“ ‘On your suit,’ I said, ‘blood.’

“ ‘You just can’t resist white clothes, can you?’ she asked, but she didn’t seem angry. ‘Let me ask you something. And answer me truthfully or not at all. Why did you leave us?’

“I thought for a long moment. Then I said, ‘I wanted to be with my aunt. I had no real choice in the matter. And there were others. You know this already.’

“ ‘But weren’t we interesting to you?’ she asked. ‘After all, you might have asked me to bring you home now and then. Surely you know my powers are very great.’

“I shook my head.

“ ‘I don’t blame you for turning your back on me,’ she said, ‘but to turn your back on one as wise as Arion? That seems rash to me.’

“ ‘You’re probably right, but for now I have to be here. Then later perhaps I can bring my suit to Arion.’

“She smiled. She shrugged. ‘Very well. I leave you the Hermitage, my boy,’ she said. And she was gone just as if she had vanished. And so our one brief visit ended.

“And so my story is at an end.”

CHAPTER 44

44

I SAT THERE in silence. We had perhaps two hours before dawn, and I felt that all my life was pressed against my heart, and, though I was a sinner, I had not sinned in holding anything back. It was all laid out before me. I wondered if Goblin was near me in any form. I wondered whether or not he could have been listening.

Lestat, who had been quiet this whole time, waited for a long moment in silence. Then he spoke up.

“Your epilogue was very thorough, but you haven’t mentioned one person. What has become of Mona Mayfair?”

I winced.

“I have never received another E-mail or phone call from Mona, and for that I thank God. However, periodically Michael or Rowan will call. I find myself trembling as I listen. Will these powerful witches pick up something from the timbre of my voice? But it doesn’t seem so. They tell me the latest. Mona is in isolation. Mona is on dialysis. Mona is not in any pain.

“About six months ago, maybe more, I received a typewritten letter from Rowan, written on behalf of Mona, explaining that Mona had had a hysterectomy, and that Mona wanted me to know. ‘Beloved Abelard, I release you from any and all promises,’ Mona had dictated to Rowan. They had hoped the operation would help Mona, but it hadn’t. Mona needed dialysis more and more often. There were still medications they could try.