Page 61 of Wedlock (Vampire Bachelor Games #3)

Yin and I sit opposite the vampire, two of her silver knives lying on the table between us.

“Were you followed, Vampire?” She snarls.

“Naturally not,” he says quietly.

“How did you find me?” I shake my head, already knowing the answer. He’s the best tracker there is, of course he found me.

“Wolf’s phone.”

Yin frowns and looks at me, and I blush.

‘Oh, shit.’

“Angie?”

“I called Falcon when he was in jail.”

“After you left the castle?” Yin hisses. “After I told you not to take any electronic devices, to take nothing but the clothes on your back?”

“Yes, after that,” I whisper. “And Eleanor, and…Mom.”

“How could you, Angie? How could you be so careless? You’ve brought death to our doorstep.”

“You have nothing to fear from me, and I promise you I won’t reveal your location,” Jag says solemnly.

“The promise of a vampire; mutton’s head and dog’s meat,” Yin snaps.

“Jag,” I groan, understanding Yin’s reference to broken promises. It wouldn’t be the first time this vampire promised me the world and then dragged me back to the castle. “Why are you here if not to haul me back to a life I don’t want?”

“I had to see you. You left your baby, Angie, that can’t have been easy for you. I know how much you love him. I knew, deep down, that you didn’t want to allow me to find you somewhere to hide, that you’d go your own way. But I had to know you were going to be OK, that you’re safe.”

Yin swears and pushes her chair back sharply.

“We were,” she snarls.

“No,” he shakes his head. “You think you are, but you’re not.”

“Do I need to be here?” She snaps at me.

I shake my head and look down at my hands. I know I only have myself to blame for his visit, but I also know he’d never harm me. Not intentionally. And I know when she leaves this room she’s going to go into overdrive organising a new bolt hole for us. Yin doesn’t take chances.

I wish I could be more like her.

After she leaves, Jag reaches across and takes my hands in his.

“Look at me, Angie.”

Sighing, I meet his eyes, shaking my head.

“You did the right thing by leaving the child. I want you to know that. Falcon has no need to search for you now. He has his heir.”

“Yes,” I whisper, looking away from him quickly in case I give something away. I’m a terrible liar and the last thing I need is for this vampire to recognise subterfuge in my gaze.

“How is he?” I murmur, trying to change the subject, but also desperately wanting to know.

“The baby? I don’t know. He has his nannies and wetnurse…”

“I meant Falcon.”

Jag gives me a surprised look.

“He’s free. Asumpta gave the evidence we hoped for. At first it seemed she wouldn’t, Spider had built a solid case against Falcon, but then…”

“Tell me everything,” I breathe.

He leans back in his chair and stretches his legs out, and I get the feeling this is going to be a long story.

“The charge was, as you know, that Falcon killed Sophie. Spider claimed Falcon had been in love with her prior to their marriage. He very convincingly told the court how he’d married Sophie purely to spite his rival, winning the trust of the jury from the get-go by not hiding this.

He then claimed that Falcon kidnapped Sophie during her pregnancy and impregnated her before he handed her back.

He waxed lyrical about how worried he was about the woman carrying his heir, and how he’d had to petition the Queen to order Falcon to release her and his son.

Which was also true. He also presented evidence that Falcon and I had illegally stormed his house, as he’d previously told the Queen he feared we would, and that only a written edict from the Monarch had stopped violence. ”

I shake my head.

“All of this is true, except the kidnapping part.”

“Mostly, yes,” Jag sighs. “His evidence then switched to Falcon taking the bodies of The Free Men under false pretences, specifically in the name of the Queen, and delivering them to that foul group. Naturally the jury and gallery were aghast at this transgression, and Spider’s team built a solid argument around this that Falcon had no regard for law and was completely rogue.

Moreover, that he might go bloodlust crazy like his father had and bring disrepute to all royal families.

A range of witnesses were brought in to attest to his anger issues, and a tape was shown of his first appearance on The Games. ”

“Oh shit.”

“Yes. Other footage was shown of his first night on your season. I don’t need to remind you how that played out.”

I shake my head, visions of hearts being ripped out and heads being ripped off swimming before my eyes.

“After this scene had been carefully set,” Jag goes on, “we got to the matter at hand. The court was told that Spider had no idea Viper was on his land, or dead, and that if it was so it was obviously due to the fact I’d killed him after he’d revealed our affair to Falcon.”

