‘He told me that he had experienced a change of heart,’ said Guido, ‘because of that close brush with death.’
‘Do you think I could see him?’ asked Laura. ‘I mean, if we are going to be on opposite sides, I’d like to see him again to say how sorry I am about that.’
Guido gave her a curious look. ‘Strangely enough, he said exactly the same.’
*
Fortezza was one of the few Talian city-states to have its own standing army. Its General was Stefano Bompiani and he was fiercely loyal to the city’s ruler. The trouble was, at this time, he didn’t know who that was and it was making him nervous.
If the Signoria’s decision was to be for Princess Lucia, the General would be happy to serve her to his life’s end, but if it was for the Manoush – Prince Ludovico as he would be – then he would grit his teeth and bear it. If you didn’t follow the decisions of your elected representatives then you were done for and civilisation would come to an end. He just wished they would hurry up and get on with it.
He paced the tiny guardroom at the city’s easternmost watchtower in a very bad mood, just waiting for a sign. It had been well over a hundred years since Fortezza had gone to war or withstood a siege, and something told Bompiani the years of peaceful di Chimici rule were at an end – no matter what the decision was about the inheritance. The losing side wasn’t going to take it lying down.
On the face of things, it looked as if it would be worse for the word to be in favour of the Manoush, since the entire might of the di Chimici family would come out against him. And Grand Duke Fabrizio was another whose city had a standing army to call upon. General Bompiani did not relish the thought of arming his men against the Grand Duke of his own region.
‘But if it goes the other way,’ he muttered aloud to himself, ‘and Princess Lucia gets the title as she should, there will still be those who back the Manoush.’
‘Sir?’ said the soldier who was in the guardroom with him. ‘You really think anyone would support the outsider’s claim?’
‘What? Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think so, but we should be ready to defend whichever ruler we have by tomorrow,’ said Bompiani.
Suddenly he felt fizzing with energy and ready for action. He was going to have to fight, whatever the decision. He was a soldier and fighting was his trade. The time for inaction was over.
‘Send one of the men to the Street of the Swordsmiths,’ he said, ‘and then order all the soldiers to check their weapons. Whichever way the wind blows, Fortezza must to arms!’
*
The guard outside the Palazzo della Signoria let Laura through as soon as she had given her name. But Guido and Fabio said they would wait outside for her.
A ridiculously liveried and bewigged footman led her to a room where Ludo was sitting listlessly on an ornate silver-gilded chair. He jumped up when he saw her, and Laura realised they had not been alone in a room together before.
‘Welcome,’ he said. ‘I didn’t think you would come so soon.’
Now that she was here, Laura didn’t know what to say or do. She really liked Ludo, liked him much more than any male in her world (Charlie was quite forgotten) but they had no future, living in two different times and spaces. But she could not get over the fact that he seemed to like her too – that was the miracle!
‘It seems as if we can’t be friends, whatever happens,’ she said, hesitating to put it even as strongly as that.
‘It is the same with Guido and me,’ said Ludo, trying to put her at her ease. ‘He is Princess Lucia’s champion through and through.’
‘Yes, but at least he knows her,’ said Laura. ‘I hardly know anyone in this world, or the world I come from, but it seems I have to take the same side as the Stravaganti here.’
‘Then we are enemies,’ said Ludo, taking her hand. He’s going to kiss me, thought Laura.
And then the footman announced the three Fortezzan princesses.
The room was filled with swishing black skirts. Ludo fetched chairs for them all, deeply embarrassed to have a visit from the very family he was trying to supplant.
Both of her daughters had tried to persuade Carolina not to make this visit but when they saw how determined she was, they couldn’t let her do it alone.
‘Do you have a likeness of your mother?’ the Dowager Princess asked abruptly, without any introduction.
Ludo took from his jerkin a miniature painting and silently handed it over.
‘I see,’ said Carolina. ‘Now show me my husband’s ring.’
Reluctantly, he undid the small velvet bag that hung from his neck on a thong and passed the ring to her.
