Silence hung thickly over the kitchen as Louisa turned her attention to rearranging the tray. Oliver wasn’t certain if she hadn’t heard him or if she was ignoring his question. Probably the latter if the way she carefully kept her gaze away from him was any indication.
He was about to drop it when Louisa said, “Many things, some things I don’t even know about. Felipe keeps his cards close to his chest, but I know they have not always been good to him. I witnessed some of it. We lived with his family for a short time after we gotmarried, before we came to New York, you know. I didn’t really want to, but we had to stay somewhere until we could get the money from selling my half of my father’s ranch and find out if the Paranormal Society would hire Felipe. His mother and aunts were welcoming and treated me kindly, but that kindness came with conditions.”
As he listened, Oliver kept a tight grip on his mounting anxiety. The other side of the tether no longer prickled with agitation, and he didn’t want Felipe coming in to check on him. Taking the empty carafe from the counter, Oliver put it under the spigot and tried not to let his imagination wander to the worst possibilities. The warm porcelain beneath his hands and the smell of coffee grounded him, but he didn’t like where this was going.
“What kind of conditions?”
“Some were the usual expectations one has for married couples. There was pressure to contribute to the next generation of Galvans by having children. A self-healer and a jaguar shifter could be very useful to them, but we had no intention of taking our sham marriage that far. There was obviously pressure on me to have children and be a good wife, but it was worse for Felipe. At some point, he had become the golden boy who would carry on the Galvan legacy in his grandfather’s stead after he passed. Felipe always seemed baffled as to how it happened, but with every year, his family’s expectations grew. He didn’t want to be the next one to lead the family, not that he could tell any of them that, so while he was busy, I snuck around and arranged our escape. Sometimes, it pays to be underestimated and overlooked. When we told them we were leaving, their good will evaporated. You have to understand, Oliver, no one left the family unless they were cast out, so Felipe, the heir to the Galvan legacy, choosing to leave in order to work for strangers they despised was a betrayal of the highest order.”
“Did— did they hurt him?” Oliver asked in a whisper.
“When we left? No, not physically at least, though his cousins and uncle would have gladly done so if his grandfather let them.” Taking the full carafe from Oliver’s hands, Louisa sighed. “Something happened when we were sixteen or seventeen, though I don’t knowwhat, and things changed with Felipe. He was my best friend growing up. He would come with his mother to tend to my father when he had flare-ups of his illness. Around that time, he came less because he stopped coming with her for healer training and instead trained with the men. He started acting differently, too. He was still charming and chatty, but there was a wariness he hadn’t had before.
“Whatever happened, my father saw it or knew about it. So much of my childhood is a blur, but I vividly remember my father storming into the house one morning and saying, ‘We need to get that boy away from them before they ruin him.’ My father was never a man prone to anger or outbursts, but he was livid with the Galvans for whatever they did to Felipe. When I asked what happened, he said some things were better left not known. Not long after that, he mentioned that it might be beneficial to both of us if I married Felipe. As a married woman, I would get the autonomy and protection I needed, and Felipe would have someone to help him gain his independence. I might butt heads with Felipe, but he’s a far better man here than he ever would have been if he stayed with them.” Meeting Oliver’s gaze, Louisa said, “To answer your original question, Oliver, his parents are selfish people who are better off forgotten. Having Teresa only made it clearer to me how awful they are. Ultimately, they have no place in my life or Teresa’s life, and Felipe’s choice to keep them in his is wholly his own.”
Oliver nodded, though he had far more questions than answers, ones he wasn’t certain he could even ask Felipe.
Louisa gave his shoulder a solid pat. “This is why you’re good for him. You’re the opposite of them, and he needs that.” At the distant whine of the dining room door, Louisa hefted the laden tray and held it out for Oliver to carry. “We had better get back. If Agatha finds us and realizes we’ve been talking about our families, she’ll want to tell you all about her four brothers. They’re all lovely, but I have other things I would rather talk about.”
Oliver trailed behind Louisa as she herded Pastel and Kuchen out of his path. Logically, he knew Felipe had a past before they met. Thirty years of his life were spent before Oliver ever came to the ParanormalSociety, and even those ten years of proximity had gaps Oliver would never be able to fill in, nor did he truly want to. Felipe Galvan had always just been the investigator with the nice smile who treated him kindly until he was something more. Of course, he had heard the rumors about Inspector Galvan’s body count or his feats of daring, things whispered with equal parts reverence and horror, but Oliver had been the subject of rumors too. While there may have been a kernel of truth at their core, he didn’t believe the gossip when it didn’t align with what he saw with his own eyes. On the other hand, when the Galvans were mentioned at the society, it was almost always with distaste. They were monster hunters who clung to the old ways and dealt with their quarries far more harshly and swiftly than the Paranormal Society. In a nebulous way, Oliver knew Felipe was one of them, but he couldn’t reconcile the caring, loving man he knew with the things he had heard.
