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“I felt an overwhels Of her fear, no, not yet, though I couldn’t believe when I looked into his eyes that he’d tried to wield this power over her: his eyes said, Live His eyes said, Learn And oh, how much I wanted to confide to hi all these years, I’d been astonished to discover those vampires above had made of ih this sadness, this confusion, came the clear realization: Why should it be otherwise? What had I expected? What right had I to be so bitterly disappointed in Lestat that I would let him die Because he wouldn’t shohat I must find in myself? Armand’s words, what had they been? The only power that exists is inside ourselves…

“ ‘Listen to me,’ he said now ‘YouYou would yield to me noere I to question you Look into my eyes’

“I didn’t do this I fined s above his desk until it ceased to be the Madonna and Child and became a har to me was true

“ ‘Stop them if you will, advise them that we don’t mean any harm Why can’t you do this? You say yourself we’re not your enemies, no matter e’ve done…’

“I could hear hi,’ he said ‘But I don’t want such power over them as would be necessary to stop them entirely Because if I exercise such power, then I must protect it I will make enemies And I would have forever to deal with my enemies when all I want here as a certain space, a certain peace Or not to be here at all I accept the scepter of sorts they’ve given me, but not to rule over them, only to keep them at a distance’

“ ‘I should have known,’ I said,

“ ‘Then, youone of the oldest, and she is jealous of the child’s beauty And Santiago, as you can see, is only waiting for a shred of proof that you’re outlaws’

“I turned slowly and looked at hiain where he sat with that eerie vampire stillness, as if he were in fact not alive at all The thened I heard his words just as if he were speaking theain: ‘All I want here is a certain space, a certain peace Or not to be here at all’ And I felt a longing for hith to contain it,it I wanted it to be this way: Claudia safe aht ever discover froht be free, free to re as I could be welcome, even tolerated, allowed here on any condition whatsoever

“I could see that ain as if he were not asleep on the bed but kneeling at Armand’s side with his arms around Armand’s neck It was an icon for me of love The love I felt Not physical love, you h Armand was beautiful and simple, and no intimacy with him woul

d ever have been repellent For va, the kill I speak of another kind of love which drew me to him coe would never be withheld by Arh a pane of glass so that I row I shut ht I heard him speak, so faintly I wasn’t certain It seemed he said, ‘Do you knohy I am here?’

“I looked up at hihts, could actually read them, if such could conceivably be the extent of that power Now after all these years I could forgive Lestat for being nothing but an ordinary creature who could not show ed for this, could fall into it without resistance A sadness pervaded it all, sadness for my oeakness and my oful dilehter and my love

“ ‘What ao away from you? After all these years…’

“ ‘They don’t matter to you,’ he said

“I smiled and nodded

“ ‘What is it you want to do?’ he asked And his voice assuentle, sympathetic tone