She held it in the palm of her hand, then took off a ring from her own finger and placed them side by side on a small inlaid table. The only difference was the size.
‘Jacopo married me with that ring,’ said Carolina. ‘Twenty-five years ago. How old are you?’
‘I was twenty-four last November, Your Highness,’ said Ludo.
‘I have wondered if I would have gone through with my wedding if I had known you were on the way,’ she said.
‘Your Highness,’ said Ludo, his eyes cast down, ‘I cannot be sure, but I think that my mother never told him.’
‘And she too is dead, you say?’
‘Last summer,’ he said.
‘Then perhaps they are reunited in the afterlife,’ said Carolina.
Ludo cast a desperate look at the young princesses. Laura looked at them too and thought, They are his half-sisters. Their mother and I are the only ones in the room not related to him.
Lucia was speaking. ‘You should have come to us privately,’ she said. ‘It was cruel to tell your story in public, with no warning.’
‘And would you have welcomed me and called me brother?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know,’ she answered. ‘Perhaps not. Maybe you should have come when my – our – father was still alive.’
‘I intended to,’ said Ludo. ‘I didn’t know he was dying till I arrived here. I was too late.’
‘Well, it doesn’t matter now,’ said Princess Carolina, getting up. She put her ring back on and left Ludo’s on the table. ‘There is a third ring like this on my husband’s finger, in his coffin. A new one was going to be made for Lucia but perhaps it won’t be necessary.’
‘Mamma!’ said Bianca.
‘I see that you are telling the truth,’ said Carolina. ‘You are the son I could not give him.’
‘Please believe me. I did not mean to distress you,’ said Ludo. ‘Only to claim my birthright.’
‘It doesn’t matter now,’ said Carolina. ‘It is over. Come, girls, back to the castle. We should consider what to do with the rest of our lives, which I doubt in my case will be long.’
She swept out of the room, giving her daughters no choice but to follow.
None of them had said a word to Laura or seemed to register her presence.
Ludo sank down with his head in his hands and wept. ‘What have I done?’ he said.
And Laura couldn’t help herself; she went and put her arms round him.
Chapter 5
A New Ruler
The scarlet and silver barcone was pulled slowly through the water by a crew of Bellezza’s best mandoliers. As a special privilege, Marco, the Duchessa’s favourite footman, was allowed to be one of their number. It was not long since he had been a mandolier himself and had helped the old Duchessa escape assassination on the lagoon.
The young Duchessa stood on the prow of her barge as the strong arms of the rowers brought the vessel steadily in to shore at the Island of Sant’Andrea. She was dressed all in violet, the colour of her eyes, and her chestnut hair was interlaced with violet ribbons and deep amethyst jewels.
Her mask was of silver satin, embroidered with purple silks and trimmed with purple-dyed feathers.
‘This is the last time I’ll have to do this with a mask on,’ Arianna muttered to her attendant. Barbara was recently married to Marco the footman a
nd was looking down fondly at her sweating husband.
‘Indeed, milady,’ said Barbara. ‘By Ascension Day next year you will be married to the Cavaliere and can discard all your masks.’
Barbara was enjoying her view of Marco’s wellmuscled arms, unobscured by any mask on her face.
‘Maybe I’ll have a bonfire of them after the wedding,’ said Arianna, who had always hated even the idea of wearing one.
The High Priest was waiting to greet her on the shore, flanked by the two strong young men who would lower the young Duchessa into the lagoon’s waves, up to her hips.
‘Barbarous custom,’ said Arianna, when she was safely back on board her barcone, unconsciously echoing something her mother had said when she took part in her last Marriage with the Sea.
Except that she hadn’t really taken part; Silvia, the last Duchessa, had used a body double. But now it was the real Duchessa shivering as her waiting-women rubbed her with towels and took away the soakingwet violet dress while Arianna gulped down warm spiced wine.
‘Can we do away with it, Father?’ she asked, when the waiting women had wrapped her in a scarlet velvet robe. ‘Will Bellezza ever believe in its continued prosperity without this ritual?’
