Beside me, Macaire pushed to his feet as the music shifted. He turned to me and offered his hand. “It’s been years since I enjoyed a waltz. Will you join me?”
I hated the fact that I hesitated. I knew that I was safe here at the ball and would easily be protected by the crowd of humans, but I still didn’t trust him. He had to know that he was close to finally being rid of me. With stomach churning, I placed my cold hand in his and rose gracefully to my feet. We wordlessly walked out to the center of the dance floor and twirled about the area in an elegant waltz that was a faint echo of days long past. Like Macaire, it had been centuries since I had last waltzed as well.
A faint smile lifted my lips against my will as the memory of my last waltz spun through my brain.
“What happy memory has gripped you?” Macaire inquired.
“My last waltz,” I replied. “With Valerio, in the middle of a dirty, blood-splattered alley in Munich too many years ago. We had spent an enjoyable evening out and he started humming a waltz.”
“It is a shame about what happened to Valerio. The naturi, particularly this Rowe, are becoming quite a nuisance,” Macaire said, clucking his tongue.
The naturi were far more than a bloody nuisance, but then Macaire wasn’t the one being hunted by a fanatic and their queen. The naturi were a danger to our entire race along with the human race. To make matters worse, they risked exposing our secret as the battles grew bigger and closer to major cities. It was too early for the Great Awakening. The humans just weren’t ready to know about us yet without it exploding in our faces.
I shook my head, hating to get into this argument while on the dance floor. “We need to develop a plan to go after Aurora. Once she is finally destroyed, we may finally be able to properly handle them. The naturi may be content to slip back into the quiet oblivion of the woods. They lived for centuries that way when the worlds were closed. I’m sure they can do it again.”
“You’re suggesting coexistence.”
“I wouldn’t mind if we quietly whittled down their numbers over the years, but if we’re not careful, we risk all-out war, which would eventually expose us to the humans.”
“Yes, it is too soon for that,” Macaire agreed, surprisingly. But then, his life was quite comfortable now without the humans knowing. Why rock the boat? He only needed to get rid of Jabari and me. Then, with any luck, his own coven could move in and take over after wiping out our constantly absent liege and the all too quiet Elizabeth.
“I would like to see the coven start making plans for the hunting and destruction of Aurora when we return,” I said. “Her death should dishearten the rest of the naturi and cause them to return to the shadows.”
“What about this Rowe? He seems quite powerful and determined to have your head at any cost,” Macaire suggested.
“He will, naturally, be eliminated with Aurora. I don’t think the naturi would rally around him, considering that he’s been exiled, but I’d rather not take the chance.”
“I think you should definitely bring up your thoughts before the coven when we return,” Macaire said.
I wanted to snicker. If I survived my time in Budapest, I had now developed a new role for myself in his life. I had no doubt that in his mind I’d become the one that would hunt down Aurora and kill her. But then I had always known that would be my job in the end. I had come the closest so far, and in truth I wanted to be the one that killed her.
As the music ended, Macaire and I bowed to each other and then silently returned to the raised platform.
We remained at the ball until a couple hours before sunrise. As we stepped outside of the ballroom, Macaire disappeared from sight, heading off to whatever location he was using for his daytime rest. Stefan offered me his hand with a smirk before we disappeared and reappeared in my hotel room. The nightwalker gave me a quick nod and then disappeared again, heading to his own secret daytime lair.
I frowned. The hotel room was completely empty. Unfortunately, the room was still in such disarray that I couldn’t tell if there had been a struggle. Closing my eyes, I reached out for Danaus.
Where are you? I demanded when I finally reached him.
Getting Sofia settled, he replied immediately, to my relief. We’re in a hotel near the airport outside of the city. She’s getting on a plane for London just after sunrise.
You’re sending her to Themis?
Just to London. If she wishes to seek out the researchers of Themis, that is her decision. I don’t want her to be linked to us if she falls in with Ryan.
I would have preferred to wipe her memory before she arrived in London, but there wasn’t time for me to get across town and back before the sun rose. I’d be cutting it far too close, and there were too many in this town that already wanted me dead.
Did you have any problems with Veyron’s men? I inquired.
None. I should be back to the hotel by sunrise to watch over you. I want to see her safely on the plane.
I cut off the connection between us before I said something snide. Shuffling into the bedroom, I pulled off my boots and removed all of my knives before plopping down on the bed. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to ignore the growing anxiety within my chest. Would Danaus return to my side before the sun rose? I knew that I could always contact Stefan and have him take me to Valerio, but I tapped down the urge. The hunter had promised to protect me. I would hold onto that promise as I let sleep finally take me.
Chapter Twenty-Four
My ribs throbbed as if some of them had been broken. I lay with my eyes closed, mentally searching out the pain. It didn’t make any sense. My ribs hadn’t been injured at the Solstice Ball and yet I could tell that at least two were in the process of mending.
“Get the hell up!” shouted an angry voice. “The sun set more than an hour ago. I want to get out of here.”
I lurched into an upright position and instantly regretted it as pain shot through my frame from my fractured ribs. My head knocked against a cold concrete wall as I tried to inch back down, creating a new pain that succeeded in scattering my already broken thoughts. I blinked and looked around the small dark room. Instead of pastel walls and heavy curtains, there were plain concrete walls and a steel door with a small window at the top. I was in a dungeon of some sort.
Standing in the far corner with eyes narrowed on my prone body was Rowe. I dug my heels into the concrete floor and pushed so I nearly slid up the wall in my desperation to put some distance between myself and the lethal naturi. Panic spread through my frame as a cold sweat broke out down my back. I had been trapped with my enemy while asleep. I had been completely vulnerable, and yet Rowe hadn’t killed me, for some bizarre reason.
“What are you doing here? Where am I?” I demanded when I finally found my voice. I couldn’t understand it. The last thing I remembered was falling asleep on the bed in my hotel room. Had someone grabbed me when I was unconscious? Had someone touched me and brought me here to this concrete prison?
“You’re here for me to kill,” Rowe sneered.
“Where’s here? Where are we? Who brought me here?” I fired back at him, my brain chunking along at a slow pace because I just couldn’t accept the notion that someone had gotten to me when I was at my weakest. Why hadn’t Danaus been there to protect me? Why hadn’t . . .
Because he had been busy protecting Sofia, I thought dismally. Something inside of me broke. I slid back down the walls to sit on my heels, hanging my head down so Rowe couldn’t see the tears in my eyes. Danaus had abandoned me for a human, and I’d been captured as a result. Or worse, Danaus had been killed while protecting Sofia. A part of me didn’t want to try to reach out and discover whether he was still there. I couldn’t decide which was worse: his death or his betrayal.