Cascade

by Lisa T. Bergren

  “Better to be a prisoner in your own castle than in the dungeon of your enemy.” His eyes flicked to Lia.

  Luca took a step, but Marcello reached out a hand, cautioning him to stand down. More weird family politics?

  “Our people are in need,” Marcello said. “We will not stand by, idle. I suggest you encourage your men, as have I, to assist them. We do the greatest damage to our enemies by drawing together, bringing in the harvest, storing up for the winter ahead.”

  Captain Rossi glanced away from him dismissively. Again with the attitude. I didn’t know why I ever thought the dude was cute. He was as caught up in himself as his cousin was. He dragged his eyes over me and Lia before meeting Marcello’s gaze. “I suppose you are right, m’lord,” he said with a slight nod he clearly wasn’t feeling. “Siena’s people will soon demand that you present the ladies to their republic. They’ve gone too long, wondering about them. And when they hear that they were out beside you, assisting the needy…Why, their legend will merely grow.”

  Marcello and Luca were really ticked now. I could see the tension in their shoulders. A muscle twitched in Luca’s cheek.

  “Is there a purpose for your visit, Captain Rossi?” Marcello asked, every word clipped.

  “Indeed,” he said, cocking his head and glancing at me. “My uncle would like you to attend a meeting in Siena, in three days’ time. And he, of course, insists you bring Romana and Lord Fortino—if his lordship’s health can tolerate the journey—as well as the Ladies Betarrini.”

  “For what purpose?” Marcello asked.

  “If you accept the invitation, my uncle shall host a festive ball, ostensibly prenuptial goings-on. But there is a rumor,” he said in a confidential manner, leaning forward, “that diplomats from Firenze shall be in attendance. He would like your brother and you to be there to listen to what they have to say. It is my uncle’s hope that we can again establish peace between Firenze and Siena. This unrest accomplishes little.”

  Marcello straightened. “I shall be there at the appointed time. We shall send word as to whether the Ladies Betarrini will join us.”

  Captain Rossi hesitated. His horse took a step back, then forward. “Mayhap I did not make myself clear. Lord Rossi prepares a feast to celebrate the Ladies Betarrini’s return. The meeting is merely providential timing, when all shall be in the city together. But he shall not abide anything but an affirmative answer.”

  Marcello’s mouth was a steady, grim line. “Mayhap I did not make myself clear. I shall consult with my brother and then decide if the ladies might risk the journey.”

  Captain Rossi cocked a brow. “You have left them vulnerable here,” he said, gesturing toward the countryside. “Would they not be far safer within the protective wings of Siena?” He turned away, not waiting to be excused. Even I knew it was a total diss. Luca stepped after the captain, as if he were ready to haul him off his horse, but Marcello grabbed his arm and stopped him.

  The blond captain wheeled his horse around and looked down at them, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “M’lord,” he said to Marcello with a tiny dip of his head. “We shall be honored by the presence of your household. For Siena.”

  “For Siena,” Marcello muttered. He stood there, watching Captain Rossi and his men thunder away in pairs, but his eyes shifted to the woods around us. He looked at Luca. “He’s right. I’ve been foolish, exposing the women as I have.”

  “No, Marcello,” I tried. “We must be able to be out and about. As you said, to be confined to Castello Forelli would be like being prisoners in our own home. And you’ve taken more than enough precautions to ensure our safety.”

  He turned and took my arm, and the four of us formed a small circle. “It may be different in Normandy,” Marcello said. “But here, everyone thinks of you two when they consider our victory, even more than they think of my brother or me. The republic is transfixed with the idea of two female warriors. You caught a glimpse of it at our own little feast, inside the castle’s walls, before you left. But in Siena…” He shook his head, deciding. “It shall be utter mayhem.”

  I stared at him for a long moment. From what I could see, there really was no way around it. I looked at Lia, asking her permission. She gave me a little smile. “I always thought it’d be cool to be homecoming queen, didn’t you?”

  “Talk about an anthropological gold mine. Mom would flip.” She had a secondary degree in anthropology to back up her doctorate in archaeology. Lia and I’d always wished she’d put half the effort into contemporary relationships as she had with those in the past.

