Page 95 of Wedlock (Vampire Bachelor Games #3)

I watch as he dispatches the last of the wounded, ignoring their impassioned pleas for mercy, and I turn aside to retch, being sure to keep Talon’s face pressed to my chest so he can’t see what’s happening around him.

Falcon and my son had found me two hours ago surrounded by the dead, both Free Men and his own guards, two of Revna’s vampires having killed them all.

My silver bullets from the purloined gun had managed to take one out, but the other was fast, too fast, and I know that had Falcon not arrived when he did I wouldn’t be standing here right now.

But I am.

No one else can though.

Vampire and human alike, guards or Free Men, none who know the secret of my child’s special ability can be allowed to leave this blood-soaked forest, even Yin can’t dispute that.

She and Falcon had only just exhausted their heated exchange over the issue.

She’d conceded she hadn’t anticipated Revna’s attack, that with help from The Free Men she’d planned to kill all Falcon’s guards in readiness to shoot his aircraft out of the sky after he dropped me off.

However, everything had gone to absolute shit when Revna attacked just as I came home.

Yin and I are going to have words, long words, about her plan. But right now I look over to where she kneels beside Phil, one of her samurai swords in the sand, her cheek resting against the hilt as she whispers something to him.

He may have been a murderous bastard, a lying, two-faced prick, but anyone can see she still loves him. I wonder that I hadn’t realised sooner, just how much.

“He won’t make it,” I whisper to Falcon where he stands staring at the two, his eyes narrowed.

“He better not,” he growls.

“Yin loves him,” I add.

He turns slowly to look at me.

“Did you know she planned to kill me tonight? Is that what you were trying to tell me?”

I stare at him for a long, long minute as Talon whimpers in my arms.

“Do you think I knew about it?” I whisper.

His eyes flick to where Revna lies on the ground nearby, still bound in her silver chains. One of the knives has been removed and her wound is rapidly healing; the other is still embedded in her stomach, rendering her temporarily unable to commit violence.

Slowly, he returns his gaze to me and shakes his head.

“No. I know you.”

I nod, my eyes never leaving his.

“Let’s finish this,” he sighs.

Yin rises and walks to where we stand, her eyes determined, jaw set.

“I need help to get Phil to the retreat,” she says as she reaches us. “The organisation can airlift him to a hospital, but they’re a few hours away.”

“Like fuck,” Falcon growls. “You expect me to let go one of The Free Men who came here to kill me? The very one who posed as a cameraman throughout the entirely of The Games and tried to murder the woman I love?”

“I don’t expect anything from you,” Yin snaps. “He came here as a favour to me, to protect us from your kind.”

“Bullshit. The Free Men don’t do favours. Need I remind you he killed my guards,” Falcon spits, “who were also here to protect you from my kind .”

“One of which is still alive,” Yin nods her head towards Revna.

“As are you,” Falcon hisses, “for the time being.”

I sigh and move to stand between them and, as if on cue, the vampire princess begins her tirade of abuse against me again. She pretty much hadn’t stopped since Falcon removed the knife from her throat and threw her, still bound, onto the bloody ground amid the corpses.

Yin smiles a slow, deadly smile, and steps towards her, but Falcon stops her, his hand on her forearm.

“You’ll get your answers, and your vengeance.”

“I know I will,” she growls.

“We both will,” he adds ominously.

“But not here,” I sigh, meeting Falcon’s eyes and nodding my agreement. “We need to get Phil to the retreat so we may as well haul her ass up there too. Talon can’t take much more of this, and neither can I.”

Yin reluctantly nods as Falcon moves to the Princess and lifts one end of the chain. If she thought he was going to carry her, she’s very much mistaken, and she screams in rage as he drags her up the mountainside, pausing to haul Phil, none too gently, up and over one broad shoulder.

As I trail behind with Yin, Talon in my arms, my friend snarls at Revna.

“What madness drives you, Vampire?” She spits at the Princess. “Why couldn’t you just leave Angie alone?”

“While she lived, he had hope.” Revna’s eyes shift to Falcon. “Now, because of that,” her gaze flicks to Talon, “he has no choice. None of us do.”

“My son?” Falcon snarls as he continues to bear his loads up the mountain.

“I’ll find out how you learned of his existence, Princess, but for now what I want to know,” he pauses to stop and look down at her, “is why it wasn’t enough for you to simply let my wife live out her existence away from royal society?

Did you come here to try and kill her and both my boys?

And you’d better be truthful. With no witnesses left alive, your fate hinges on how you answer our questions. ”

“You’re a fool, Falco,” she laughs. “I told you before, I didn’t poison your heir.

It served me no purpose to do so. You should look closer to home for your answers to that riddle.

As for killing me, do you think I came here without letting Mother know of my destination?

If I don’t return home she’ll know exactly who to blame for my destruction. ”

Falcon grits his teeth and meets my gaze momentarily.

Yin kicks the Princess in her side.

“Answer the question.”

“I came to kill her because your ill son has no special qualities, therefore it would not be unlawful or forbidden for me to dispense with a human the world already considered dead. I sought only to free your heart so you could see the truth that you and I belong together. I had no idea you had two sons.”

“What special qualities did you seek to find in my boy?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” She snorts. “Your wife has fae heritage. That’s why her disgusting progeny can fly. She’s protected now. When her bloodline is revealed neither I, nor any vampire, can harm her.”

Falcon’s eyes widen slightly, but he says nothing, simply turning and continuing to pull her up the hill.

As we enter the retreat he deposits Phil onto the couch and leaves the Princess on the floor near the coffee table.

“I need to put Talon to bed,” I murmur, “I’ll be back shortly. Ah, Yin.”

