by Deva Fagan
Maridonna had no such compunctions. Her delicate hands darted out to seize the flowers so eagerly that several sprigs fell. She held the posy up to her nose. “Oh, how lovely, my prince!” She glanced at me. “You see how lucky I am, Fortunata, to have the devotion of such a man. Truly there is no woman in the world more blessed by the Saints.”
I clenched my fists on Franca’s reins and turned my eyes upon her long gray ears. The light breeze caught one of the loose sprigs of yarrow and blew it into the beast’s tufted mane.
“We’re nearly to Doma. I saw the cathedral s-s-spire from that rise ahead,” Leonato said. “We’ll reach the city by noon. I will present you to my mother at once, princess. Then the Edicts will be fulfilled. The court will s-s-s—”
Just for a moment, I caught Maridonna’s nose crinkling as Leonato fought to speak. “Or I can present myself,” Maridonna offered. “Only so you needn’t trouble yourself, my darling. In fact, I can speak for you anytime you wish. Though I do hope you’ll manage to say your wedding vows for yourself.”
Red bloomed in Leonato’s cheeks more vivid than the wild poppies. He clamped his lips closed.
“He’ll speak his vows as faultlessly as a Saint,” I said, glaring at Maridonna.
“Another vision, Prophetess?” said Leonato, harshly. “And I suppose next you’ll tell us we’re going to live happily ever after?” He looked more grim than Captain Ribisi on his worst day.
“Of course we are, my love,” said Maridonna, clutching at Leonato’s hand.
They rode forward together, but I did not watch them. I plucked the single stalk of yarrow from Franca’s mane and twisted it between my fingers, remembering the night Leonato and I had met in the garden of the inn at Saint Federica’s Rest. The night I had fallen in love with him. How I wished I could return to that moment, to somehow make everything right. Was there something I could have said, some way I could have saved my father without hurting Leonato?
I nearly cast the sprig of yarrow aside, down into the dust of the road, along with my hopes and dreams. But I tucked it behind my ear instead, into the coils of my braids. My memories were all I had now.
CHAPTER
13
WE STOPPED A SHORT time later at a small inn on the hill above the city, so that Maridonna might change into the finery she’d purchased earlier in our journey, for her grand entrance. Leonato and Captain Ribisi departed to consult with the complement of guards who would be escorting us the rest of the way. That left me to serve as errand girl to Maridonna, who kept me busy for much of the morning, running to the nearest apothecary for fine soap, to another shop for an assortment of ribbons, even to a sweet-seller for a snack (which she did not share).
It drove hot embers under my skin to help her prepare to wed Leonato. By the time she asked me to run back to the apothecary for the third time, to fetch lavender water for her bath, I was ready to tell her to wash in the pigs’ slop basin. Then I saw the lunch tray the innkeeper had just delivered. Beside the plate of dumplings lay a folded square of parchment. Was Maridonna truly forgetful, or did she want me out of her way for some other reason?
“Well? What are you waiting for?” she said. She covered the note with one hand, making the motion casual. But I caught the slight tremor in her fingers.
I forced myself to provide the fawning smile she expected. “I’d be glad to get the lavender water, Princess, but I’m afraid that almond pastry took my last guilder.”
She heaved a great sigh, but as I hoped, she also rose and crossed the room to the box containing the coins. I darted forward, snatching up the parchment and scanning it quickly. Come to the stables. We must speak. I dropped it back beside the plate as Maridonna returned. She plunked three coins into my hand. “Off you go. Two should be enough. The other is yours to spend. Have one of those pastries yourself.” She smiled sweetly. “There’s no need to hurry back.”
Heart thumping, I departed. I had to find out what Maridonna was up to. Who was she meeting so secretly in the stables? And was she expecting danger? The princess had seemed nervous. Much as I disliked her, I couldn’t afford to let my prophecy be jeopardized, not with Father’s life still depending on it.
Once outside, I hastened to the long, low building behind the inn. I crept through the kitchen garden and made my way to one end of the stables. I barely breathed, my whole body tensed for the sound of the mysterious person who had summoned Maridonna. I heard nothing but the whiffling of horses and the occasional stamp of a hoof.