  The guys were looking at us as if we really were speaking French.

  “We shall attend the festivities with you,” I said to Marcello.

  He frowned and glanced at Luca.

  Luca laughed under his breath. “You know what these Normans are like, m’lord. If we leave them behind in the castle, they’ll take it upon themselves to climb over the wall. May as well keep them where we can watch over them.”

  “Indeed,” I said. “Will it not soothe Lord Rossi’s ruffled feathers to have us join the festivities? Give him a semblance of deference and power, to have us all there? Reorient things?”

  Chin in hand, he studied me. “It has not taken you long to absorb our politics, m’lady.”

  I smiled, basking in his praise. So I was right. It was important we be there. For his long-term security, if not our own. We needed to win Lord Rossi’s support again, despite what had transpired for Romana. Politics trumped pride, even in the twenty-first century.

  And while I was there, I could do some digging, surveillance of my own. I wanted to know if Romana was really okay being with Fortino, make certain I was just being a paranoid chick.

  I looked down the road, to Captain Rossi, now a half-mile away with his troops. A shiver of foreboding ran down my back. Just what was up with the Rossi family? I remembered the doctor talking in hushed tones with Lord Rossi, even as he was poisoning me. Lord Rossi was frightfully clever. A leader of all of Siena. So how had such a man—and Foraboschi, too—wormed his way into Rossi’s circle of confidence?

  Maybe everyone else was ready to dismiss the connection. But I wasn’t. My hand went to my belly. Maybe it was because I had almost died. The pain was not too old—stitched up just days ago, from my perspective—for me to remember it well.

  And I was determined that none of my loved ones would be touched by such treachery again.

  CHAPTER 5

  We made the journey to Siena with none of the drama that had accompanied us before. No one attacked our heavily fortified troops. No swords were even drawn. But Lia and I both traveled with our weapons at our backs and our mother between us. We’d gained enough knowledge of this territory to know we were best served to be always at the ready.

  Little girls at the city entrance were our first hint of what was to come. Dressed in flowing gowns, with crowns of daisies on their heads, they threw sunflowers before us. The horses trampled them, leaving the sweet smell of sunflower oil wafting up behind us. The boys were next, heralding the heroines of Siena, the She-Wolves. They cried out, howling with great smiles on their faces and waving wildly. They scurried ahead of us and behind us, as if beside themselves, they were so excited. Ultimately, the villagers on the outskirts of the city gathered, waving and throwing more flowers before us.

  “Can you believe this?” Lia asked me, eyes wide. Mom looked similarly stunned, shaking her head and smiling. I liked it that she was seeing us—really seeing us—anew. Capable. Strong. Honored. I glanced at Marcello, but neither he nor Luca seemed to be sharing our glory. Their eyes were constantly scanning the crowds, their brows furrowed.

  The guys flanked us when the road was wide enough, politely bending to accept the proffered flowers for their charges but grimly aware of the danger that the people brought us. Might there be an assassin within their ranks, waiting for just such an opportunity as this to close in and attack, then disappear?

  “We mus
t hasten to the Rossis’ as quickly as possible,” Luca said to Marcello.

  Marcello nodded once, fast.

  I hated that their paranoia was making me paranoid too. Suddenly I was all air-marshall-on-a-risky-flight, checking everyone out, watching to see if people were acting weird, moving in a way that stood out. A shiver ran down my back. “So much for our homecoming queen glory,” I whispered to Lia.

  “Yeah, that’s over before it began,” she returned. “We get to pretend we’re the homecoming queens and worry someone will stab us at any moment.”

  “Or shoot us with an arrow.”

  “Or poison us. We’ve seen, firsthand, how well that works.”

  Marcello reached over and touched my elbow. “Please. Do not jest. It is quite serious.”

  Yeah, I get that. I heaved a sigh. “Just trying to ease the moment with a little humor. You never do that?”

  “Rarely,” Luca said, one eyebrow raised. “Not for wont of trying, on my part.”

