Page 85 of Hupotasso
She shakes her head.
“I’ll make you a lemon juice.”
“Yin,” I stand still and wait as she slowly turns around. “What aren’t you telling me.”
She sighs heavily.
“They’ve lost contact. They were speaking to him regularly, trying to organise a trade; his Mother for Isabel. The idea was that when he came to the exchange they’d take him out. But he kept wheeling and dealing, and now they can’t reach him at all.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner? Viper was never the one they should have contacted about that,” I frown, “it would have just given him power. They should have called Falcon.”
“Falcon’s reputation precedes him — he doesn’t negotiate with The Free Men and wouldn’t be open to a deal. They just don’t trust him. At least that’s what my contact told me.”
I shake my head.
“They’re wrong. He’d do a deal with thedevilfor his mother.”
“Maybe you should relay a message to him,” she says quietly, “through The Free Men. You could let him know about the dealandabout Viper.”
“No,” I murmur. “He wouldn’t believe me. He loves his brother. When The Free Men return his mother she’ll tell him about Viper, and he’ll listen. He won’t listen to anything I say, especially since I’ve run from him with the help of the organisation that kidnapped his Mother. Not to mention the fact that Isabel and her family gave me the poison to kill his cousin. If I try to broker a deal to free them it will only build on his suspicion that I’m a spy and make him crazy. At least this way, by staying separate from the whole Mother issue, his focus is divided, and he’s not concentrating on hunting for me.”
“Yeah,” she sighs. “There is that.”
“Yin Viper has to die. I want to disappear,” I add in a whisper. “I need to make sure he and Falcon never find me or our baby. Ever.”
“That’s the plan,” she nods.
But as she turns back to the microwave I catch a glimpse of her expression, and it’s anything but confident.
66
I sit at the table morosely picking at my food and watch Viper tucking into his as though he’s never eaten in his life.
The queen’s edict that I need to find Angie is weighing heavily on my mind. I’ve already killed all the staff again. None had confessed, even under torture, to telling anyone that my wife had left the castle. That left just Asumpta, Viper and Jag. Of the three, Jag is above suspicion and Asumpta has never bothered herself with any affairs of the family. Clearly then, the one who let the cat out of the bag is Viper — but he claims he told no one, and he’s certainly been acting as though he has nothing to hide.
Either way, I’m deep in the shit if I don’t get her back soon. The Queen won’t take lightly any more indiscretions on my behalf, and losing a wife I’d won so publicly is not somethingshe’ll countenance. The fact that she knows I’m searching for her means my time as the lord of this house is running out. She’s not known for her patience. As for her assertion Father had killed Spider’s mother, I’ve been through every family record I can find, but I don’t see any evidence of this anywhere.
The only one who might know, who knew my father better than anyone, is dead.
I look up now as Viper makes a grunting noise — he’s always eaten like a pig. No amount of correction as a child had ever worked to train him to do otherwise. In food, as in most other things, he’s completely hedonistic.
“Nothing bothers you, does it, brother?” I sigh.
“Why would it?” He shrugs.
“My lost wife aside, Mother’s dead,” I murmur. “Doesn’t that cause you any grief?”
“You were always her favourite. Besides, I’m getting more grief from the incessant phone calls I’m receiving about her at the moment,” he snorts.
“The least you can do is take the calls. Mother was very well known and had a great many connections at court. It’s to be expected most will phone to give their sympathy. That’s why I had my secretary route those calls to you. You said you wanted to shoulder some of my burden, and I don’t have time to play niceties.”
“Yes, I suppose,” he looks away quickly, and I immediately get suspicious. As Jag so often reiterates, Viper is always up to something, and I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t been keeping an eye on him.
“That is the kind of calls you mean, is it not, brother?”
He begins to eat faster, a sure sign he’s up to something, and I put my fork down carefully and lean forward, staring at his unconcerned expression as he continues shovelling food into his mouth.
“Viper,” I growl, “what calls?”
