More laughter and conversation ensued, though I eventually grew quiet and simply listened. Maybe I could be the life of the party, like Seth had said, but this group could do okay without me. I took a certain amount of contentment by being back with them and having our lives returned to normal—such as they were. I could never be human again, but these were the people I wanted to be damned with.

At one point, I got up to trade my empty glass for water and discovered Hugh had followed me into the kitchen. He still looked troubled. The others were laughing and talking, providing cover for our conversation.

“What’s going on?” I asked. “I thought you’d be happy.”

“I am, I am,” he said. “Believe me, I am. God, that was miserable.”

I couldn’t help a smile. Hugh had hit his stride with being a lesser immortal. He was past the novice stages of Cody and Tawny and could fully reap the benefits of his position. However, he wasn’t old enough to have acquired all the jaded centuries Peter and I had. Out of all of us, I didn’t doubt that Hugh had suffered the most.

“Then what’s going on?”

He hesitated, and again, I was struck by how out of character he was behaving. “Georgina, has Seth done anything . . . bad lately? Rob a bank? Cheat on taxes?”

“Of course not,” I said, more confused than ever.

“Has he . . . or well . . . did he do anything, uh, bad with you?”

To my chagrin, I blushed. You’d think nothing would make a succubus self-conscious, but I still tried to maintain that line between my private and business sex lives. My silent response was enough for Hugh.

“Fuck.”

“What?” I asked. “We did it when I was in stasis. I didn’t take any of his energy. I didn’t shorten his life. And we haven’t done it since Jerome came back. It’s over. He’s back with Maddie.”

Hugh raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I realized how impossible it was for us and convinced him to go back to her. I really laid on the guilt.” Just mentioning what had happened made me ache all over again.

“I’m sure you did,” Hugh said dryly.

“What do you mean?”

“Georgina . . .” He sighed. “There’s no easy way to explain this. When I first met Seth, his soul was like . . . a supernova. It lit up a room. That guy had such a generous spirit, it was insane.”

Had.

“And now?” The answer was slowly creeping in on me.

“Now, there’s a shadow on him. A stain on his soul. He cheated on Maddie with you . . . and is back with her, keeping that from her . . .”

The room started swaying, and I forced myself to focus on Hugh. “What we did, it wasn’t sleazy. We are . . . were . . . in love. It was sweet—that is, it meant something.”