  Marcello’s lips curved a bit, but he stayed on his own track. “We must be vigilant.”

  “Vigilant, ever vigilant. Is it to be thus the rest of our lives?” I asked. What I wanted to know, really, was Is this what I’m signing on for if I stay?

  He read the question in my eyes. “There are times of war and times of peace, Gabriella. We shall pray for peace. For now, enjoy your fair measure of glory. Luca and I shall ensure you remain secure.”

  I shifted my eyes forward and smiled at a tiny girl reaching up on her tiptoes to hand Marcello a flower. She smiled shyly at me. He reached for it, and I looked back at her as we passed, giving her a wave. She ran off, screeching to her mother as if the latest Disney princess had just given her an autograph.

  Marcello was studying me. “You and your sister have given our people hope. If Siena can produce such strength, invoke such passion as you two embody, no one can defeat us.”

  “Why us? You and Luca, you did as much to turn the tide of that battle and capture Castello Paratore. You’re the ones that bear the famed Forelli name.”

  He shrugged. “You are female.” He allowed a smile then, a real smile. Oh, how I loved the way his brown eyes sparkled.…

  But the equal-rights chick in me bristled at his words. He only meant them as admiration, I told myself. In this time, in this place, women weren’t ready to fight beside their men. They were back at home, baking the bread, raising the babies. So, for them, we were basically…foreign. And fascinating.

  I’d never really fascinated anyone. And I, in turn, found that oddly irresistible.

  “So if Siena is full of adoration for my girls,” Mom said, leaning closer, “why are you concerned?”

  “Because for every thousand members of their adoring people, there are bound to be a hundred dissenters. Those who are proponents of peace with Firenze and object to our taking Castello Paratore. Others who wish to sow outright discontent. Spies, even.”

  “How many total citizens abide in Siena now?” Mom asked.

  “More than two hundred thousand.”

  Fantastic. Then if we only had a hundred bad guys for every thousand, there might only be two thousand who wanted to take us down.

  “Let’s just hope they don’t all rally together,” Lia said softly, blue eyes wide, doing the math too.

  Luca sat straighter. “I shall never let you out of my sight.”

  She seemed to take comfort in that. Was that more than just a casual connection between them? My eyes met my mom’s.

  “If we are attacked, I shall need to take the girls home,” she said, speaking to the men, but looking at us, warning us.

  The guys stayed silent.

  So did we.

  I think we all knew it was just a matter of time. But I figured we’d argue that out when we really had to deal with it.

  The men had to bodily push the crowds back down the narrow, curving streets with their horses in order for us to make it into the Rossi palace. The palazzo was one of many that ringed Siena’s beautiful central piazza, where I figured much of the celebration would happen in the days to come.

  Lord Rossi was nice enough, greeting us with kisses to both cheeks. I couldn’t tell if he was ticked off inside—on the outside, he was nothing but a gracious host, fawning over my mother, who was six inches taller than him, praising God for our reunion.

  “Guess the rock-star status fixes the stolen fiancé issue,” Lia whispered, leaning toward me.

  “Guess one Forelli is as good as another,” I muttered sarcastically. My eyes followed Romana, who hung on Fortino’s arm. She never left him alone. In the six days I’d been back, I hadn’t had one opportunity to talk to him, find out if he was all good with how things had come down. Was she purposely trying to keep him from talking to me? Or was it all in my head? Why couldn’t I just let it go? I had my guy. Pushing the Fortino-Romana issue might wreck things, especially if I was wrong. Let it go, Gabi. Everything’s fine.

  But it didn’t feel fine. Remembering the doctor and Lord Rossi whispering secretively, I set my lips in a grim line. I just couldn’t believe the Rossis had been as duped as I had been. Used. Both Romana and her father were far too clever to allow it.

  One thing comforted me: If the Rossis had been in on my poisoning, it was more likely they’d have done it to get me out of the way and seal the deal with the Forelli-Rossi union, not because they were working on the enemy’s behalf. I mean, Romana’s dad was one of the Nine. A head honcho. King of the hill. Why would he be willing to sell out his fellow Sienese and risk the republic’s security? Unless he had been promised far more in a new republic, run by those in Firenze.