‘You should be glad that it’s just a drenching you have to suffer,’ said Senator Rossi, who was comfortably seated inside the barge. ‘In the days when the lagoon people worshipped the Goddess, you might have been drowned as a sacrifice to Her.’
‘I can’t wait to get back home and see this year’s display,’ said Arianna. This was the third time she had taken part in the Marriage with the Sea and she was already weary of it. The best part of Ascension Day for her would come after the formal dinner, when Rodolfo’s fireworks would light up the lagoon.
‘Though I wish Luciano could be here to see it too,’ she added sadly.
‘I miss him too,’ said Rodolfo. ‘But you forget – tonight is also my wedding anniversary. You will have to be cheerful and help your mother and me to celebrate.’
Arianna smiled at him. Three years ago, she had not known Rodolfo or Luciano, let alone that the one was her father and the other the man she would marry.
‘I will be cheerful,’ she promised. ‘As cheerful as I can be without Luciano.’
*
As soon as she arrived in Fabio’s workshop, Laura sensed the excitement in the air.
‘The announcement is going to be made this evening,’ said Fabio. He didn’t need to say which announcement; there was only one topic of speculation in Fortezza.
‘Will I be here for it?’ asked Laura. She had to stravagate back home before dark, but the next day was Sunday in her world so she might get away with getting up late.
‘I hope so,’ said Fabio. ‘Are you planning to see the Manoush again today?’
He was being very kind, Laura thought, but she didn’t know if she could bear to see Ludo again after the day before, when he had wept in her arms and she had accepted that she loved him.
‘I don’t think so,’ she said. ‘We said all we had to yesterday. Now all we can do is hope that we won’t end up as enemies.’
‘Your … closeness has developed very quickly,’ said Fabio. ‘Is this how it happens in your world?’
Even in her unhappiness, that made Laura smile.
‘No,’ she said. ‘I’ve never even had a boyfriend before – if that’s what Ludo is. What he might have been, if it hadn’t been for the situation here. Just my bad luck.’
‘And if the “situation” had been different?’ asked Fabio. ‘What would you have done?’
‘I’ve no idea,’ said Laura. ‘It was always going to be over before it started, wasn’t it? I mean you can’t have a boyfriend who lives hundreds of years in the past and in another world. It would be like loving a ghost.’
Fabio did not have time to answer her, because a servant in Fortezzan livery came with a message. Both the swordsmith and his ‘Guest, Signorina Laura’ were summoned to the castle. Princess Lucia wanted to talk to them.
*
Most of the di Chimici had remained in Fortezza. It was far too important to discover the Council’s decision about the inheritance to leave. And it was a useful distraction for Princess Carolina to have so many family members to make provision for. Only the Pope and his Cardinal had returned to Remora.
Neither Fabrizio nor Gaetano liked being away from their wives for too long but a messenger had been sent to Giglia to explain the delay over their return. The two brothers were in the salone with their cousins Filippo and Alfonso facing a long day of waiting.
‘Filippo,’ said the Grand Duke, ‘now might be a good time for you to propose marriage to Cousin Lucia. That way the dissenting faction in Fortezza could see that there would be a male di Chimici to rule beside her.’
‘Brother!’ said Gaetano. ‘Have you not done enough damage with your marriage schemes for Filippo already?’
Alfonso had also heard something about that. If he was called upon for his opinion, he resolved to oppose the scheme. Filippo was a decent enough fellow but a bit of a fool.
Filippo was glad not to have to answer straight away. It was only a few weeks since his first intended bride had married his namesake, Filippo Nucci, and made a new home in Classe, where the Nucci was now Governor.
Fabrizio frowned. It was true that his previous plan – to marry Cousin Filippo to his sister, Beatrice – had not gone well.
‘And what will happen when Jacopo of Bellona dies?” asked Alfonso. ‘Filippo will be Prince there – though let us pray that won’t happen for many years yet.’
Filippo bowed in acknowledgment, though he had often wished he knew himself how many years he would have to wait before he could rule in his city.
