"No," Jean-Claude replies, shaking his head as he does. "I don't imagine that you would be. Perhaps I envy you, to some extent. It would be good to be able to escape the politics of it all, if I could."

But they both know that Jean-Claude cannot. Not as involved as he is now. He doesn't think there is ever a time he could ever truly rid himself of it, for that matter. He'd learned that the hard way, of course. With Asher. And Julianna. Jean-Claude looks pensive for a long moment. What he wouldn't have given, five hundred years ago, to have been able to trade places with her. Too late now, though. Five hundred years too late.