QUESTION 1: If I remember correctly (which I hope I have) in the books and in Gillian’s stories Marlowe is described to wear a large ruby ring. Seeing that he has worn it in the Gillian stories and is still wearing it many years later, I wonder whether there is any significance of that ring (i.e. related to how it was obtained).
It’s traditional for a master to give their child a gift when the child becomes a master him or herself. The Consul gave Marlowe the ring in question, which meant a lot to him because a) he didn’t come from wealth or a noble background, and in his day, such a ring would have been worn mostly by that class. It was his way of reminding himself that what he had been, and the insults he’d had to endure over his birth, were a thing of the past. In vampire society, he could rise as high as his ambition and power could take him.
And b) it was also a sort of good luck charm. Marlowe hadn’t gained master status the usual way. The consul had needed someone with insight into the English government at the time and had found and changed him. But that had left her with a baby vamp, who was too weak to be useful. So she “pushed” him to become a master far earlier than he would have been on his own (how is explained in the stories). The procedure is rare, because most people don’t survive it. So for Marlowe, the ruby in the ring (the color of blood) was a reminder of the strength of his own blood now, and of his will to live. So no, he wasn’t going to give it up to Gillian’s need for some quick cash.
QUESTION 2: What is Mircea’s biological age? Cassie said he looked about 30, but the historical figure supposedly died at the age of 19. Is it because you decided to show us your own take on this story? Or maybe he just didn’t age well (after all, it’s not like he spent thousands of dollars on skin treatment, ate healthy stuff and knew how to deal with certain illnesses). When Mircea talked to Dory about her mom, he described himself as a ‘young man’. It struck me as odd, given the fact that in the 16th century people died at a relatively young age, and a 30-year old guy would be happily (or, well, not really) married. But then again, maybe he had no time for stuff like that, given the whole Ottoman Empire situation? Sorry for possible huge flaws in my logic, but it’s just one of those things that keep bugging me!
Somewhere or other, I have answered this question before, but I’m too lazy to look back through the Q&As to see if it was here. So forgive me anyone who may already have heard this.
Basically, no one knows how old Mircea was when he died, because no one is entirely sure when he was born. It may have been 1428, and his mother may have been Princess Cneajna of Moldavia (Vlad II’s second wife) as many stories say. But there are rumors that his father’s first wife, whose identity is unknown, may have been Mircea’s mother instead. And if that was the case, he could have been much older than history records.
But despite the fact that, by the time of his death, he had already led armies and conducted a massive siege, I went with the more popular story. It makes Mircea quite young when he died, but childhood was frequently brief in those days and it is not impossible that he did everything recorded by age nineteen. However, he doesn’t have to look that way now. My vampires can change their appearance with a glamourie and many do. Plus, as you pointed out, nineteen in Mircea’s day was not nineteen today, and his life had not been easy. So he probably looked older than a modern teenager would have in any case.
Oh, and by the way, he WAS married (see Death’s Mistress for details).
QUESTION 3: I had a timeline related question resulting from a Dory reread: a) She is given up to the travelers; b) her mother begins to search for her; c) Her mother is killed; d) she hunts and finds her father; e) he hides her/erases her memories to “remeet” her years later. Is the time between these events weeks, months or years in various cases?
Some of the answers to your questions are explained in Fury’s Kiss. I don’t want to spoil the book right before it comes out, so all I can tell you now is that Dory was given away as a baby (which is why she has no memory of her mother), and was nine when she tried to kill Mircea. You know, for the first time. Hope that helps.
QUESTION 4: In Midnight’s Daughter, Dory says Marlowe is “one evil son of a bitch, as I could testify on a personal level, and we weren’t exactly buddies.” Sounds like Dory and Marlowe have had a run-in before on at least one occasion. Care to spill any beans on the back story here?
Two Marlowe questions in one day? I think that’s a first! But okay.
Marlowe didn’t know Mircea had a dhampir daughter until one of Marlowe’s own vampires went missing, and was eventually found in a less than pristine condition. Someone fingered Dorina, and Marlowe went hunting her through a particularly vile swamp. For his part, Marlowe thought he knew all about nasty tricks. But during that long, hot, humid trudge through a positively prehistoric bog, he discovered he’d thought wrong.
Dory, for her part, found the pursuit amusing for a while, because few vamps actually come looking for a dhampir. And because watching Marlowe flounder around in muddy water, getting snake and mosquito bit (how’s that for irony) and being attacked by some of the nastiest magic money can buy was her idea of fun. Until she started adding up the cost of the pursuit. And until she ran out of weapons.
A very beat up, very pissed-off Marlowe eventually hunted her down and dragged her back alive, because no way was she getting an easy death after all of that. Only to find out that she wasn’t getting a death at all. His so very suave, so very sophisticated, so very even-tempered co-senator, the lofty Mircea, became surprisingly…irate…at Marlowe’s treatment of Dorina, and demanded her release. Luckily for Dory (and for the balance of power on the senate), she hadn’t killed Marlowe’s vamp. She’d just been a convenient scapegoat for the real culprit, a romantic rival of the dead guy’s, who had found out that a dhampir was in the neighborhood. That had enabled him to remove the competition and to put the blame on someone else. So Marlowe had to let Dory go. But bad blood remains.
QUESTION 5: I’d presumed Augusta was killed by Rasputin and Myra’s efforts before TtD, but Sal said that Ismitta was the only woman injured when Cassie asked. So what actually happened to Augusta? Is she still alive?
I was originally going to kill off Augusta, but she’s just too much fun. So I decided that she transferred to the European Senate after some infighting on her own made things uncomfortable for her, and is still there.