‘That is perhaps a better point than Gaetano’s,’ said Fabrizio. ‘But who else is there? Ferrando is too old, Rinaldo a cardinal of the Reman Church – oh, if only poor Falco still lived!’
‘He would have been too young for Lucia,’ said Gaetano, more gently than before. He was the only one of the family to know that Falco did still live, but in another world, and he knew how much Fabrizio had loved him.
‘Perhaps Lucia does not wish to marry again, cousin?’ said Filippo. ‘She has hardly had a good experience of matrimony.’
‘All the more reason to find her another husband!’ said Fabrizio. ‘She deserves one after losing Carlo so cruelly. And it’s over a year now since the massacre.’
‘But maybe she would like to choose her own husband next time – if there is to be a next time,’ said Gaetano. ‘Even though she liked poor Carlo, it was Father’s idea that they should get married.’
Fabrizio waved this idea away impatiently. ‘All the marriages were Father’s idea but they have worked out well for the rest of us, haven’t they?’
‘There are other families besides ours in Talia, you know,’ said Gaetano.
Luckily they were interrupted by the arrival of Lucia herself. All four men looked guilty the way people always do when someone they have just been talking about joins them. But the Princess seemed a little flustered herself.
‘Ah, cousins, you are all here,’ she said. ‘I am expecting visitors but I shall ask for them to be shown into the small salone.’
‘Are you sure?’ asked Fabrizio. ‘Please do not let us cause you any inconvenience. I know you weren’t expecting us still to be here.’
‘It is no trouble,’ said Lucia. ‘But you are all looking very serious. Is there some news?’
‘No, Lucia,’ said Gaetano. ‘There will be no news till this evening. And we are all hoping it will be the right decision for you.’
Lucia smiled and backed out of the room.
‘It’s about time we decided what to do if it is the wrong decision,’ said the Grand Duke. He tightened his hold on the sword he wore at his side.
*
Laura and Fabio were admitted to a pleasant, almost homely room in the forbidding castle. It looked like a private parlour in which the royal
princesses might sit to sew and gossip.
They were still standing when Princess Lucia herself came in, accompanied by Guido Parola.
‘Oh good, you are here!’ she said. ‘Please sit down.’
She asked a footman to bring them wine and pastries, though Laura would have far preferred a cappuccino.
‘Guido has told me about you,’ said Lucia, after the refreshments had arrived and they had been through the formal introductions. ‘And about your … Order.’
Laura hoped Fabio would answer for them both, but the Princess was looking at her rather than the swordsmith.
‘I don’t know very much about it, Your Highness,’ she said at last. ‘I’m very new. I’ve only just arrived in the city.’
‘Please call me Lucia,’ she said. ‘Guido does. We are friends, are we not?’
Friends with a princess? thought Laura. No one would believe this back at school – except the other Stravaganti, of course.
‘I hope so, Your … Lucia,’ she said. ‘But I should tell you that I have also met the Manoush and that I, that he, well, we are friends too.’
‘That’s what Guido told me,’ said Lucia. ‘I don’t blame you for that – he is my half-brother, if his story is true.’
‘But I understand,’ said Laura, ‘that whatever I was brought here to do, I must work for you to have your rights. And I don’t understand myself about the Stravaganti. Guido knows them but he is not one. And Fabio here was born and bred in Fortezza and yet he is one too.’
‘There are many of us throughout Talia,’ said Fabio, ‘and our Order grows all the time.’
‘And is mostly dedicated to defeating the di Chimici, I think,’ said the Princess. ‘So why would you be supporting my claim now?’
Laura looked at Fabio.
‘As I understand it, Your Highness,’ he said, ‘the Stravaganti and your family are not bound to be enemies. There are friendships between us as well as enmities. You have met Rodolfo of Bellezza, who is one of our most senior members.’
Lucia shivered and pulled her shawl closer around her as if she felt a sudden draught. ‘I have,’ she said. ‘He and my father worked together to restore order after the massacre in Giglia.’