“Alice is a witch. My grandmother saved her from being burned at the stake in Salem not long after we arrived in the colonies.”
Delaney downed the last of her hot chocolate. Too bad the cup was so small. “Why aren’t any of you married? Or is Sebastian married?”
“He was.” Hugh seemed lost in thought for a moment. “She left him.”
“Because he became a vampire?”
“No.” Hugh’s gaze pinned her. “Because she did.”
He got up and walked toward the French doors. “This life holds a thousand temptations. She wanted to try them all and being married didn’t fit into that plan.”
Maybe that’s why Hugh was in no hurry to get married. “I’m sorry for your brother. That kind of betrayal sucks. Hard.”
Hugh turned to look at her. “You sound like you know that from experience.”
She nodded and stared at her hands. She didn’t tell a lot of people about her past, didn’t want them to pity her for it, but Hugh wasn’t just anyone. He’d already forgiven her lying to him and was now actively protecting her by letting her stay here. “My mother found out she had breast cancer when I was fourteen. Six months later, my father couldn’t handle it. He was there one day and gone the next.”
Hugh sat on the couch with her but kept his distance. “That must have devastated your mum. How did it affect her recovery? Has she remarried?”
Because he’d assumed her mother had lived, Delaney smiled, but her lips stayed pressed together. “She didn’t recover. She died a month after my fifteenth birthday. My father was—is a defense contractor. He’d taken a job in Korea. Still lives there now. He didn’t come home for her funeral.”
“Sounds like a proper bastard.”
“That’s a pretty decent assessment.” Her eyes were hot with tears. She blinked them away.
“What did you do after your mum died?”
“I went to live with my grandmother in Brooklyn. She passed away three years ago. It was a good life considering.”
“Have you seen your father since?”
She nodded. “The summer after I graduated high school, he married a Korean woman.”
Hugh’s brows knit together. “Don’t tell me you went to the wedding?”
“Yep. Purely for selfish reasons. He paid for the ticket and I really wanted to see Korea. I had a bit of an ulterior motive, though. When they got to the part of the service about anyone objecting, I stood up and told him exactly what I thought about him, his treatment of my mother and his failure to show up at the funeral.”
“You didn’t.”
“I did.” She smiled, but bent her head. “It’s the moment in my life I’m probably most and least proud of.”
His eyes shone with admiration. “I’m proud of you for doing it, and I’ve only known you a few days. That took courage.”
“And a couple shots of soju.”
He laughed. “That’s some strong stuff. Even so, good for you.” He stretched his arm along the back of the couch, his face going serious again. “Between your father and your cheating ex-boyfriend, you must not think much of men.”
She lifted her gaze to see him better. “I know those two don’t represent every man. But it’s certainly given me a lot to think about.”
“Understandable.”
She sat up straighter and tipped her head. “Why aren’t you married? You said you were twenty-seven when you were turned. Isn’t that sort of old for a nobleman in the 1600s to be single?”
He went very still, his eyes focused on some spot on the cushion between them. “I was married.”
That was…unexpected. But sensing he had more to say, she stayed quiet and gave him the time to find the words.
After a long pause, Hugh spoke again. “She died.”
The cold, familiar bands of pain wrapped Hugh’s heart, but Delaney deserved to have her questions answered. He just hadn’t expected to breach this topic so soon.
“I’m so sorry, Hugh.”
He nodded, the muscles in his jaw tensing against the ache in his soul.
“Was it the plague too?”
And there it was. The one question he most dreaded to answer. Because the full truth would frighten her away more than anything else he might say. “No.”
Desperate to change the subject, he took her hand. “If you’re not sleepy, would you like to go into town?”
She frowned. “Won’t everything be closed?”
“Not everything.” He smiled. She was extraordinarily pretty. And open-minded enough to stay even after he’d confessed his true self. “Now that you know the secret of Nocturne Falls, there’s a whole other side I can show you.”
Intrigue danced in her eyes. “Like what?”
“There’s a place called Insomnia. Horrible name, I know, but it’s a members-only club, and the only members allowed are supernaturals. And guests of supernaturals.”
“Not Piper then?”
“Definitely not Piper.” In the name of all that was holy, please not Piper. He wasn’t sure he could take another minute of that woman right now.
Delaney bit her pinkie finger, giving him a glimpse of her tongue. He was going to kiss her again before the night was over, that much he knew. “So…will there be other vampires there?”
“Probably. And shifters and fae and witches, and who knows what else. Interested?”