Chapter 9 #4
“Three days after the master departed for the city,” he began, “an official bearing the insignia of the di Medici family came to the villa. He paid us a full year’s wages, instructed us to close the house immediately and return to our own village.
He remained the night while we accomplished the necessary tasks and then left with us seeing the villa was secured.
That is all that I know or can tell you.
The only one of the servants not one of us was Krikor, and he had gone with Prince Amir, madonna. ”
“Thank you,” Bianca told the servingman. “I see my family’s hand in this,” she told Agata. “They have somehow managed to involve the di Medici in all of this.”
“Then you are lost,” Agata replied.
“No! The vessel that was to take us to Turkey is due off our coast in just a few days’ time.
We are getting on that vessel, Agata. We will go to Turkey, and we will find our way to Prince Amir’s palace, where we will await his arrival.
He will come home eventually. I know he will!
Lorenzo di Medici would not harm him, nor has my father the stomach for assassination. ”
“Travel alone? Without the prince? Are you mad?” Agata demanded to know. “We will be murdered, or taken into slavery without his protection.”
“I shall tell the ship’s captain that Prince Amir was suddenly called home, and took the overland route; that he has instructed the captain to deliver me off the coast nearest the Moonlight Serai because traveling by sea will be easier for me.
We will get to where we are going safely, Agata.
I do not intend to allow my parents to make another marriage for me, no matter their well-meaning intentions. ”
“God and his blessed Mother help us,” Agata said.
Bianca laughed. “I wish I could see my mother’s face when she discovers that I am gone for all her manipulations.”
But the next morning a troop of men-at-arms in the company of an official, all wearing the insignia of the di Medici, arrived at Luce Stellare.
“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.”