I have been thinking about a key distinction i see in the Louis-Claudia vs Lestat-Claudia family relationships that really explains everything about her séance revelations for me. And it is that Louis sees Claudia as his daughter (conceptual), whereas Lestat sees Claudia as his daughter (literal).
Like for Louis, Claudia is his daughter in that she is His Little Girl. As long as she is his daughter, she is a child to him. It's the idea of having a daughter, and not an actual, dynamic father-daughter relationship. And that's why as she ages, it has to change to "sister" for him to even try to treat her as a grown up.
And then on the other hand, for Lestat, it's literally. That's literally his daughter. She's his little girl daughter as a child, and he entertains her like she's a kid. In her later teens, that's his teenage daughter who needs to learn how to drive a car and what sex is. And then when she becomes an adult, she's his grown-ass daughter who he treats as a competent, if antagonistic, adult.
I think this explains why Lestat is not onboard with the sister switch - the relationship is ongoing and developing over time, it's nonsensical to him that you could just substitute one relationship concept for another because the relationship is tangible, it's there in the real world. It also explains why he refers to her as his daughter less than Louis does - Louis has to reaffirm the concept, but for Lestat it's not necessary.
Also I think that's why Claudia hated dealing with his bullshit less than Louis's bullshit, which really is what she meant by "I liked him more". Better to be treated as a grown daughter than a little girl sister. And part of why Lestat would be harder to manipulate - with louis, she could play into the conceptual His Little Girl, but there's no equivalent for Lestat, because what he sees when he looks at her is an adult woman he raised, not a child to be protected
And I wonder if that's part of why she's not at the long table. Not only that she said all she needed to say, but that that relationship is so grounded and real for lestat that there's no reason for his brain to give him dying revelations about it, and a projection of her wouldn't be believable for him because if anything, he sees the real her too well for either of them.
To be clear I'm not saying either dynamic is better or worse. A relationship characterized by absolutely zero illusions is rough as hell and that's why they both hate loving each other so much
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