I shrugged one shoulder as I shoved my hands into the back pockets of my leather pants. “Then go back. If you don’t want to selfishly risk our lives, then go back to him.”

“I can’t,” she gasped, raising her face from where she had it buried in her hands. “He’ll kill me. I know he will. Veyron will kill me.”

“I doubt that.”

“Mira, you don’t know that,” Danaus growled at me.

“No, but I truly doubt that Veyron will kill her. Her only fear is that he’s going to punish her in some way and she doesn’t want to face it.”

Danaus shoved to his feet while placing one protective hand on Sofia’s shoulder. “The only thing she’s afraid of is a lifetime of being a slave to that monster. She wants her freedom.”

“Then she shouldn’t have chosen to become Veyron’s pet in the first place.”

“Please, Mira. I need your help,” Sofia said. “I made a mistake. I didn’t realize what I was getting into when I made the deal with Veyron. At the time, he was just so powerful and mesmerizing. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

I rolled my eyes and paced away from the woman. “And now you’re thinking clearly? You want out of your deal and you’re expecting us to protect you when it comes time to pay the piper.”

“Please, I have nowhere else to go. No one who will help me. I’m alone, and you and Danaus are the only ones strong enough to take on Veyron. Besides, he said that you’re the keeper of the domain now. Can’t you just order him to release me?”

“I can order him to release you, but if he wants to be able to show his face in this city again, he has to challenge me for you. And truth be told, I don’t want you. I’ve got enough problems on my hands already. I don’t need to add to them.”

“But I won’t be a burden to you. I will leave Budapest. I will go somewhere far from here, like Paris or London or maybe even New York. I will never come to this city again,” she promised.

I turned on my heel and shook my head at her. “Do you honestly think that it’s going to work that way? Once Veyron hears that you’re out of my direct care and supervision, he will come after you again. And then he will kill you to prove that I wasn’t able to protect something that was supposed to be mine.”

“But I don’t want to be your pet,” Sofia said in a breathless whisper.

“And I don’t want you either, but you turned to another nightwalker for help. That means I have to steal you away from Veyron to protect you.”

“But I ran away. You didn’t steal me.”

“Keeping you alive, keeping you safe, means stealing you from him.”

“We could just kill Veyron and then you wouldn’t have to worry about protecting her,” Danaus suggested.

Sofia twisted in her seat and placed a hand over Danaus’s hand. “Must you? He didn’t treat me that poorly. I don’t think he deserves to die because I made a mistake.”

“I see no reason to kill Veyron,” I said. “With the naturi dead, I’m prepared to leave Budapest and not look back. The coven is a more pressing matter for us.”

“Then send her to Savannah,” Danaus suggested.

“No!”

“Mira—”

“Absolutely not. If she boards my plane, she’s going to Venice, and that’s where she’s going to stay.”

“Oh, please no,” she pleaded. At the suggestion, the woman grew considerably paler as she clenched both of her hands in her lap.

“She wouldn’t survive in Venice with the others,” Danaus said, “particularly since I know that you have no intention of remaining there.”

“I won’t take her to Savannah and she can’t remain in Budapest. That only leaves Venice,” I argued, struggling to keep the smile off my lips. There was something very appealing about sending a helpless Sofia to Venice. Deep down, I knew that I couldn’t and wouldn’t drop her off in Venice. I had moments when I could be truly cold-hearted, but there were limitations to even my vicious nature. She wouldn’t survive her first night in Venice and we all knew it.

Unfortunately, I was still stuck with trying to come up with someplace to send her where she would be out of my hair, and preferably away from Danaus. Furthermore, the place had to be secure from a potential attack from Veyron should I decide to leave the nightwalker alive. At the moment I didn’t care one way or the other. I just wanted to get home again, and now that the naturi were dead, I had no reason to remain in Budapest beyond giving Macaire a chance to kill me.

“Why not send her to Themis?” I suggested.

Danaus pushed away from the table and rose to his feet, looking far from pleased with my idea. “You want to put her in Ryan’s hands?”

“She’s a human who knows about our world. I can wipe her memory and set her free, but that’s not going to keep her safe from Veyron and anyone else who might know about her. Ryan can watch over her, while she gives the researchers some interesting little tidbits about my world. It’s a brilliant idea.”

“It’s a terrible idea.”

“You had no problem putting Lily in his hands,” I accused, hating to even say the child’s name out loud. She didn’t need to be brought into this conversation, but it didn’t make any sense to me that Danaus would be willing to send something dear and precious to us to Ryan, but not this creature.

“Lily was going there under the protection of your name. I know that you wouldn’t do the same for Sofia. Ryan doesn’t owe me any favors and he’s not trying to cultivate my friendship. Sofia would not have the same security that Lily would have had.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore. If she doesn’t want to stay in Budapest, then she goes to Themis and is out of my hair as far as I’m concerned,” I said, throwing my arms up in the air. “In truth it doesn’t matter to me since she’s not going back to Savannah, which is where I am headed after this coven nonsense is finished.”

I cocked my head to the side and stretched out my powers as I felt a shifting in the air. Danaus grew instantly quiet when I raised my hand. Someone was coming, and I preferred that they did not catch us in the middle of this particular conversation. Sofia looked from me to Danaus, her expression growing tense.

A couple of seconds later both Stefan and Macaire appeared in the hotel room. A part of me had secretly hoped that the coven Elder had returned to Venice where he belonged, but apparently he was lingering in Budapest to make sure that whatever trap he’d set was properly sprung on Danaus and me. A frown pulled at the corners of my lips at Valerio’s painful absence. The nightwalker had been my personal pocket of mischievous joy when he was around, and now I was just stuck with two nightwalkers that wanted me dead and a hunter that was trying to get me killed.

“How is he?” I asked, content to ignore Macaire for the time being.

“He’ll live,” Stefan replied as he unbuttoned his winter coat to reveal a handsome dark suit. “He fed heavily last night and I saw to it that he fed again as soon as I rose. He just needs another night of rest and food before he travels again.”

“That is a shame about Valerio,” Macaire murmured, rubbing one gloved hand against his chin.

“Valerio will be fine,” I said firmly, fighting to keep from clenching my teeth whenever I spoke to the Elder. “The important part is that we have rid the city of the naturi. I need to still make a few phone calls to get arrangements in place, but Danaus and I will be returning to Venice tonight. I’m sure you two gentlemen can manage on your own. In fact, there’s nothing keeping you here now.”

“We’re leaving Budapest?” Stefan demanded first, his mouth falling open in shock.

I nodded at him, but turned my gaze directly on Macaire, who was looking less than pleased by my announcement. “As I recall, the only reason for our coming to Budapest in the first place was the naturi infestation, which has now been cleared out. There is no reason for me to linger in this city any longer. We were to reconvene in Venice, and then Danaus and I will be returning home to Savannah.”