“That’s what I tried to do,” Daisy said.

“Of course, she did rip the heart out of her grandmother, the Grand Duchess,” Byron said.

“I know. It haunts her, but Lucia said it was her destiny. She had to walk willingly into death, because she should have tried to get Torija and her mother away from Gilbert’s cruelty. Please, at least talk to her.”

Amelia saw Alexis shaking her head, and Bhal was staring at the table, lost in her thoughts and worries. Bhal was taking Sera’s disappearance badly. She had spent most of her long, long life protecting and teaching Byron and Sera and was bound to feel deeply for them both.

“I will speak to her,” Byron said. “Bhal, Alexis? You’re with me.”

As they left, Amelia said to Katie, “Could you give us a few minutes, Katie?”

“Yeah, of course,” Katie said.

When she and Daisy were left alone, Amelia said, “You know how worried I was about you? You’re like the little sister I’ve never had.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry everyone. I just knew no one would let me go, but I had to—I had to see if what Angele and Lucia said was true.”

Amelia rubbed her baby bump in a soothing fashion. “It’s just so hard to accept this Victorija. Although…”

“What?” Daisy asked.

“Remember she took me out to dinner when Byron and I were broken up?”

“Yeah?”

“Victorija told me she had felt every kind of pain there was, and on that one thing, I could see truthfulness in her eyes.”

“She has. What she went through as a teenager…I watched her howl in pain when her dad, Gilbert, made Angele take her own life in front of her. After years of watching her mum be abused and the mental and physical abuse Torija endured, that day just broke her soul and nearly snuffed out all the light in it.”

“You really care about her? And you’re sure it’s not the blood bond?” Amelia asked.

“I fell for who she was, the woman I saw in the notebook vision, but then I met the real Torija, who was still there under that monster mask she wore. She’s the vampire that honoured an oath made centuries ago, the vampire who turned against her own clan because of me and was willing to suffer pain, illness, and death, rather than take my blood—and I’m falling even harder. Please trust me, Amelia?”

“I do, and if we are the descendants who were foretold to bring the paranormal world together, against Anka and whoever she serves, then it makes sense. I bring the witch and vampire community together, and you bring those vampire clans, paranormals whose sympathies normally lie with Victorija’s way of thinking, and the vampire hunters.”