“Oh, no.”

“Yes,” he nods, “and Falcon couldn’t refute the affair, or that Viper had been the one to reveal this. He also couldn’t refute that he’d had nothing to do with me since, and by all accounts from those familiar with him, would likely have wanted to kill me. And let’s face it, he does.”

“Yes. But what about the fact I was under a thrall from Viper?”

“Falcon didn’t want that mentioned.”

“What? Why?”

“Because it would have shown the court that you were not under hupotasso, Angie.”

I frown as I think this through.

“And this would have been a bad thing?”

“Very bad.”

“Huh.”

I think over my discussions with Falcon prior to our marriage and try to remember any time he’d told me this.

He hadn’t. He’d accepted that I didn’t want the bite.

Accepted it even though he must have known if it was discovered that he hadn’t followed vampire rites he would be in big trouble.

As it was, when we got to the ceremony he wouldn’t bite me because he thought I was under Spider’s thrall already.

‘But he’d pretended to…’

“But,” I frown, “it’s known within the court that I’ve run away. It must be, there’s never any secrets that can be kept from the Queen, or so it seems. You said yourself that Revna knows, and she has the ear of her royal aunt.”

“Yes,” he sighs, “Eleanor covered your tracks well in this sense, in order to shield Falcon.”

“How?”

“She told the Queen that you were suicidal, you know this.”

“Yes.”

“But she also embellished somewhat. She said you’d had such a terrible birth that you died and had to be resuscitated.”

I roll my eyes.

“What does this have to do with me running?”

“If you were under hupotasso you couldn’t have run. But hupotasso breaks when the human partner dies. It’s a little-known loophole. Falcon should have bitten you again after that to re-secure his thrall. Eleanor neatly tied up our affair and your escape by saying this had not occurred in time.”

“Huh. She thinks of everything, doesn’t she?”

“She’s always one step ahead of most,” he nods.

I put this aside to consider later, and signal for Jag to go on.

“Anyhow, back to the court case. Falcon had no proof that Asumpta killed his half-brother, other than her testimony, which was beginning to look like it wasn’t going to come through as I’d hoped.

He also had no proof that Asumpta and Viper helped Tatyana infiltrate the house to make the attempt on Eleanor’s life at Spider’s behest.”

“Because she didn’t,” I murmur. “That was all Viper.”

“Yes, and there was no tangible link between him and Spider, or between Asumpta and Spider. The longer she was cross-examined, the weaker our case grew and the more confidence I began to see in her that she was going to come out on Spider’s side.”

“That bitch.”

He nods and continues.

“I gave evidence about everything I knew, but I had no proof that I was innocent of Viper’s death, or that Asumpta had killed Viper either.

After all, I’d admitted I’d trespassed on Spider’s land to find Viper, and although she’d confessed to me that she’d killed him, Spider’s team proved this was under torture and therefore inadmissible.

There was no proof of her ever having been there.

The last card up my sleeve was that I’d found her hiding in one of Spider’s chateaus in the south of France.

I gave evidence that she was aligned with him, had been for centuries to bring down Falcon’s house and have her own bloodline take over the title.

When cross-examined I couldn’t give any real proof.

But luckily, Wolf came through for Falcon, that rascal. ”

“How?” I gasp, wide-eyed.

“Falcon’s rampage after Tatyana’s attempt on Eleanor’s life was not quite as he’d portrayed to us upon his return.

We thought he’d destroyed every woman around the globe who’d been bitten by Spider as a child and groomed for The Games.

But he hadn’t. Not all. In some cases he’d shown uncharacteristic mercy, and the families of those he spared, some at least, were willing to give evidence about Spider’s long, twisted game.

Wolf only knew about this because Falcon told him during one of their drunken nights when they’d discussed The Games.

He’d revealed he was unable to kill some of the girls and their families because he had a different perspective on humans since taking part in The Games. And because he loved one.”

I close my eyes momentarily as a wave of regret sweeps over me, but open them as he goes on.

“Wolf told him he was crazy to allow these sleeper cells to remain and offered to finish the job. Falcon reluctantly told him where they were and who they were, but changed his mind the next night and refused to allow Wolf to destroy them. It was only a few days ago that he mentioned them, and we realised their potential. Several humans were brought forward and gave testimony that their daughters were under obedience bites from Spider with the aim of helping him bring down some royal houses, chiefly the Dragonspurs, but there were others too. The gallery went wild with this news — the bite is not supposed to be used this way any longer. Lessons were learned from the past, edicts were made and are strictly adhered to.”

