64 Lucian

Lucian was not sure if he had been talking to himself or Caroline when he goaded the girl into doing something for herself. Was it not he who had been managing Castle Mont for the last century while Marcaius took his pleasures at the King's court? Was it not he who taught Ender how to live as a vampire when their father made him only to abandon his brother immediately after? 

Yes, Lucian thought, as much as Caroline deserved a night off from oppressing responsibility, he did too. Even if it was a human festival in a moderately sized town, a far cry from the ballrooms he was used to, the summer night held a promise of something Lucian had not felt since his youth.