  I glanced around the ritzy palace the Rossis called home. Servants bustled across polished marble floors. Thick tapestries lined the hallway. Everyone was dressed in fantastic gowns and tunics. I knew dinner would be a minifeast before the big feasts began.

  What else did he need?

  Money. Man is always motivated by money, my dad said to me once. It can work for us, or it can enslave us. Even when we have much, we feel like we need more. No matter how much we have.

  I’d been whining last summer about not having a car, about how other girls back at home were driving around. Begging to the point of bugging my parents, really. I thought if we had our own car, Lia and I could escape the summer dig, drive around, find some fun for once. But there hadn’t been cash for that, of course. The Big Dig, the big payoff, was always around the corner for my ’rents.

  Even now, Mom had discovered the Big Dig at last, and where was she? Six hundred years away. No, we Betarrinis were smart but never rich.

  “I shall not be far,” Marcello said lowly, nodding at Lord Rossi’s wave of invitation to him to join the others.

  “Do not be troubled,” I said. We turned to go, but I glanced over my shoulder to the group of nobles in the corner, the only ones we had not been introduced to. One, a tall, handsome young man with jet-black hair that waved over one eye, studied me without hesitation.

  The Fiorentini, I thought. Enemies.

  Or soon to be brothers, friends? I wasn’t trying to get in the way of the Medieval Peace Process. Life would be far more pleasant at Marcello’s side if I weren’t constantly worried that one or both of us would be killed.

  But the question remained…was there a possibility the Rossis would sell out? Abandon Siena in exchange for a fat Fiorentini bank account?

  And why were they so anxious to place a daughter within Castello Forelli’s walls if that was their aim?

  I shook my head, totally confused.

  “What?” Lia asked, looking at me from the corners of her eyes as we walked down the hall.

  “I don’t know. Something’s off. Wrong. And I gotta figure out what it is before it’s too late.”

  CHAPTER 6

  As I suspected, the Rossi feast began down in the Palazzo Pubblico, the public palace, at the bottom of the clamshell-shaped plaza. I shoved back dark memories of the last time I’d feasted and danced in the h
all—the place where Lord Vanucci had approached me and I first learned that Lord Paratore had captured Lia. For this night, I wanted to enjoy the feel of being in my new, gorgeous golden gown—a symbolic gift from Lord Rossi—on Marcello’s arm, dancing with him.

  I mean, I’d waited seventeen years to have a boyfriend, and now I had one. At last. I wanted to just enjoy the day, the evening. Back home in Colorado, I’d only been to one dance, and it was with a guy I asked out.

  Guys are just scared of beautiful girls, Dad said.

  Sure, Dad, I said. Only ugly girls go to dances.

  The right one will come around, he promised. You’ll see.

  And Oh. My. Gosh. He had. I wished Dad were here to meet him. To do that Dad-Boyfriend thing he would’ve been so bad at…but would’ve figured out soon enough. I think he would’ve liked Marcello. Liked how he got all protective around me. And listened to me. And looked at me like he thought I was fascinating.

  When I caught sight of Marcello waiting for me in the main hall, I couldn’t stop staring at him. His curly hair was neatly tied back. He wore a white silk shirt that was kind of loose, but over it was a finely woven tunic with a fair amount of gold thread in it, obviously to represent the house of Forelli. It made him look all the more buff. Leggings encased his thighs and were tucked into new leather boots.

  He smiled at me with that grin…and I floated across the floor to him, my handsome prince.

  He met me halfway and took my hand, bent, and tenderly kissed my knuckles, sending shivers of delight up my arm and neck. He straightened but still held my hand in his. “You, m’lady, look more beautiful than ever in Forelli gold.”

  “Thank you,” I said. I was sure I was blushing. But I didn’t feel like an idiot. I felt all giddy-ish. Light. Like my lungs were full of perfectly clean air. It was like I could breathe, really breathe, and it made everything sharper, clearer around me. See every detail with better than my normal twenty-twenty vision.