“But,” I frown, “some still do it. Vampires like Falcon’s father, and Viper….”

“No, Falcon’s father bit his wife under hupotasso.

That’s permitted, although how he used it is frowned upon.

Viper’s bite was illegal, and so were Spider’s thralls.

The edicts were made to prevent vampires from biting legions and forming human armies to battle one another.

This is essentially what Spider did when he bit dozens of girls around the world and held them under thrall.

He may have only been planning war on one or two houses, but it was still an army being used for violence against vampires.

The fact that he’d manipulated the selection team of The Games also caused a great stir — after all, a majority of wives come through that process.

If it’s corrupt, then any royal house could be threatened from within. ”

“So, that’s what freed Falcon?”

“No, I think it was Spider’s testimony that he hadn’t sheltered Asumpta, didn’t know her, and would never associate with a bastard.

His dismissal of her as nothing more than a disgruntled kitchen maid and his suggestion that she should have been murdered at birth, like all bastards, angered her enough to reveal everything.

She told the court about her alliance with Spider, his plans with Viper, other bites and conspiracies he had undertaken, his murder of Sophie and her child, and so much more. ”

“Wow, finally, some good news.”

“Yes. Half-way through her evidence the Queen called an end to the whole charade. She ordered Asumpta executed, and in a bizarre twist she handed Falcon all Spider’s lands and titles before she freed him. Spider was banished.”

“Just like that? After all the manoeuvrings of the Princess and the Queen?”

Jag looks a little uncomfortable as he shakes his head.

“In theory. Free in body, perhaps, for the time being, but given that he’s been completely exonerated and now has even more titles behind him, I fear the Princess is more determined than ever to catch him.

Her previous traps may not have worked, but she doesn’t give up easily, which is another reason I came to see you.

Your security is lax. Yin is a formidable opponent,” he smiles, “but nothing against a group of vampires.”

“Or one as experienced as you,” I shake my head and give him a half smile.

“No,” he shrugs. “She needs to hire around-the-clock guards. Personally I’d want them to be vampires, but we can’t risk the Princess learning of your location, and The Families have eyes and ears everywhere.”

I nod, wondering how even an army of trained militia could stand up against vampires.

“So, I’m going to suggest you work with The Free Men to ensure your safety,” he says quietly.

I gasp and stare into his earnest eyes, hoping like hell he doesn’t know of Yin’s association with that group.

‘He can’t? Can he? He must, though. Any vampire who would ever even think about suggesting such a thing would be murdered by their own kind in a heartbeat. He must know. Oh, shit.’

“You can’t be serious, Jag,” I swallow hard, hoping to bluff my way into finding out what he knows, “they’re terrorists. You saw what they did to me in Barcelona. They tricked me into killing Caroline by saying they’d help me, but instead left me to pay the price for poisoning her.”

“I know, but I’ll do anything to protect you, Angie. If that means aligning with the Devil, then so be it. Reach out to them. Eleanor has connections. Have them take you under their wing. It’s your only option.”

“Eleanor?” I know my mouth has fallen open at this revelation, but I’m so shocked, I can’t shut it.

He nods, his lip quirking into a small smile.

“You don’t honestly believe she spent her time on board a yacht with them for months after her hospitalisation and walked out unscathed?

She, the former wife of a vampire lord and mother of a current lord?

She’s made no secret over the centuries that she hates all vampire rites with a passion.

She’s obviously aligned with The Free Men.

For how long, I don’t know. I suspect she organised to be taken by them until she could figure out who tried to kill her.

What plans she has in motion with them right now, again, I don’t know. ”

“Fucking Eleanor,” I breathe, “and her fucking secrets.”

“Yes,” he nods. “She’s unaware that I know of her connections, and I’d like to keep it that way.

There are some vampire rites that I, too, believe should be relegated to the Dark Ages from whence they sprung, not the least of which are The Games.

Although I fear my beliefs are not something that would be tolerated, were they discovered. ”

“Good God, so you just keep it to yourself that she’s with The Free Men?”

He chuckles.

“Angie, every secret-keeper needs a confidante. Every human woman embroiled in our vampire world needs a champion.”

“And you’re hers?” I gasp.

“I am yours,” he says gently.