Page 123 of Wedlock
Yin and I look at each other and roll our eyes.
“We need to talk,” I sigh, “whenshe’sout 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.”
96
“Mother, I’m beginning to think you’re more spider than the Princess. A black widow hiding in the shadows and webs of my castle, spinning lies daily.”
She gasps where she stands before me in her study, her face whiter than I’ve ever seen.
“How could you say such a thing?”
“I say it because at every turn where my life, or the life of someone I value has been threatened or taken, something you’ve hidden from me has hit me right between the eyes like a fucking poison dart.”
“It’s true,” she whispers, “I selected Angie because of her blood. But that wasn’t the only reason.”
“You told me there were no more secrets,” I shake my head. “After I learned you’d had my father killed I thought nothing worse could be hidden. But here, now, I find that you knew my wife was part fae, that youselectedher for that fact, and never chose to reveal it. What I don’t understand is why it was so important to you that my children fly?”
“It wasn’t that,” she whispers. “I chose Angie for all her personal qualities as someone you could love. I feared that you hadn’t found love because something was lacking that you needed. I believe you need, as your father did before you, to love a being with special blood.”
“Are you telling me that because my father loved Spider’s mother, you believed I also needed a part fae?”
“Yes,” she sighs. “He only ever lovedher. When she spurned him I knew his anger would take over, I banked on it,” she straightens her shoulders, “and so it did. He drained her, and he paid the price.”
I stare at her, unable to comprehend her logic.
“And did it occur to you,” I snarl, “that I might have gone the same way as my father had I drained Angie in a fit of rage?
“I knew you wouldn’t,” she says firmly. “Because you arenotyour father.”
“Ah, but I will have to become so, won’t I, Mother Dear? Because the Queen knows of my wife’s blood, and all the courts will know soon enough when Revna starts squealing. You see, the Princess has given me an ultimatum. Either I marry her or she’ll tell The Families about my wife and I’ll have no choice but to bring Angie back here and incarcerate her against her will in my castle, as my father did to his wife.”
“There are worse fates,” she whispers.
“No,” I shake my head. “I won’t do that. In fact, I’ll no longer stray into your webs, or those of the Princess. All your plans, any of your hopes and dreams, none will be of any consequence to me.”
“What do you mean? What are you going to do?”