As he entered the parlor, Oliver caught Felipe mid-laugh. The tether tightened beneath his heart until it ached. The things he had heard about the Galvans were so far removed from his experiences growing up with his Quaker grandmother that Oliver couldn’t put a shape to the story Louisa had told him, yet somehow, those blurs and blanks only made it far worse. When Felipe glanced up from the article Agatha was showing him and saw Oliver in the doorway, a look full of relief and warmth broke across his features. Whatever had happened to Felipe in the past, Oliver would make sure no one hurt him ever again.
Chapter Seven
More at Stake
Drawing in a long, slow breath as he headed to the foyer, Felipe tried to beat back the bursts of adrenaline squeezing across the tether like clots. Ever since they finished packing their bags after work, the trip to Aldorhaven had finally become real to Oliver, and with that came an unending stream of anxiety. They had discussed the plan to help him calm down: they would drive to Aldorhaven, go to the Allen Inn, get settled, then speak to Lewis Allen about what was going on before probably visiting the cemetery to investigate the corpses. Talking it out seemed to help Oliver calm down, as did Felipe’s attempts to tire him out, but he still tossed and turned the entire night. By breakfast, the anxiety was back with a vengeance. Traveling was already difficult for Oliver due to the change of routine and uncertainty. Felipe understood that, but he knew it was the weight of the case and potentially meeting his father’s family that spurred his heart to an unhealthy pace.
He was about to pull Oliver aside into the stairwell to calm himdown again when Oliver took off into the foyer. “Gwen, what are you doing here, and why do you have a trunk?”
“Because I’m coming with you, and I can’t wear the same outfit all week,” she said primly as she smoothed her traveling coat and skirts. Arching a challenging brow, she rose from where she perched on her trunk and glared up at Oliver. “And before you tell me I’m not coming because I’m not on the case, I have been approved to accompany you in order to do field research for my vampire book.”
“But it could be dangerous. We’re— we’re going to a murder town!”
“I’m well aware, but I seem to recall that I held my own against Jed Monroe far better than you did.”
As Oliver sputtered and tried to argue, Felipe released a resigned sigh and dropped his valise at his feet. They would be at it a while, but at least the anxiety finally let up.
“Aren’t you going to try to stop her, Inspector Galvan?”
Felipe looked over his shoulder to find the head librarian watching him curiously. He hadn’t heard him or felt him coming, but Mr. Turpin moved like a cat. Felipe didn’t know how many times he had appeared over his shoulder in the library and caught him unawares. The old man had never been Felipe’s biggest fan, but the feeling was mutual. He was a know-it-all who seemed to take pleasure in putting Felipe in his place, yet it was clear he liked Oliver. Turpin had done his best to help Oliver find more information on necromancy and put some of his fears to rest after he told him about Felipe’s accidental reanimation. As much as Felipe hated to admit it, he owed Mr. Turpin for not telling anyone their secret.
“I don’t think I could stop Miss Jones even if I wanted to,” Felipe murmured, watching Gwen and Oliver bicker. “Are you here to stop her?”
“No. I’m merely here to throw my weight around in case you or Dr. Barlow try to bar her from herfield researchexpedition.”
“Not to question yourjudgment—”
“Yet here we are.”
“Butare you sure it’s wise for Miss Jones to come with us? I know Oliver isn’t a seasoned investigator either, but the case might be more dangerous than a vampire panic. Aldorhaven is a murder town, and I don’t want her to get hurt.”
“While I appreciate your genuine concern, Inspector Galvan, I am more than aware of where you are going and what you will face while you’re there,” Turpin said.
When Felipe turned to face him, Mr. Turpin’s form seemed to grow. Felipe tried not to let his alarm show as his danger senses rang like the all-hands bell. The head librarian’s blue eyes bore into him, pinning him in place, and for a moment, he seemed unfathomable. Older than time, no more knowable than the sea or the sky, a being tired of making itself small for his convenience.
Holding Felipe’s gaze in an iron grip, Mr. Turpin continued, “There are greater things at stake than the dead, and Dr. Barlow will need every ally at his disposal to fulfill his role in all of this, as will you. I take no pleasure in putting Miss Jones in harm’s way, but you of all people understand some risks are necessary for the greater good. I trust you can protect both of them, inspector?”