Slipping inside, I slunk between the stalls until I found one that was empty. I was just about to enter when footfalls approached. Quickly I ducked inside, shrinking down beside a bale of hay. The tread was too heavy to be Maridonna. It must be the person who had summoned her. A sudden fear seized me. What if she was meeting some secret paramour? Could I conceal such a discovery from Leonato and allow him to marry her?
Worse, what if it was Leonato himself? What if I found myself spying on a lovers’ assignation? My heart writhed at the thought.
I had to see who it was. I squinted out through a gap in the boards. All I could see were his legs but it was enough. I would know those scarlet-carved boots anywhere. Captain Niccolo! I felt as if I’d been plunged into an icy river. My greatest enemy stood mere feet away. The man who had held Maridonna prisoner, who had murdered her entire family. Had he summoned her here to kill her too?
The stable doors creaked open again. The footfalls that entered this time were lighter, the patter of slippers. Saints, no! She was walking right into her doom! Maridonna was a vain, selfish girl, but she did not deserve to die. I could at least give her a chance. I sent one last prayer to the Saints, to watch over my father and Leonato when I was gone.
“Run, Princess!” I shrieked as I slammed the door of the stall outward into Niccolo. I had one look at his startled face before he toppled back, cursing. I ran toward Maridonna. She stood wide-eyed, mouth agape. I seized her hand, tugging. “You have to get away. It’s the Bloody Captain. He’ll kill you!”
Maridonna blinked, then a strange smile twisted her lips. “I hardly think Niccolo would kill his own sister.”
The world reeled, the only fixed point Maridonna’s beautiful, oddly familiar face. Of course! I was such a fool. I had known she reminded me of someone. Then an arm wrapped around me. Something cold and sharp pressed against my throat. The velvet of Niccolo’s doublet brushed the nape of my neck, and his words hissed in my ear.
“Isn’t that sweet, Maridonna? The poor girl was trying to save you. I must congratulate you, if you’ve managed to hide your true nature well enough to provoke such loyalty.”
I gave a strangled shriek. “You snake! You harpy!”
“Or perhaps she sees more clearly than I thought,” said Niccolo, chuckling.
Maridonna quirked her eyebrows. “The prince likes me. That’s all that matters.”
“You planned this, you wretch,” I hissed, wary of the blade that still rested against my throat. “You set this all up.”
“Of course,” said Niccolo. “Come, come, Fortunata. Show a bit of good grace. It’s thanks to me that your—well, let’s just call it imaginative—fortune is coming true. I deserve better than this.”
“You deserve to be sliced into a dozen pieces and hung from the walls of the city. And you—” I glared at Maridonna. All the spite and pain that had been stewing inside me for the past two weeks bubbled up in the face of her smirk.
“Don’t mind her, she’s just jealous,” said Maridonna. “She’s gone soppy over the prince.”
I jerked forward. Niccolo tightened his arm, clamping me closer. “And what of him?” he asked his sister intently. “I trust you’ve ensured his attentions are not straying?”
Maridonna gave an airy wave. “He mooned over the girl a bit at first. But it was nothing. From what I’ve seen, he can’t bear the sight of her now.”
“Then he’s asked for your hand?”
Maridonna’s smirk wavered.
�
�Is it the slippers?”
“The slippers fit . . . well enough.”
Niccolo’s voice grated. “I’m certain I don’t need to remind you, dear sister, of how important it is to my plans that we control Doma.”
“He’s going to ask me. He’s just waiting for these ridiculous Edicts to be verified. It’s not as if he has any other choice,” said Maridonna, talking very quickly. “He’s given me sacks of guilders to spend. Anything I want. You should see my gown for my formal presentations. Yards of white silk, and gold rib—”
“Enough.” The word was heavy with threats.
Maridonna fell silent. For a strange, short moment, I was reminded of Alle and me, cowed by Ubaldo’s rages. I stood painfully taut, like a child waiting for the crash of thunder after that first terrible flash of lightning.
Then Niccolo relaxed. His slow, regular breaths stirred my hair. “So he’s a generous lad, is he? And obliging. Good. Perhaps we won’t have to remove him.”
