“Marius will gather the Council together,” said Kapetria, “and he will do all the work of making a credo for them and rules, and means of punishing offenders and he will see that it’s done with dignity and honor. But Marius is angry, angry at the other old ones. He’s angry that for centuries they never came forward to help him with the keeping of the Queen when Amel was inside her. They watched from afar but they never helped. It’s all in their pages. You can read it later for yourself.”

“Why didn’t they help him?” asked Derek. He spoke as softly as she spoke.

“That’s a question only they can answer,” said Kapetria. She let go of the sheer curtain, and sat down again, holding the backs of her arms. “Whatever the case, Marius will do the work that has to be done. But it’s the Prince who holds it all together. And the Prince loves Marius and that’s enough for Marius to do what has to be done.”

“Gravitas,” said Derek. He stood there looking down at her. “Marius has gravitas.”

Kapetria smiled. “Yes, that’s the old Roman word for what he possesses, isn’t it?”

Derek nodded. He thought in a vague way of all the books he’d read in Spanish and English before that horrid monster, Roland, had captured him like a little bird between two cupped hands. He thought of all he’d learned when it just did not seem to matter, as he’d roamed all alone searching and dreaming of beings he thought he might never find again. Well, that was over now, and all that he’d read would come alive for him now, wouldn’t it, in new and wondrous ways. He wanted to read the vampire pages as Kapetria always called them. He wanted to read poetry and history and all the books on the legend of Atlantis that she had described to him, the books she’d read and studied in Matilde’s library in the town of Bolinas, California, where Kapetria and Welf had come to shore like lovers carved in stone. He wanted to go to all those places Kapetria had described to him where she had gone trying to find remnants of “the lost kingdom of Atlantis.” And he wanted with all his heart to hear the voice of Amel. If only the Prince had let Derek hear that voice. If only there had been no pain.

He realized that Kapetria was smiling at him in the most affectionate way. The warmth, the sense of safety, the sense of being able to be happy again, swept over Derek. Kapetria stood and kissed him.

“Beautiful boy,” she said.