CHAPTER SIX
In a flurry of bright, rustling skirts and long, fluttering tresses, I hurried toward the girl. “I’m Lady Rosaline of the House of Montague, and my family supports the orphanage in all ways. You are an orphan, aren’t you?”
Eva glanced down at her nun-like uniform. “No, I simply have appalling taste in garments.”
I laughed. Oh, I liked this one. “What’s your name?”
“The monks, they call me Colomba.”
It meant “dove,” and was a common name for an orphan, but the way she said it, with such resentment and disdain… I pretended ignorance. “What do you call yourself?”
“Eva.”
“Ah. Yes.” I did understand why the monks had changed it.
They would hardly approve of a name of a female they called the mother of mankind and, more pointedly, the originator of the sin of lust. Also—I examined the child—she looked a little like her mother, and was obviously not of Verona.
“Evella is an affectionate name. May I call you that?”
She thought about it; this charity child so lacked in family and possessions, and yet was so sure of her worth. “You may do so.”
“Grazie, Evella,” I said gravely. “The holy people treat you well? You have enough to eat?”
“I’m treated as all the children are treated. Yes, I have enough to eat—but not too much.” She glanced down at the boy beside her; he eyed me warily. “Sometimes I save bits for him. He grows fast. He’s always hungry.”
“He’s your charge?”
Cal appeared beside me. “Buona giornata, Eva. You have kept the lad safe, as you promised.” He turned to me.
“Eva was cutting purses on market day when she heard him crying for his mamma. He was alone. Eva brought him to me and told me to take care of him. No one claimed him, but Marcellus found the woman we think was his mother… The angels had escorted her to her reward.”
I didn’t ask how. His tone told the tale, and it wasn’t pleasant.
He continued, “I asked Eva if she’d take him to the orphanage, and to stay with him until he settled.”
Evella’s chin jutted out as if she resented being manipulated, even for her own good, and feared his triumphant pointing out of his wisdom. “He loves me.”
“As he should,” I said. “You’re his savior.”
“If only more of our citizens were so good to others as you have been, Eva, how easy my job would be!” Cal gave his praise easily.
Evella relaxed…a little. This was a child who didn’t easily give her trust.
The boy tugged her hand. “I’m hungry. You promised we were going to get an apple!”
I knew a celestial cue when I heard one. Slipping my hand into my purse, I produced the silver coin Cal had given Maria and she had given me. “Perhaps with this you could get two apples.”
Suspicious thing that she was, Evella bit the coin. “What do I have to do for it?”
I ignored the wary tone. “I’ll call on you when I need your services. Now go and feast, and may St. Lucy bless you on her day.” I watched as the children ran toward the market. “They weren’t going to buy an apple,” I remarked.
“No. Eva’s quite the accomplished thief, and when she found the little boy and he clung to her, that handled the situation before I was forced to take action.” He turned and looked between me and Maria. “Rush. Run. Sprint! Do you dare claim caution?”
Clearly he was referring to me. “Some state of affairs require immediate action,” I said loftily.
He caressed my chin. “So they do.”
He wanted to kiss me, I thought. In that department, he had proved his accomplishments…although no one in my family would believe such a thing about the stodgy prince.
But damn the man, he kept talking. “The priests say it’s a sin to listen to a fortune-teller, or anyone who claims to know the future. You and I, we’ll have to confess on Sunday, and for what, really? Your Maria knows no more than we do ourselves.”
“What if she does know…?”
“We have our whole lives ahead of us. She says yours is a long life, and I have faith in that prediction, for I’ll accept nothing less for you.” His eyes gleamed as if he looked forward to a life with me. “Believe me, for as you know, I’m skilled at getting my way.”
“Obnoxious man!” Yes, he had gotten his way with me. Well, not his way, exactly, but he’d assured himself that eventually he would have all of me. Yet I grinned, for he pointed out his triumph with such understatement I couldn’t help it.
“There. You smile. We’ll be blessed with children, as the Lord wills it, and if our family is slow to arrive, we’ll have more time to learn each other.
” He looked up from his scrutiny of my face and glanced to the side.
“I’m sure Maria would agree—predictions are difficult, especially about the future. ”
“Nicely put, my prince.” The children were gone, so Maria had pulled the shawl from her face and approached us.
To me, she said, “My true name is Ruxandra. I trust you with that, for you have honor and show compassion. Someday we’ll meet again, far away in one of the wild places.
In the meantime”—taking my hand, she bent low and kissed my knuckles—“I’m forever at your service. ”
And she was gone, hurrying toward the city gates and another journey to another far land.
Cal offered his arm. “Shall we return to the Christmas market?”
Again I rested my whole hand on it, and wondered if he was a shape-shifter, for from one moment to another, I never knew what to think of him.