon might have moved on from Sophie to Revna, and that as far as I knew he was still planning to marry the Princess, because I’m actually not sure what’s going on with him and this woman.

I’m just trying to stick to the facts about Sophie, and not babble.

But I’m glad the Princess looks pissed at the news she was not his only intended.

“And how was he acquainted with the Countess?”

“I don’t know how they met, but she was the one he wanted to marry before he even went into The Games.

When he had to compete a second time she married Spider to gain immortality.

She realised she’d made a mistake, though, and came to Falcon while we were in The Games and begged him to take her in.

She was pregnant with Spider’s heir then, and black and blue with bruises, but free from hupotasso. ”

“So,” the Queen frowns, “Spider and he both wanted the same woman.”

“I guess,” I shrug. “I’m sure Falcon still had feelings for her, otherwise why shelter her from Spider?”

I don’t add that he fucked her and kept her as his mistress while at the same time impregnating me. I’m still too furious to even go there.

“And, ah,” I clear my throat and go on, “he kept her until, from memory, you ordered that she be returned to the Count. Still, he remained involved with her, so I know he’d never kill her.”

I glance down at the baby I’m holding.

‘Involved. Fucking understatement.’

“But you say he planned to kill you ? The woman who won him while the world watched,” she smirks. “So obviously you believe him capable of murder.”

“He’s a vampire,” I frown, “you know he’s capable of killing.”

“Don’t play the simpleton,” she shakes her head, “murder of a royal wife is completely different to taking the life of a mere human as sustenance.”

I ignore her jibe and swallow my pride.

“Look, Your Majesty, I was never really fit for the royal life. I’m not suitable. Sophie was everything he looked for in a woman.”

“Of course you aren’t suitable,” she snorts. “My niece and I were appalled when he chose you.”

“Niece?”

“Princess Revna of Denmark, future queen of her realm,” she points a long nail at the woman standing at her shoulder. “Surely you did some homework before coming here, Lady Dragonspur?”

“No,” I shake my head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t. I’ve been busy raising the future Lord Dragonspur.”

“And running from the current one,” she sniggers. “Yes, don’t look so shocked. I knew you ran from him while his mother was hospitalised and that you had to be returned kicking and screaming.”

“Only because of Spider!” I interject. “He was working with Viper to take Falcon’s title.”

“Hearsay,” she waves her hand, “get to the point of your visit.”

I swallow hard.

‘So, she knew about Spider and Viper. If she didn’t she would have questioned me further. How dirty is this queen? How deep do her fingers go in this muddy pie? Eleanor was right; this was a mistake. Time to pull out my last card.’

“Your majesty, Falcon would never have killed Sophie because she was carrying his baby.”

Her eyebrows shoot up to her hairline.

‘Bingo, bitch.’

“A bastard?” She breathes. “He’d dare to cuckold Spider? Are you suggesting Falcon was in love with the Countess?”

“I don’t think vampires can ever truly love humans,” I answer slowly, her niece’s satisfied expression not lost on me as I furiously try to figure out how I’d fucked up, “but he favoured her and, like I said, he wanted to marry her before he was forced onto the show.”

“The sins of the father,” the Queen hisses. “He obviously wanted to kill his enemy’s wife, just as his father had done before him. And just like his father, he did so because he was thwarted in love by the Dartlores.”

‘Love? What the fuck? His father loved Spider’s mother? Oh, my god! What else don’t I know?’

“What? No, it was nothing like that. Falcon’s nothing like his father.”

“You’re dismissed.”