Chills raced down my back, trembling my legs. The brute was going to kill Leonato! I opened my mouth to cry out, but the blade pricked more closely. I gulped, then hissed the words. “Curse you to the seven Hells if you lay one hand on him. Both of you.”
“I’ve already been cursed by a bishop, Fortunata, as you may recall. Though I commend your fierceness in defense of a lad who apparently cares nothing for you.”
I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, willing myself not to give in to the misery that roiled in my chest. I could not bear to let Niccolo and his sister mock my pain.
“I won’t let you do it,” I said at last, when I was certain my voice would not shake.
“And how do you propose to stop me?” said Niccolo. “If Maridonna does not marry the prince, your own father will die. So you don’t really have a choice, do you?”
“I—I—” I couldn’t think of anything. All I could picture was Father, how much he had trusted me, how it had led him to risk his own life. And Leonato, bright-eyed and glorious, also believing in my lies, also doomed now to die for it. It wasn’t fair. They should not have to pay the price. The fault was mine. “I won’t let you hurt him,” I insisted.
Maridonna looked inquiringly at her brother.
“I’ll take care of her,” he said, his arm an iron band binding my arms to my sides, nearly crushing my breath now. “You just be sure that stuttering fool finds his tongue long enough to ask you to marry him.”
I FOUND MYSELF dragged off, a horse-scented cloth covering my face and clogging my mouth with bits of hay. With my hands and feet bound, I was slung over the back of a horse and carted away. When I was dragged off again a short time later, the blinding muffle was removed and I found myself in a large room of roughhewn wood. I staggered back, bumping into something cool and hard. A millstone, dusty and littered with bird droppings. My feet had been untied, but ropes still bound my wrists, and sturdy cord tethered me to an iron ring in the stone.
Niccolo leered at me. “Not the best of accommodations, I know, but it will have to do. Now don’t look so glum, girl. I’ll be back soon.”
“I’d pay a hundred guilders never to see you again,” I spat at him.
“Temper, temper. I could easily arrange for you to never see me, or anything else, ever again.” He ran one hand over the hilt of his sword.
“What will you do with me?” I asked. The world seemed dim, cheerless, and not just because of the layer of moldering dust that lay across the room. “Why haven’t you killed me?”
“Killed you? Fortunata, you don’t give yourself enough credit. It would be a crime to kill a girl who can engineer so great a deception as you have. I did my part, of course, but you were doing very well on your own.”
His compliments struck me like the jabs of a red-hot brand. I shook my head, but the words echoed there, taunting me.
“I could put such skills to good use.”
“I’ll never work for you! I’ll never lie like that again. How he must hate—” I clamped my mouth shut as Niccolo chuckled.
“I trust you’ll reconsider once I’ve returned with your beloved father. If you behave, you may even see him before nightfall.”
My heart leapt, in spite of all else, before his next words pulled it down again. “He’ll be freed once my sister has wed the prince.”
I slumped back against the millstone.
“And now I must be off to share in my sister’s joy. But don’t fear, I won’t leave you alone.” Niccolo strode to the single door in the far side of the room. He flung it open and Ubaldo slouched in, followed by Coso and Cristo, who were bickering over a dice game. They fell silent at the sight of Niccolo. “You lot, keep a close watch on the girl. She’s tricksy, remember that. I’ll be back after dark.”
Ubaldo smiled ingratiatingly. “Of course, Captain. You can rely on us, as you always have.” He cleared his throat. “And will . . . that is, will you have my reward when you come back? The girl’s fortune came true, didn’t it?”
“You will get your reward, Ubaldo,” said Niccolo, not bothering to stop. I caught a quiet grumble from Cristo, a glower from Coso at Ubaldo’s back. They hadn’t liked Ubaldo’s talk of “his” reward, had they? It was the slightest thread, but I clutched at it. I had built fortunes on a single scar, a smile, a word. Could I construct an escape from a grumble?
