Lucrezia took another drink. "I think you owe me a few answers in exchange first," she said. She was not particularly thrilled with having laid out what was arguably a vulnerability in front of him, and did not really want to answer that question.

There were things that Cesare had not been able to tell her, particularly about Eric. (And Michael had seemed to know more than he was willing to tell her, which did not surprise her.) And now she was curious about him, not just vampires.

"How old are you?" she asked.