“I’d like to know how to address you,” Ravenna said in the same tone she used with Giovanni when he couldn’t sleep during a thunderstorm. The noise scared him, and it was Ravenna’s lulling voice that could always lure him back to sleep. “And it’s good manners.”
She was rewarded with a shy smile in return. “I am Imelda, your lady’s maid.”
Ravenna smiled. “Now you may order a bath.”
Her maid pulled a velvet cord hanging by the bed, and as Ravennawas ushered into the connecting bathroom, she heard another maid enter the bedroom. Imelda issued instructions while Ravenna undressed behind a large screen. Several more servants came with water and filled the tub.
“That was fast.” Ravenna stepped into the hot water, letting out a delighted hum. “Bliss.”
“What color would you like to wear?” Imelda called out from the other side of the screen.
“What are my options?”
Imelda sounded amused. “All of them.”
“Your pick,” Ravenna called back.
When Ravenna stepped out of the bathroom, Imelda placed a soft green wool gown in Ravenna’s hand. It was embroidered with gold thread and had pearl embellishments along the collar. “It will go prettily with your hair. An unusual color. Sort of brown and gold and red.”
“Grazie,” she said. “How long have you worked for the Luni family?”
“A year or so,” Imelda said. “I heard you are from Volterra?”
She nodded. “Are you as well?”
“My nonna,” Imelda said, retrieving a pair of dyed leather shoes. “She is my favorite person in the whole world.”
The tight feeling in Ravenna’s chest eased somewhat. She’d felt it ever since arriving to the palazzo, but Imelda’s quiet and thoughtful conversation soothed her. It felt like kinship. “What has your experience been like with the immortal family?”
Imelda blinked. “No one has ever asked me that.”
Ravenna studied her maid, wondering if she could be trusted. Normally she would take better care with someone she just met, but her situation was precarious and she needed all the help she could get. Who better than a servant of the palazzo who saw everything? Especially one with ties to Volterra. “I won’t insult you by pretending you don’t know the details about my capture.”
Imelda flushed. “You made an impression in Florence with your arrival.”
Ravenna nodded, unsurprised. It was what the Luni family had set out to do, she just didn’t knowwhy.“What can you tell me about them?”
Imelda hesitated.
Ravenna reached forward, lightly taking her hand. “Per favore.”
Imelda made a turning motion with her hand and Ravenna complied. “I spend very little time interacting with any of them. But they are a close family, guarded, and don’t often talk in front of the servants.”
Ravenna let Imelda dress her and kept quiet, hoping it would invite her to speak more.
“The countess is beautiful but I wouldn’t dare cross her,” Imelda continued. “Marco is surly and rarely at home. And as for Cavaliere Saturnino…”
A knot coiled tight in Ravenna’s stomach at the sound of his name. “Yes?”
“He’s the meanest of them,” Imelda said. “A cutting wit, impatient, and secretive. They’re all sinful but it’s him I think of when I think of the wordevil.” Her voice dropped to a frightened hush. “I would be very careful around him, signorina.”
A chill scraped down Ravenna’s arms and legs. No one knew a family like a servant did. They were witnesses to private lives otherwise safe from censure and judgment.
She turned around when Imelda finished. “Thank you for telling me, I know it isn’t easy being honest in your position.”
Ravenna finished dressing with Imelda’s help. She looked down at herself, admiring the feel of the fabric, soft and supple under her calloused hands. It was not her periwinkle-blue dress, but the cut of the gown highlighted all her strengths. A strong back built from carrying stones into the studio. Straight shoulders from a mamma who demanded she have good posture. Long sleeves that outlined her sculpted arms.
“You look beautiful,” Imelda said approvingly. “Well worth the wait, I think.” She opened the paneled bedroom door and gestured for Ravenna to follow her down the corridor. “I’ll take you to the dining room. It’s hard to find the fastest way if you’re not familiar with the palazzo.”
