Marius’s island is both a refuge for Those Who Must Be Kept and the setting of a temporary closeness between Marius and Lestat. Its remoteness protects an ancient secret, but when Marius sends Lestat away, the island becomes the place where instruction, affection, and separation meet.

Refuge and Secrecy

Marius explains that he has ruled over the people of the island for too long and now arouses suspicion. European arrivals threaten the refuge as well: before coming to the island, he had hidden in the buried city of Pompeii beneath Vesuvius, but mortals digging through the ruins drove him out. He fears the same pattern will repeat, and says he must find somewhere still more remote and likely to remain so.

The island’s seclusion is also essential to the protection of Those Who Must Be Kept. Marius says he would never have brought Lestat there if he had intended to stay, because he cannot allow Lestat—or anyone else—to know their location. His departure is therefore not simply a change of residence. The island’s value as a sanctuary depends on keeping its secret, even when that secrecy limits the relationships Marius can sustain there.

Marius and Lestat’s Parting

After Marius decides Lestat must leave, he leads him from the house toward the cliffside stairs and tells him to go that night, bound for America. From the cliff’s edge, Lestat sees the galley waiting in the harbor below. The stairs look impossible, but the emotional difficulty is greater: leaving Marius and the island feels impossible to him.

Lestat takes his valise and asks Marius not to accompany him down, explaining that he would rather not weep in front of others. He acknowledges that he brought the trouble upon himself and tries to conceal how bitter and crestfallen he feels. Marius, in turn, wishes they had shared a few more quiet nights to consider what had happened, but sends him off with his love and an appeal to remember what he has taught him.

Departure and Promised Return

Their farewell is marked by a long embrace. Lestat then begins his slow descent without looking back, trusting that Marius will understand. The departure does not end their bond: Marius promises to find him when the time is right and reminds him that Lestat can call to him, a signal Marius can answer across distances he could not bridge by himself. The island thus remains more than a location left behind; it is the origin of a separation shaped by secrecy, affection, and the expectation that they will meet again.