“She was meant to be hidden away here, Sera. If no one knew we were together, then she wasn’t in danger. This holiday was to find out if I could let Amelia into our world, into my life. The first time I’ve ever let someone so deeply into my heart, and in one evening you expose her to the Dreds, and your vampire abilities.”

Sera held her face in her hands. “I just wanted to bond with her and have fun. I realized how much you cared for her when we had dinner, and I wanted to get to know her, and make her feel welcome.”

“You never think about the consequences, Sera. Immortality is just one long party to you.”

“I enjoy my abilities. What’s wrong with that? You always act as if you are ashamed of them. You always keep your vampire side and your emotions locked up so tight, that you let life pass you by. That’s why I was so happy you found Amelia.”

Byron said nothing, but her thoughts were filled with the reasons why she kept such strict control on herself. Only Bhal knew that pain, and she did not want to share it with her sister. She didn’t reply, just shouted for Alexis and Bhal to return. When they did Alexis laid out photographs of the dead vampires, and they showed the black Dred tattoo on their shoulders.

Byron said, “They are Dreds. There’s no doubt Victorija is making her first moves.”

“There’s something else, Principe,” Bhal said.

“What?”

Alexis laid out a picture of Amelia and Byron together.

Byron sank to her seat, almost in defeat. “They know.”

Sera jumped in and said, “Can’t you just compel Amelia to forget about what she saw and lie low for a bit?”

Byron closed her eyes for a moment and said, “I can’t compel her. I just tried.”

Bhal and Alexis looked at her in disbelief, then lowered their heads, knowing what this meant.

“I have to end it,” Byron said, gulping down her growing emotional distress.

“You can’t,” Sera said. “You love her, Byron.”

“That’s exactly why I have to let her go. I should have known never to let anyone close, because humans break and then they break our hearts.”

Sera had tears rolling down her cheeks, but Bhal and Alexis looked at Byron with admiration.

“You’re doing a noble thing, Principe,” Bhal said.

Byron got up and walked to the door. “Alexis, get Miss Honey a first class ticket to London for tomorrow. One way.”

“Yes, Principe.”

Byron walked out of the conference room fighting to stop her emotions from overwhelming her. Somewhere inside she’d known this was inevitable. She wasn’t good enough for Amelia, and if Victorija ever hurt her, she knew she would lose her perfect control and destroy everything that the Debreks stood for. She had to make the hard choices to put Amelia and her clan first, and that meant walking away.

* * *

Amelia lay in bed, her eyes puffy from crying, praying that Byron would come back to her, apologize, and tell her the truth. Everything she had seen and heard whirled around her mind and she just couldn’t make sense of it. It had crossed her mind that perhaps the Debreks weren’t bankers after all. Maybe they were criminals? Why else would they need security armed to the teeth, and fear being attacked? But then she dismissed the thought. Debrek banks were everywhere.