Lucia put the brush down. “You need to go to her. She is the only one who can help you.”

“Why?” Byron was confused.

“You must have nicked more than her skin. She already is your Principessa. You are bound in blood and spirit for all eternity.”

Byron’s stomach dropped. She looked right at her great-great-grandmother. “She shared my blood? How—” Then Byron remembered. During their last fevered lovemaking, she had clashed teeth with Amelia, and she must have sustained a cut. Some of her blood must have transferred when they kissed.

Lucia nodded. “You must protect her at all costs, Byron.” From her pocket, Lucia took a silver ring with ancient writing inscribed on it, a blood-red ruby set in its centre. “Give her this, and bring her to me when you can. She has an important future.”

* * *

Byron sat in the silence of her conference room on her flight home. Her mind was reeling from the information Lucia had given her.

“Principe?” Alexis walked into the room. “Would you like to talk?”

“Sit.” Byron pointed to the chair beside her.

“Did the Grand Duchess help you?”

Byron laughed ruefully. “It depends what you mean by help, Duca. She explained what was wrong, what I need to do, and how we need to act, but it’s going to be a painful, difficult experience.”

“Are we still heading back to Monte Carlo?” Alexis asked.

“Yes, but just briefly to pack. We need to move the household to London.”

“Why? I thought you were determined you couldn’t see Miss Honey again?”

Byron rubbed her face in her hands and gave a long sigh. “She showed every sign of being compatible with me, with my blood, she could have been my Principessa, but I decided to walk away to protect her. Things are a bit different now.”

“What changed, Byron?”

“Computer, display picture of Amelia Honey,” Byron said.

The conference screen displayed a picture of Amelia and her the night they had dinner on the beach.

“We are bound in blood and spirit for all eternity.”

Alexis eyes went wide with shock. “She’s had your blood?”

Byron nodded. “I was so determined that she would not be my Principessa for her own safety, never knowing all this time she already was. It was an accident—it happened on our last night together, I think. I would never knowingly have shared my blood with her, but it happened. She is my Principessa, and we need to protect her at all costs.”

“Good God. A human was compatible?” Alexis said.

“It seems so. Lucia was…It was strange. I think my great-great-grandmother knows more than she is saying for the moment.”

Byron noticed her hands start to tremble again, and clasped them tightly. The intense hunger was starting to return, and she had fed as soon as she had gotten on the plane.

“Well, at least we know how to help you, Byron. You need to feed from the Principessa.”