14
I answer the phone on my way out the door to the first challenge, happy to have any distraction from what’s about to unfold.
Tonight, more than one woman will lose her life, and the bastard host Clyde Starlen is sure to make the most of it.
I’ve only met him once, yet already detest the little upstart.
I’d rip him apart, except that, unlike the host on Falcon’s season, this one is a vampire.
I expect the selectors decided they couldn’t keep replacing dead hosts every episode and wanted someone more durable.
Starlen was the perfect choice for a disgusting show like this one, a lesser son from a lesser-known house, known to be bankrupt, who had made a name for himself early on as a B-grade film star and then made the transition into reality television.
No self-respecting royal vampire would ever have anything to do with such Eurotrash.
Unfortunately, I’m his captive just as much as the competitors.
I imagine he’s going to announce the rules to the first challenge and hype up the audience.
And I anticipate having to grit my teeth and put up with his facile remarks.
It’s a welcome reprieve to hear Falcon’s voice on the other end of the line, and strange he should call tonight. I’d been about to phone him.
“Falcon,” I murmur as I step into the car.
“Just a quick call to let you know that neither of our suspects were involved in the attempted carjacking on the first night of your show. I’m still making inquiries.”
“So not the Queen and not The Free Men,” I frown.
“No, I never really suspected the Queen anyway. She’s left me and mine alone since I forced her to witness my vow. I meant Asumpta wasn’t involved, and neither were The Free Men.”
“Asumpta, what do you mean? She’s dead.”
The line goes silent for a long, long time.
“Jag, my understanding was that you entered The Games because you wanted to reunite with me again, specifically because of the threat Asumpta and, by association, Spider, now pose to both of us.”
“Then you’re suffering under a grave misconception,” I snort. “I had no idea Asumpta was free. I thought she was dispensed with years ago.”
“She was rotting in the royal prison awaiting the Queen’s pleasure,” Falcon mutters, “no doubt some spectacle was planned. Instead, with inside aid, she’s fled.”
“By inside aid you mean your fucking half-sister. I never trusted that bitch.”
“Attracta had nothing to do with it. She was just as shocked as the rest of us. Asumpta had other help.”
“And that’s who you believed attacked my contestants? You think your bastard half-sister will take out anyone in order to get back at me.”
“Not get back at you. I think she still wants to claim you. Wolf seems to think that, if anything, your capture and torture of her for my court case made her more obsessed. I can’t imagine a couple of decades in prison have erased the feelings she had for you.”
‘And don’t I know well enough how that works.’
“Yes, you’re likely right,” I sigh, remembering the hours of torture I’d had to undertake in order to get Asumpta to confess her role in Spider’s machinations.
I’d considered her, up until just a few weeks prior to that, to be a friend.
I’d taken no pleasure in bringing her to heel or to justice, especially given the revelation that she loved me.
Falcon clears his throat.
“Jag, why did you agree to enter The Games?”
“Didn’t Angie tell you?”
His voice is ice when he answers.
“How would Angie know?”
“Ah.”
I wait for five or six heartbeats for him to work it out.
“You did it because of the bite, didn’t you? You learned she wanted hupotasso.”
“Perhaps this is something you should discuss with your wife, Falcon.”
“A wife you secretly visit and still carry a torch for!” He shouts. “A wife you don’t believe is safe with her husband of thirty years!”
“Thirty years is the blink of an eye for us,” I snap.
“My visit was no secret. If she kept it so, then that’s between you and her.
And no, I’m not carrying a torch any longer.
” ‘Lies.’ “I just want to be there as a friend for her and for you as I once was. And if Asumpta is free, then my timing is providential.”
“We’re going to sort this out once and for all, you and I, when next we meet,” Falcon snarls before hanging up.
I throw my phone onto the car seat and stare out the window.
‘So, Angie feared more than just old age. Why didn’t she tell me about Asumpta?
And why didn’t she share with Falcon that I’d visited?
Was she worried about how he’d react? If so, it’s clear he still hasn’t reined in that Dragonspur temper, which means she needs her secret-keeper now more than ever.
Fuck, I need to hurry up and get out of this game and back to her. ’
“We’re here,” the driver says through the intercom.
“Excellent,” I snap.