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“How did you know this?” he asked.
“My parents are archaeologists. I grew up surrounded by books and history.”
“I see,” he said. “And you were interested.”
“Just random facts. I’m no archaeologist,” I said. “Just like watching nature documentaries doesn’t make me a zoologist.”
“What is a degree,” he asked, “but a collection of facts?”
I didn’t think I’d ever had anyone respect me for my knowledge, and here was this vampire with who knows how many degrees, doing just that. My cheeks heated but I couldn’t help a pleased smile.
The waitress brought our coffee, and he released my hands. I added sugar and milk to mine. I was amused to see Roman also added several sugar packets.
“Like it sweet, do you?”
“Only way I can stand coffee. I prefer tea.”
“Then why didn’t you order it?”
He grinned. “Because I was distracted looking at you.”
Okay, then. My cheeks were going to get even redder. “So you were saying how you got turned?”
“Yes,” he said. “We lived on the streets for some time, but when we were teens we ran into a nobleman. Amen took us in because he thought twins were lucky.”
“Oh, well, that was lucky.”
“Not so much,” Roman said, his lips twisting at the memory. “He didn’t exactly adopt us to do housework.”
I reached out a hand and squeezed his. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “It's far in the past.”
“If it’s too painful,” I said, “you don’t have to tell me.”
“Our sire hated the nobleman and schemed to take everything away from him, including us,” Roman said. “He turned us to make Amen pay.”
“Then did you live with the vampire?”
“For a time, we traveled with him and then we struck out on our own. I haven’t seen our sire in a long time. It could be that he’s gone now.”
I nodded. It sounded horrible, but I hoped things were better for Roman now. He seemed happy working at the aquarium and doing his work. That reminded me. “Is the aquarium alright? Was there a lot of damage from the attacks yesterday?”
“Yes,” he said. “But we were able to put it to rights.”
“The animals?”
“It will be some time before they are willing to come back, I’m afraid.” He sighed. “Hudson did what he could to calm them, but it was traumatic.”
“How does Hudson calm them?”
Roman chuckled. “He says he speaks the language of the sea.”
I smiled. “You don’t really hate him, do you?”
“Hudson?”
“Yes.”
