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Chapter3

3

QUICKLY I REGAINED htest intention of looking away Nevertheless, I looked him up and down because I couldn't help it, and because he was as breathtaking as he has always described himself to be, and I had to see hi I ever saw

His skin was a pale golden that offset his violet blue eyes wonderfully, and his hair was a truejust above his shoulders His colored glasses, almost the same violet tint as his eyes, were pushed up into his hair, and he was staring atperhaps for ain my senses; I honestly didn't know

Quickly I realized he earing the black velvet jacket with the cameo buttons that had been his costume in the Chronicle called Merrick, each little cameo almost certainly of sardonyx, the coat itself very fancy with its pinched waist and flaring skirt His linen shirt was open at the throat; his gray pants weren't important and neither were his black boots

What engraved itself into my consciousness was his face -- square and taut, the eyes very big and the well-shaped mouth voluptuous, and the jaw somewhat hard, the wholethan he could ever have claimed

In fact, his own descriptions of hih certainly a handful of obvious blessings, were ignited by a potent inner fire

He wasn't staring atme anymore with his hand

I cursed myself, from the pit of my heart, that I was taller than he was, that he was in fact looking up at me Maybe he'd cheerfully obliterate me on that account alone

"The letter," I staroped, and roped, I couldn't reach insidein fear

And as I stood there shivering and sweating, he reached inside ernails

"This is for me, is it, Tarquin Blackwood?" he asked His voice had a touch of the French accent, no more He smiled suddenly and he looked as if he couldn't hurt anyone for the world He was too attractive, too friendly, too young But the smile vanished as quickly as it had come

"Yes," I said Or rather it was a stutter "The letter, please read it " I faltered, then pressed on "Before youmake up your mind "

He tucked the letter into his own inside pocket and then he turned to Stirling, who sat dazed and silent, eyes cloudy, his hands clinging to the back of the chair before the desk The back was like a shield in front of hih a useless one as I well knew

Lestat's eyes fixed on ain: