Hupotasso (Vampire Bachelor Games #2)

6

6

I offer Jag a whisky as he enters my study and, sighing, flops down into a leather chair fronting the fire.

“You can’t be serious,” he shakes his head. “The West Wing? You can’t keep her there, Falcon.”

“It is rather stark,” Wolf agrees.

“It is what it is,” I shrug, “don’t let her fool you, Jag, as she so obviously did me. She’s the consummate actress and completely under Spider’s control. I won’t have her roaming the castle potentially killing me or mine while we sleep, planting a bomb, poisoning the minds of the staff…whatever he plans to do with her under my roof, I won’t let it happen.”

“I can’t see her doing any of those things,” Jag shakes his head. “Something doesn’t sit right.”

“Something didn’t sit right with me from the moment I met her,” I snort. “If only I’d listened to my gut.”

He sips his drink and leans his head back, staring at the ceiling.

“I’m going to leave here and undertake a thorough investigation. But in the meantime we both know the only way to free her from him, if she is indeed his minion,” he looks at me dubiously, “is to kill him.”

“Agreed.”

“The Families will step in if we openly take him out,” Wolf grunts. “Think it through, Falcon, for Christ’s sake.”

“Yes, they will,” I nod, ignoring Wolf. He’s been badgering me ever since I’d told Jag my plan, and if he doesn’t give it a rest I’ll fucking stake him .

“So…” Jag raises his eyebrows, giving me a ‘please say you’ve changed your mind’ look.

“So,” I grumble, “although my immediate thought was to march over there and decapitate him, I’ve calmed down.”

“Thank God,” Jag sighs.

“I realise,” I go on as though he hasn’t interrupted, “that I have an ace up my sleeve. I’ve had it for a while. I just need to play it.”

“You mean her , don’t you? You plan to use Sophie.”

I smile at his immediate understanding. No one knows me like Jag, and there’s no man I trust more. He’s more like a brother to me, more like family than just a lifelong friend. His comprehension of my plan before I even broach it is eery. Wolf’s a loyal friend and valued comrade, no doubt about it, but Jag and I have spent more time together over the centuries. Wolf comes and goes; Jag’s a fixture.

“How far along is Sophie?” He sighs now. “Because your window of opportunity to use her against him lasts only as long as the hupotasso is dormant.”

“She’s four months. And no, before you ask, she doesn’t know anything yet. I haven’t mentioned my plan to her. I wanted to pass it by you before I broach the subject with her.”

“I imagine she’ll do anything to be free of him now she’s had a taste of the monster.”

“Yes.”

“But to really secure her loyalty you’ll have to promise her his castle and title and figure out a way to ensure that happens…and she’ll have to have a boy.”

“I know.”

“It’s the only way The Families might , and it’s a big might, leave well enough alone — if the count has a serendipitous accident, but he has a direct heir to take on the title.”

“I know, Jag, you don’t have to explain royal politics to me. I’ve lived it as long as you have.”

“It’s risky, though, Falcon,” Wolf chimes in. “We want to make sure you’re seeing this from all angles. Your families have been feuding for centuries. Suspicion will automatically fall on you. And the worst-case scenario? Have you sorted that out? What will you do if you are linked to his death, or if this Sophie-woman betrays you?”

“She won’t.”

“Falcon, she’s done it before,” Jag interjects. “If she squeals after she’s had a girl and realises how the royals operate — if she tells The Families you were involved, if…”

“She won’t, Jag, because by then she’ll be carrying my child.”

He splutters on his drink.

“WHAT?”

Wolf laughs.

“Full of surprises tonight, isn’t he?”

Jag turns disbelieving eyes to me as I shrug.

“I intend to impregnate her the moment she gives birth. She’ll go back to Spider for a short time; he’ll think she’s still under his control, and she’ll help me kill him. I’ll marry her as soon as I’ve dispensed with Angelina.”

“But…”

He frowns, but I hold up my hand to forestall his questions.

“I know there’ll be questions if Angelina doesn’t at least last long enough to produce an heir. Consequently, I’ll knock her up too, forthwith. But once the child is born and Spider’s dead I’m going to marry Sophie as I’d planned to do all along. Her child will be brought up a Dragonspur. If it’s a boy, he’ll inherit the Count’s lands and title on his majority. If a girl, she’ll remain under my care.”

“And your own child? The one you plan to have with Angelina?”

“My first son with Sophie will become my heir. Any child with Angelina will be passed over.”

“You’ve thought this through,” he murmurs.

“But you’ll marry one who betrayed you?” Wolf clarifies. “Seems like you’ve already done that. Why bother swapping? They sound as bad as each other.”

“Sophie wanted immortality,” I shrug, “and I was marrying someone else. We’ve discussed it and I’m reconciled to her actions. Her thinking was that she could still be around me and that we might still have the opportunity to be together if she was a royal too. She had no idea about the loyalty bite and was unaware that Spider was my enemy — I’d shielded her from any of that, and that’s on me. Had I told her, perhaps things would have played out differently.”

“Perhaps not,” Jag snorts.

“Either way, she’s been open in what she did, and why. She’s a self-centred and ambitious woman, but I know where I stand with her. She has nothing to hide.” I don’t add ‘unlike Angelina.’ “Sophie’s made mistakes, but so have I, and she’s the one I intend to keep by my side when all of this is said and done.”

Jag studies me quietly before clearing his throat. I can sense he disapproves.

“I’m glad I didn’t end Angelina after the wedding. I might have messed up all your schemes,” he says quietly.

I tense, the hairs on the back of my neck rising even now at the thought of anything being done to her by anyone other than me.

“What?”

“I had an inkling you’d feel obliged to stay married to Angie, unhappy for years, so I thought I’d bite her in the car after the wedding and consequences be damned. But after talking to her enough doubt was raised in my mind to stay my hand. Although now I’m thinking I might have done her a favour by putting an end to her life before your diabolical genetic plans are implemented.”

I clench my teeth and squeeze the bridge of my nose to try and reign in my temper.

“Don’t look so pissed,” Wolf chuckles, “you would have thanked him, after a time.”

“You knew about this?”

He shrugs.

“No,” I growl, my fangs extending of their own accord. “She’s mine! Mine to do with as I see fit. No one touches her but me. Do you both understand?”

“Calm down,” Wolf snorts.

“Don’t tell me to calm down. You both know me well enough to know I wouldn’t tolerate you going behind my back.”

“Relax,” Jag sighs. “I thought better of it. She’s alive and imprisoned in the dungeon you call the West Wing, just as you ordered. You can torture her for as long as you like.

“I’m not going to torture her,” I snort, the muscles in my shoulders slowly relaxing, “I’m going to teach her what it is to be a Dragonspur wife . She’ll obey until her last breath.”

“Well,” Jag drains the last of his whisky and rises, placing his glass down firmly on the small table near his chair. “It seems you have it all worked out — your father would be proud.”

“If you weren’t my friend,” I snarl, “I’d knock you out for that.”

“Yes,” he murmurs as he turns to leave, “very proud.”

My glass hits the door frame and shatters into a billion sharp fragments, but he’s already long gone.