Page 76 of Hupotasso
‘Does he truly believe I can’t father a child?’
“What is it you came to tell me?” I ask brusquely.
“We found the nurse,” he says quietly, his face still unnaturally pale. “She suggested the Free Men switched your mother’s drugs weeks ago. I haven’t been able to confirm it yet, but if so Eleanor didn’t stand a chance and her death would have been nothing to do with her body rejecting the medication.”
“The Free Men,” I hiss. “They helped Angie escapeandkilled my mother?”
Jag looks up at me, shaking his head.
“Before you start, Angie wouldn’t have known about your mother. The alleged drug switch took place, as I said, weeks ago. “But yes, the nurse responsible switched clothes with Angie. The Free Men helped your wife run and are likely hiding her. It’s the logical conclusion.”
“When has anything we believed about Angie ever been a logical conclusion?” I snap.
Jag nods and shrugs.
“Kill her,” Viper snaps, interrupting us, “she’s been nothing but trouble from the start.”
“She’s mywife,” I snarl, “and need I remind you, she’s carrying my heir?”
“Why then,” he turns to point at Jag, “send yourloyalbest friend. If anyone can find her, he will.”
57
I’m already beginning to feel a little more like myself.
Last night I’d blubbered through a pretty horrific description of everything that had happened since I’d married the vampire, and Yin had listened patiently and contributed her usual quiet wisdom.
After I’d calmed down she’d run a bath for me and ordered I soak and sleep. I don’t know if it’s because I was just exhausted from stress and travel and the pregnancy, or if the shock of everything in the past twenty-four hours had zonked out my batteries, but I did as ordered.
Twelve hours passed before I finally woke, and I still feel tired.
I watch now as she makes us a cup of herbal tea and begins to tellme of her adventures since her escape from The Games.
I realise I’ve been so focused on myself and my woes that I hadn’t even asked how she was faring being on the run from vampiresandher powerful father.
“I’m so sorry about Phil,” I murmur as she hands me my cup. “I wanted to tell you before you flew off, but I didn’t get the chance. Isabel said you broke every bone in his body.”
“Ah, yes, Phil,” she grimaces. “Two bodies, one heart, or so I thought.”
“How did you find out about him being part of The Free Men?”
“He told me,” she shrugs. “Once I’d settled in my safe house I phoned him and he joined me, as we’d planned.” She looks out the window as she speaks, her tone introspective, as though she’s reliving the past as she explains it. “He was over the moon that I’d escaped, as was I, but he said he had something to tell me. He said the vampires would find me and kill me, which you and I had already deduced, because I knew too much of their world. His solution was for me to take my place at the table of The Free Men,” she frowns and turns back to me. “The fact that he was part of that organisation wasn’t the big shock, of course.”
“Of course,” I murmur.
‘It was the fact he tried to kill me more than once.’
“It was his revelation,” she goes on, “that my mother had also been part of that group, and he’d never told me, not in all the years we were together.”
“What?”
“Yes,” she sighs. “My father killed my mother when she opposed his plans to put me in The Games. Phil knew all along.”
“No,” I gasp. “Why didn’t he tell you?”
“He said he was waiting for the right time. He went to The Free Men when I was selected for The Games and asked them to save me. When they learned who I was they agreed to help him win a spot as a camera man, providing he also helped them gettheircandidate chosen by Falcon. There’s always a price with The Free Men, Angie,” she gives me a quick look. “The deal was struck. I was to receive The Life Token and get out alive and unharmed. It suited them, my mother was apparently an important member of The Free Men prior to marrying my father, as was her mother before her. They were keen to sign me up too, no doubt because of my wealth and connections.”
“Only I got The Life Token,” I shake my head, “and screwed up all their plans.”
