Page 80 of Wedlock
“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. Eleanorhas 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.
62
“You know, this castle does seem bereft of life without Mother, Jag, Viper, Asumpta, and Angie. It seems the Princess was right in this respect, at least.”
“Bullshit,” Wolf snorts as he reclines on the couch near my fire. “It’s all perspective. My castle is empty of all but the servants, and I couldn’t be happier. Of course, unlike you, I don’t regularly perform a pogrom and kill every staff member…”
“There was a spy somewhere,” I shrug. “How else could the Princess know that Angie’s run again?”
“Yes,” Wolf sighs, shaking his head, “so you say. And as for your list of lost, you know it's within your power to get themall back. Well, not Asumpta, obviously, she’s truly fucked, and Viper’s rotting along with all your servants, but the rest are all recoverable.”
I shake my head at his humour.
Yes, Asumpta was fucked. She’d been dragged to court and had given her evidence in a dull monotone, her eyes never leaving Jag’s throughout the ordeal. There had been no need for Attracta to give any evidence. The Queen had made the determination that I was innocent in consultation with The Families mid-way through the trial, saying she had no wish to waste any more of her precious time. She’d added that she fervently hoped not to have to hear my name for at least a century, and anyone who mentioned it to her would be eviscerated. I couldn’t help but think that the revelation that Spider had rigged The Games, and the subsequent uproar from the gallery, had hit a little too close to home for her liking.
The whole case, and its ending, had been an anticlimax for all involved.
Princess Revna had left the court looking livid. Jag had simply nodded to me as the court emptied and been swirled out amid the crowd. Wolf had waited to give me a lift home.
We’d returned directly, only to find the castle, as the Princess had predicted, bereft of virtually all life save one small vampire and his wetnurse — the only staff member I hadn’t ordered eliminated. My son needs her now more than ever, since he no longer has a mother.
I frown at Wolf.
“If you’re referring to my wife as being recoverable, Wolf. She’s not. Angie left our baby. She’s not the woman I thought she was.”
