"He might get worse when he actually sees you with Cosimo," Charlotte said, after a few long moments.
Marcella chewed her croissant. "I like to think he will shut his mouth when dealing with another man, but I doubt it."
"Yeah, he's probably going to sulk. You and Dad kind of…sparkle at each other," Bridget said, waving her fingers about.
Marcella tried not to choke on her pastry. "We argue. We don't sparkle."
"Kind of do," Yelena said. "It's nice that you get along and can argue about books and things. Magicians need that, and you aren't just a normal witch, are you?"
"What makes you say that?" Marcella asked, straightening her shoulders.
Yelena pointed to her bracelet. "You are wearing a spell that shields how powerful you are. We all know it. We just don't know why you would. Also, why did Carlo's mother want you to make babies so much? What's up with your bloodline?"
"Steady on. This isn't an interrogation," Bridget said.
"Yet," Charlotte added, a steely look in her eyes. "We only want to be sure we have no surprises when we get to Forli tomorrow."
Marcella touched the bracelet. "It's not malicious. I'm not trying to deceive you all. Quite the opposite, in fact."
"We never said it was," Bridget replied, her tone softening. "You can trust us. We aren't some moral police. We all have dark shit going on in the family. We aren't going to turn away from yours."
Marcella swallowed the lump of tears in her throat. She was always taught to hide, not to show it, not let anyone feel it. These girls, this family…maybe they wouldn't judge her.
"It might be easier to explain things before I show you." Marcella got up and lifted a carved statue. "This is the patron god of the Sforza family. To the Greeks, he is Hermes, but in Forli, he is known as Téramó."
"God of magicians," Bridget said with an approving nod.
"And thieves, crossroads, trade…" Charlotte rattled off for Yelena's benefit.
Bridget frowned. "How did you keep a patron pagan god with all the Christians about?"
"Very carefully. Don't get me wrong, like it is similar to a lot of today's folk magic practitioners, we prayed to and revered God, La Madonna, and Jesus like good Catholics. The saints and the old gods are more like…" she struggled to find the right word, "helpers. They would also be comfortable getting angry at their saint or patron god by threatening to stop worshiping them if they didn't come to their aid."
"I've heard about saint punishing," Bridget said and looked at the few at the table in front of her. "Does it work?"
Marcella shrugged. "Sometimes. I've never felt the need to do it, but my patron gods have been on both sides of my family for a long time. They look after us. We look after them."
"And who was your mother's god?" Yelena asked and pointed to the Black Madonna. "It's her, yes? I can feel her pulsing a little. Like your Hermes."
Marcella reverently touched the carved Madonna. "My mother was from Sicily, from a place called Agrigento. It has a lot of ancient temples to the old gods there. There are legends that say that Persephone returns there when she comes back from the Underworld to bring the spring, among many others. The cult of Demeter and Persephone was very strong there because of it. When Christianization happened, the goddess took the face of a Madonna so the people could continue to worship her. This Madonna was carved by one of my mother's ancestors, whose patron goddess was always Persephone. She is Our Lady of the Underworld, Megala Thea, the Great Goddess. The Etruscans called her Persipnei."
Yelena studied her carefully. "You pray to them, and they help you? Like deity magic?"
"Yes. Do dragons have a goddess that you like to pray to?" Marcella asked.
"There are Celtic ones the Fae revere like Dagda and Danu," Yelena replied. "I didn't know if they would listen to a wild dragon like me, but then again, I've only ever really asked them for one thing."
"What was that?" Bridget asked.
Yelena simply said, "Valentine."
"It looks like they answered then," Marcella said, the romantic part of her touched. "I'm explaining these gods to you specifically because they are why I wear the bracelet and whyRenata wanted me to have babies. She was pissed off that my father married a southerner when both their parents wanted to match them up. He went south for the summer one year and came home with my mother. He and Renata were never engaged, but that was when Renata really started to resent the family. I married Carlo, and she still couldn't have access to our gifts."
"Which are…" Charlotte prompted.
Marcella fiddled with the bracelet again. "From Hermes, the Sforzas have been blessed with a type of charisma. It's why Caterina defied every power player of her age and still survived to die a natural death. The Sforzas can't help it. I hit puberty, and the charm was so strong, I needed the bracelet to stop men from following me home. It helps dull it down. I wear it still, so I know if people like me for me or the ability."
"And what did you get from Our Lady?" Bridget asked. She was clever, Marcella knew. She could see her going through the mental list of things the old goddess was attributed to.
