“I have been instructed by my master, Lorenzo di Medici, to return you and your servant to your parents’ palazzo in the city,” the official told Bianca.
“I regret I cannot comply with such a request,” Bianca told the official, but her heart was hammering against her ribs even as she spoke the bold words. “Neither my parents nor your master has any authority over me. Your men are free to water their animals, but then I would ask that you leave my house and my property immediately.”
“Signora, I will not bandy words with you. I have my instructions. Whatever the legalities of this matter are, they are not my concern. I have been given my orders by my master himself, and I am not a man to fail in his assignment. I will give you one hour to prepare for the journey.”
“You will leave immediately,” Bianca told the pompous official bravely.
He sighed. “Signora, I beg you. Do not make this matter more difficult for yourself than it obviously already is. You will come with me in an hour, and if necessary you will be tied to your horse for the journey.”
“Signore!Do not dare to threaten my mistress,” said Agata, speaking up boldly.
“Woman, gather the servants who are part of this household and bring them to me immediately,” the official told her.
Agata looked to Bianca, who nodded, realizing that those who had been so loyal to her should not be made to suffer with her. Agata hurried off, returning quickly with the four women servants and the two menservants.
“Is this all of them?” the official asked.
“Mine is a small household,” Bianca told him.
He nodded, then spoke to them. “This house is to be closed up and secured immediately. You are to be paid for a full year’s service now. Master Pietro d’Angelo thanks you for your good care of his daughter, and bids you all return home to your village. Any livestock here is yours with his permission. This lady will now be taken to Florence, and she will not return. Go now, and do as you have been bid.”
“Filomena,” Bianca called to her housekeeper, “take Jamila with you. She would not do well in the city.”
“What of the dog,signora?” Primo asked her.
“The dog?” Bianca was confused.
“Darius, Prince Amir’s hound. He showed up here a few days ago hungry. I combed out his fur, which was badly matted,” her manservant said, “and we fed him.”
Bianca felt a slight cramp in her heart. Both animals were to have gone with them. She turned to Agata and murmured something low. Her servingwoman nodded and ran off. “Will you keep the dog, Primo? You know he is a good hunter, and I do not think he would thrive within the city. He is not used to it. He needs to run.”
Agata returned, and pushed something into Bianca’s hand.
“Take this ring,” Bianca said, giving Primo the bejeweled gold band that had been her wedding ring. It was the only piece of the jewelry her husband had given her that somehow was not left behind when she fled him. “It will keep the dog for years to come. Indeed, it will keep you and your family most comfortably.”
He took the ring but told her, “I would keep the dog anyway,signora. He is a fine animal. One day the prince will return for him. I will keep him safe until then.” Primo gave her a small bow. “May God protect you,signora.” Then turning about, he left her.
“I will care for Jamila,signora. You need have no fear,” Filomena said. There were tears in the housekeeper’s eyes as she spoke.
Bianca removed the small jeweled crucifix she wore about her neck on a golden chain and gave it to Filomena. “To remember me by,” she told her. Then she removed three rings from her fingers, giving the one with a small aquamarine to Gemma, her cook; and to each of the two little maidservants she gave a gold ring. They all began to weep.
Seeing that he would soon have a situation on his hands, the official barked sharply at the sobbing women servants. “Go about your business immediately! This house must be closed within the next hour or two. Hurry now!” He clapped his hands at them. Now he turned to Bianca and Agata. “Signora, you will have baggage that must be loaded. Your father was so kind as to send a cart and driver. My men will help load your belongings if your servingwoman will be so kind as to direct them. I assume you will ride your horse. Will your woman, or would she prefer to travel in the cart with the driver?”
“We will both ride our horses,” Bianca said. Then turning, she left him to prepare for her journey. She didn’t want to leave Luce Stellare but there was no way she could forestall this official mandate of the di Medici. Well, she would return to Florence but only because it was the last place she knew Amir to have been. She was going to find out what had happened to him. And she was going to make her parents wish they had never interfered with her life. “I did not run from Sebastiano Rovere,” she said to Agata, “only to be forced into another arranged marriage for the benefit of everyone except me. I will find Amir, and I will go with him wherever he goes.”
Chapter 10
Lorenzo di Medici smiled at Amir ibn Jem as they sat together in a small chamber in the Palazzo della Signoria. “I trust you are finding your quarters comfortable,” he said in a deceptively mild tone. He sipped at the wine in his goblet, noting that his guest did not. He could see his friend was not pleased at all by his imprisonment.
Amir laughed drily. “My apartment is better than a cell in the Bargello below,” he answered his host. “The last thing I seem to remember was being at your dinner table, Lorenzo. It was an excellent meal, as I recall. Can you tell me now why I am here? I do thank you for seeing that Krikor was brought to me.”
“I have written to your grandfather asking that he recall you, Amir,” Lorenzo di Medici said quietly. “I regret having to do this, but your behavior of late has brought you to this state. Since it will be some weeks before I will receive a reply and you cannot be left to wander freely, I have seen to your incarceration during this interim. It is for your safety as much as anything else.”
“My behavior? I only come to the city for the purpose of doing business, Lorenzo, and I rarely socialize with anyone whom I might have offended.” Then the truth dawned on him. Amir gave his host a rueful smile. “This will be about my involvement with a certain lady, Lorenzo, will it not?”
His companion smiled and nodded. “How discreet of you not to mention her by name, my old friend. Yes, it is about the lady.”
“Your walls have a tendency to absorb interesting bits of information, and then repeat them to any who would listen,” the prince replied with a small smile. “However, my intentions towards the lady are honorable. I wish her to be my wife. I love her, and she loves me.”
