1. I can’t remember if this has already been addressed, but did Mircea name Dory? It doesn’t seem likely the Rom would call her “a gift from God”.

Dory’s mother named her. You’ll find out more about what happened in Dory’s early years in a later book.

2. Why is Cassie short(ish) with curly hair, if her parents were both tall and straight-haired?

Because genetics are weird? It is fairly common for a child to take after a grandparent on something like height, eye color, hair color, etc.

3. If I have this correct, I believe there are 6 vampire senates: North America, Europe, South America, India, China, and Africa. If this is so, what do the vampires who live in parts of Asia other than China and India do? What about the vampires of Australia and New Zealand? Are they simply under the jurisdiction of the closest geographical senate? Are they not under any senatorial jurisdiction at all? How exactly does it work?

The name of Ming-de’s court is the East Asian, not the Chinese, because it encompasses Japan and the surrounding regions as well as China. Likewise with India, which also governs the parts of Southeast Asia closest to it. A senate’s rule usually runs geographically, because vampires were once quite territorial. But Aus and New Zealand aren’t really that close to anything, and so are under the European senate (because that’s who colonized them).

4. Why did Agnes decide to transfer the power to Cassie? I assume at some point she found out Myra was evil, knew she herself was dying, and decided to transfer the power to a better candidate. But why, specifically, did she choose Cassie? As she wasn’t even an initiate, how did she know about her?

The power chooses the pythia. Agnes received a vision about Cassie, which is how she knew who she was and that she was in trouble. But she didn’t transfer the power so much as make sure that Cassie was still around to receive what was already headed her way.

5. Did Rafe make a full recovery from his near death experience in CtD? And will we see any of him in TtS?

More or less, and no. I enjoy Rafe, and want to get more of his story in, but Tempt the Stars wasn’t really the place to do it. It has enough going on already!

6. I wanted to ask about Louis-Cesare and the process of how he finally admitted to himself he was in love with Dory. I know their attraction was always there, but you’ve established he had abandonment and trust issues. So how did he feel when he found out he was head over heels for Dory even though he suspected she had a problem with emotional intimacy? Was he not afraid she would eventually push him away like everyone else did in his life or was he simply confidant he can win her over?

Louis-Cesare, who apparently likes to live dangerously, has decided to pursue Dory. In other words, they are dating. But loving someone and living with them are two different things, and it remains to be seen if theirs is an attraction that will last. It’s probably safe to assume that, if it works at all, there will be some pretty big adjustments needed on both sides!

7. Since her father was a magical human, does Cassie have relatives she doesn’t know about on his side? If so, will she ever meet them?

Eventually, you will realize just how funny this question is. For right now, though, all I can say is that you’ll find out more about Cassie’s parents in TTS, although not the answer to this question just yet.