She looks up.

“Don’t kill my husband.”

Falcon snorts. Yin, busy tending to Phil’s wound, doesn’t reply, but from the look she flashes me it’s clear she knows she’s overstepped the mark, big time.

Making my way down the hallway to the hidden panic room, I press the required combination on the keypad lock and find the nanny and Suzume inside, as Talon had whispered to me that they would be when he first found me.

Pressing my finger to my lips to signal they should remain silent, I hand over Talon.

How he was not in there with them, I don’t know.

We had very specific and well-drilled plans for what to do in the event of a threat to the household.

Those plans had evidently failed. I’ll get to the bottom of whoever messed up, or whatever mistake was made.

But right now, I need to hear what the Princess has to say.

I lock the combination door from the outside as I leave. This time there’ll be no mistakes.

Making my way back to the living room I catch what Revna’s telling Falcon.

“The lore says she must stay with you,” she spits. “If The Families learn of her blood she’ll be bound to you for all eternity. That’s why you should let me end her now. You’ve destroyed anyone who saw your son’s ability tonight — no one knows. End her now before it’s too late.”

“You’re wrong,” Yin snorts, “Eleanor knows.”

I nod. I can’t say too much with the Princess here, but Falcon needs to know all that we do if he’s to help protect his son and I now. He also needs to know that I was selected because of my blood to participate in The Games.

‘At least he knows partly why I wouldn’t be with him. Perhaps he’ll acknowledge everything was a set-up from woe to go now, and stop insisting we be together.’

“This is more convoluted than you know, Falcon,” I sigh. “I don’t know anything about The Families. But one thing’s for sure. This bitch is so far up the Queen’s ass, she’s a hernia,” I ignore Revna’s hiss. “If she knows about my blood then you can bet your bottom dollar your queen knows too.”

“If Falcon’s queen knows, she’s also sanctioned this murder attempt,” Yin mutters. “And she sanctioned the Princess poisoning his heir. Isn’t that so, Princess ?”

Revna says nothing, but her expression says it all. She won’t implicate the Queen in anything that The Families would decry.

“No,” Falcon shakes his head. “Even the Queen wouldn’t go this far.

If she’d sanctioned something like this Angie would have been dead a long time ago.

The Queen also wouldn’t have sent her royal physicians to care for Tiger if she knew he was being poisoned.

Perhaps Revna’s own mother, the Queen of Denmark, knew, but not my queen. ”

“What makes you think this?” I frown. “After attending Court I think your queen is capable of literally anything.”

Falcon shakes his head slowly.

“I believe Revna came to me while I was in jail to seek my agreement to True Punishment as a way of getting around her aunt’s decision that Angie be left alive.

Isn’t that right, Revna? You couldn’t get her explicit agreement after you told her what you suspected?

After you told her you thought Angie was part fae.

It stands to reason that after I was freed you decided to take it upon yourself to ensure Angie was killed and Tiger was murdered before his third birthday, to cover your tracks just in case he could fly and confirm Angie’s blood.

But you never had agreement from my queen, because if you had, you wouldn’t have to sneak around and try to kill her yourself — you could have used the royal secret service. ”

Revna snorts.

“Keep guessing, Falco. Even the blind squirrel gets a nut sometimes. But know this; I saved your life tonight. Your wife planned to murder you with help from The Free Men. If you can’t see that you are truly blind.”

“She didn’t know anything about it,” Yin snarls.

“Could we dob The Princess in and have her punished?” I ask, meeting Revna’s hateful stare and not looking away.

“She’s protected,” Falcon sighs, “royal immunity. As one of The Families she’s virtually untouchable. My queen would be pissed, there’d be some social ramifications, perhaps, but eventually this whole mess would be swept under the carpet.”

“And the threat still there,” Yin growls.

“What I want to know,” Falcon scowls at Revna, “is just when you began to believe Angie was special?”

“When she bit me,” I answer for her. “When she tasted me, she was appalled; apparently I’m disgusting.”

“Not disgusting,” Falcon shakes his head, “forbidden.”

“Either way,” Yin snaps, “she can’t be allowed to go running her mouth off. If she tells The Families about Angie, or the fact you have two sons, we’ll never be free.”

“Two sons,” Revna laughs. “One who flies and one who doesn’t?”

‘Oh, shit. I need to change the subject, and fast.’

“Who might she tell?” I squeak.

“More to the point, if she tells, she won’t be able to kill you. If she doesn’t tell anyone she’ll continue to hunt you,” Falcon murmurs, ignoring Revna’s outburst.

“Not if she’s dead,” Yin murmurs.

“That’s no solution,” I sigh. “We’ll just have even more vampires hunting us. We’ve just agreed that the Queen already knows about my blood, perhaps two queens. And they’re not the only ones. Your mother knows, Falcon. Or at the very least, she suspects.”

“That can’t be true,” he frowns. “When Mother returned from her exile we cleared the air. She has no more secrets from me.”

Yin and I look at each other and roll our eyes.

“We need to talk,” I sigh, “when she’s out of here.”

“Yes,” he gives me a long look, “we do. I think I understand everything now, Angie.”

I shake my head.

‘No, you understand nothing. Talon is just one piece of the puzzle.’

“Are you sure I can’t finish her?” Yin growls as Falcon turns from me to pull Revna to her feet.

“I’ll return in three days,” he grunts, throwing Revna over his shoulder and heading towards the door.

He turns when he reaches the threshold and meets my gaze.

“Don’t run, Angie.”

I shake my head as he adds, “I mean it.”

“She won’t run,” Yin growls, “the time for running is over. The time for killing is now.”

Falcon chuckles as he turns to leave.

“Be careful what you wish for, Yin.”