Tempting Fate (101 page)

Until you write, and we get together again, I’ll close for now. There’s a lot I want to tell you, but it will wait until we can see each other face to face.

With all my love,

Your cousin James

Epilogue

Text of a letter from Madelaine de Montalia to le Comte de Saint-Germain.

Athens

September 21, 1928

My dearest Saint-Germain;

Yes, I will indeed be in Paris by the 2nd of November, and I am more than delighted to attend the gala with you. Do you remember the gala given for me in November when I was still alive? You had written that opera for me, on
Persephone,
and they sang it for me. You had that wonderful castrato Ombrasalice sing Pluton, and he did it so well, and so elegantly. No one has ever given me such a gift, and no one ever will again. I have had so much from you that I cherish with all my heart and that will give me joy for all the years that I will walk the earth.

Yes, James has been much more understanding of late, and that pleases me. For one thing, I feel less as if I had done him a disservice in taking him for my lover. Before, I believed that he would always be torn, but I think now that he will change and come into our life with appreciation for what it can be.

Always, always I miss you, and I would give almost anything to be able to love you now as I did before I changed, but there is no alteration of our nature, and so I will love you as I have since we met, with all my soul and all my heart, and I will rejoice in your love and your company. At least there is no alienation with us, and we may find that unique friendship, which is more intimate than any lover I have known but James, will sustain us through the long years to come.

I would not give up one moment I have spent with you and I will not forsake you, as you have never forsaken me. It might not be faithfulness as much of the world understands it, but it has more genuine trust and wholehearted care than many other emotions that carry those names.

When you move to London, are you taking Nikolai? If you are not, I would not mind hiring him myself. He is loyal and dependable and he drives with some respect for his passengers. Consider it, if you decide you do not need him yourself.

With my eternal love, Saint-Germain, and my immortal soul.

Your

Madelaine

Copyright © 1982 by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

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eISBN 9781466807655

First eBook edition: August 2012