"You thought of him too?" Marcella asked, looking at Cosimo.
He sat down on the arm of her chair and pointed at the drawing of the maestro. "Of course I did. He's an obvious choice."
Bridget nodded. "Brilliant, bi-sexual, clearly undiagnosed neurodivergent. Obviously a magician. He also worked for both the Medici and Sforza families."
"Ludovico Sforza was his patron for a while. He was Caterina's uncle," Marcella said, and frowned. "Leonardo and Caterina could very well have known each other. There is plenty of speculation about it, but if they ever were friends, it would have ended when he served as Cesare Borgia's military engineer and defeated her."
Bridget nodded. "They could have started as friends and ended up as rivals in that case. He was working in Florence before he worked for Ludovico, and he did work directly for Guiliano de' Medici in Rome later in his career."
Marcella hummed. "Caterina's Medici son, Giovanni, was Guiliano's second cousin. There are definitely overlaps upon overlaps where Leonardo is concerned, but there is no real evidence of a rivalry."
"There is enough there to speculate that Leonardo had access to both men, and Giovanni did inherit Caterina's grimoire.Leonardo was interested in esotericism and would have had access to the Medici library if he had requested it. As well as access to the Vatican's archives when Giuliano was made pope," Cosimo said, staring at the pattern Bridget had put together.
"Are you thinking Da Vinci could have taken both of them?" Marcella asked.
"Hmm, I don't know about that, but he certainly would have been curious about both," Cosimo replied.
Bridget fidgeted from one foot to the other and then grabbed a pile of yellow sticky notes. "I think we need to do a timeline for old Leo. Seeing the pattern over the years would help too. There's something here that's niggling at me, and I can't see what it is. Just think… If we could prove Da Vinci was a real magician, the world would go nuts."
"Now there are three of us obsessed," Marcella said with a laugh. "He has always interested me, but Giovanni was very protective of his mother's books. I don't see him giving the grimoire to the man who worked against her."
"Leonardo worked for the rest of the Medici family just fine, so maybe their attitude toward the incident was different than ours would be. Maybe he and Caterina made peace?" Cosimo replied and then sighed. "Still, all of it is speculation."
While Bridget and Marcella nailed down dates and moved items around the boards, Cosimo got up and walked over to a table that had been piled with books. He took a volume off the top and stroked the cover. It was a beautiful book, but he felt more than a little guilty having it. He offered it to Marcella.
"For you. I believe it should have been yours anyway," Cosimo said.
Marcella's eyes widened, and her smile did too. The smile made parting with the book easier. "Catherine Medici's copy of Zosimos. Yes, it should have been mine."
"At least now you get it at a discounted price of nothing," he replied.
Marcella took the book and threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you, Cosimo."
Bridget gestured behind her and mouthed,'HUG HER,'before disappearing among the shelves.
Cosimo frowned at Bridget but wrapped his arms around Marcella.
"As you said, it was meant to be yours to begin with," he murmured.
"You make it very hard to stay angry with you about anything at all. And you smell good too," Marcella said, letting her arms fall. "It would be really helpful if you could justnotbe perfect for five minutes, okay?"
Cosimo let her go with an awkward laugh. "I will try?"
"See that you do," she said curtly. She hugged the book to her chest, her cheeks pink. "Now, tell me about what other books you have around here, like that first edition of Dante'sDivine Comedy."
"I'm starting to think that I shouldn't have told you that I was susceptible to bribery," he said, tucking his hands into his pockets so he wouldn't reach for her again.
"No, you shouldn't have." Marcella's smile turned naughty. "But just think about how fun it will be to let me find ways to convince you to give me what I want."
Cosimo wasn't sure if she was being serious or not, but it didn't matter. Something told him that if they kept going the way they were, he wouldn't be able to deny Marcella Sforza one damn thing.
14
Marcella spent the day immersed in books and good company. She had always believed that she didn't work well with others, but it turned out that it depended on who she was working with.
Bridget had a bright and curious mind, and Cosimo never discounted an idea, no matter how far-fetched. It was refreshing to be able to talk out some of her questions and theories. Maybe shehadneeded another set of eyes on her project.
Academics were cagey at the best of times, and Marcella hadn't wanted to share her family's legacy with anyone. Like all powerful women in history, too much of Caterina's legacy had been tarnished already.