I settled back against the millstone, trying to look meek. Ubaldo spent a long, tedious time haranguing me for my extravagant fortune. I bent my head, shivering, but it wasn’t Ubaldo’s words that shook me. Visions of Leonato swam before my eyes. The prince and Maridonna speaking vows in a grand cathedral. Niccolo springing out at him, arcing a sharp blade at his breast. Or would Maridonna do it herself? I saw her offering him a bridal cup of poisoned wine, him raising it to his lips, prepared to drink the bitter draught. And it was all because of me. I slumped, banging my forehead against my knees.
But I could not give up now, not when there was still a chance I could set things right. Taking long, deep breaths, I concentrated on my three captors, all senses pricked for any tidbits I could turn to my advantage.
Coso and Cristo had returned to their dice game, hunkered down not far from the millstone. Ubaldo had lost interest in yelling at me and now stood to one side of the room, sending one dagger after another into a post a few feet away. I shivered with each thud, sensing how easily he might have sent one of those blades flying into me. I suspected that was his intention.
If I could distract them long enough to grab one of those daggers, I could cut my bonds and run. They had horses tethered outside—I could hear them. And we must not be far from Doma, considering how quickly we’d gotten here. With the amount of primping Maridonna had planned, she and the others might not even have left the inn yet.
Ubaldo stomped forward to collect his half-dozen daggers. I hunched, attempting to look cowed. If he thought I was afraid, he was sure to continue. He was that sort of man. He gave me an evil grin as he returned to his position and began anew.
I turned my attention to Coso and Cristo. I just needed the right opening. A short while later, I had it. Cristo grimaced after Coso won yet another game. “That’s it. I won’t risk any more. Need to keep my belly full.” He jerked a thumb at Ubaldo, lowering his voice. “Who knows what crumbs he’ll be giving us.”
“Watch yourself,” said Coso, with a wary look at Ubaldo, who was still tossing his daggers.
“You’re right,” I said, pitching my voice low. “You’re not going to see a single coin of the reward.”
Both men looked at me. Coso frowned, but Cristo blinked and licked his lips nervously. “What would you know?” said Coso.
“I see many things—” I began.
Coso grunted. “We know your prophecies are all a fat lot of dross.”
“Not all of them,” Cristo countered, poking the older man’s shoulder. “Remember? We didn’t do anything to make that part about—”
“That doesn’t matter. We had a deal. We get a share.”
�
�The way you always got a share of the wine? Or the nut cakes?” I paused, letting that sink in. Ubaldo stomped forward to collect his daggers once more. I huddled against the millstone, waiting for the thunk of metal into wood to resume.
Thunk. I took a deep breath. Now it was time for my gambit. It was a risk, but one I would have to take. “If that’s so, where are your gold chains?” The two of them hadn’t been there to see Ubaldo steal Father’s chain of mastery from me, and I was betting that the selfish brute had kept it hidden from them ever since.
“Gold chains?” repeated Cristo.
“Ubaldo has one,” I said. “It was a gift from the Bloody Captain. The first of many, but you won’t be seeing a single glint of gold.”
The two men looked at each other. Thunk. Thunk. Ubaldo’s daggers flew into the wood. Now, I thought, willing Coso and Cristo to act.
Ubaldo still held a dagger in each hand when Cristo stood and approached him. “So, Ubaldo,” he said, “I hear the Bloody Captain’s been generous. And when were you planning to give us our share?”
Ubaldo glowered at the younger man. “What are you spouting now? What share?” He raised his hand, ready to fling another dagger.
I held my breath at the flash of gold from his collar. Thank the Saints. He was wearing it.
“It’s true!” Cristo seized Ubaldo’s shirt, tugging it. “The gold chain!”
“Hands off!” roared Ubaldo, raising the dagger. Coso leapt forward, drawing a blade of his own. Suddenly all three of them were shouting. It was time to take my chance.
I lunged for the post, straining at the very end of my tether to reach one of the daggers. The hilt slid against my sweaty palms. It was hard to maneuver it with my bound hands.
Ubaldo was cursing, Cristo yelling. I heard thuds, grunts, staggering footsteps. I ignored them. If I did not get free now, all would be lost. At last the ropes parted. I wrenched my wrists free and ran.
