Chapter 12 #2
It was crisp, savory, with hints of butter and roasted garlic, and finished with a dash of tart lemon juice.
She ate several more bites, unnerved by the family’s silence.
It was just like the dinner she’d shared with them previously.
No one else displayed a hint of emotion as they consumed the meal.
It was done methodically and quickly, with no sense of enjoyment or relish.
“Is this your first visit to Florence?” Signora Luni asked.
“I’ve rarely left Volterra,” Ravenna said.
“So, you’ve been nowhere?” Marco asked. “Shocking, with roads as fine as ours.” His tone held no suggestion of politeness.
“Not to mention comfortable carriages,” Fortuna added.
Ravenna let their casual insults pass. A reaction from her would only encourage more of it. “I am much needed at home.”
“Remind me, your parents are innkeepers, is that right?” Signor Luni said. He scraped his knife against his plate and it made a loud screeching noise. “A respectable trade.”
“Thank you,” she said dryly. “The inn has been in our family for generations. We are all very proud of it. We’ve even had a magistrate stay with us at one time.”
“A magistrate? How … marvelous,” Signor Luni, clearly unimpressed but trying not to let it show. “A great honor.”
Ravenna wondered how much more of their insincere simpering she could take. “Instead of flattery, why don’t you tell me why you’re in need of five Nightflame gemstones?”
Signor Luni’s lips twitched in annoyance. “Once you’ve freed the stones, we’ll tell you.”
“I thought you’d free me once I completed the work,” Ravenna said.
“And I will,” Signor Luni said, giving the impression of a man whose patience had reached its limit.
“Once the task is fully complete. Now, enough of this. You will begin excavating today. And from here onward,” Signor Luni continued in a hard voice, “all of your time and energy will be dedicated to finishing the task. That is your sole responsibility; nothing else matters. I trust there is no confusion on that score?”
Ravenna braced herself, forcing herself back into the chair, keeping her shoulders straight. “I understand my position in the palazzo. You have made your demands, and now I will make mine.”
Utter silence descended upon them.
Saturnino lowered his goblet to the table and narrowed his eyes at her.
“Demands?” Fortuna echoed, frowning. “Who do you think—”
“Fortuna,” Signora Luni said sharply. “Wait a moment.”
Marco glared at Ravenna, his lips pressed into a thin slash across his mouth. “I don’t think you understand your position in this palazzo at all.”
“Let’s hear what she has to say,” Saturnino said, eyeing her shrewdly. “I’m very curious.”
“We are not indulging her idiotic whims,” Marco snapped.
Saturnino ignored his brother. “What are your demands?”
Ravenna placed both hands flat on the table. She inhaled deeply, let her breath fill her lungs, and then exhaled slowly. “I want a meeting with Lorenzo de’ Medici.”
Signor Luni scoffed. “No.”
She had expected that. “I’ve been brought to Florence with much fanfare as a sculptress who will perform a miracle for you.
I won’t pretend to fully understand why you needed to tell a great story about who I am and what I’ll do for you.
But I do understand that you need me. And so I will not toil for you unless you agree to take me to see Lorenzo de’ Medici.
” Ravenna fixed her eyes on Saturnino, the knight, the greatest defender in Florence. “Not even for one minute.”
Ravenna had expected the family’s resistance to her plan, but she had not expected the slow smile that now stretched across Saturnino’s lips.
It was hard to define, but he almost looked …
entertained, maybe even a little proud, like he’d found a worthy opponent.
A glow seemed to emanate from him, as if someone had struck a match against his heart.
Ravenna shivered from his stare, from the respect glimmering faintly back at her.
The rest of his family regarded her coldly, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle. Even if it was unsettling and uncomfortable.
“Why do you wish to meet with him?” Signor Luni asked finally.
“My business is my own,” Ravenna said.
“You have no business other than what we tell you to do,” Marco snarled. “Of all the outrageous … why are we still listening to this?”
“Because she’s right,” Saturnino said. “We do need her, and besides, what’s the harm in a meeting?”
What was this? Saturnino on her side? Ravenna eyed him, suspicious.
“You know why,” Fortuna said. She gave her brother a pointed look, and a silent exchange passed between them. Ravenna would have given anything to know what they were communicating.
“I’ll arrange a meeting,” Signor Luni said to Ravenna.
Her heart thrummed loudly against her chest. It was more than she had hoped for.
If she could persuade the politician to cease his involvement in the city, to cease building the immense fortress where he would keep an eye over everyone, lording over them, then she would have earned back Volterra’s love.
They would welcome her with open arms.
Nerves fluttered in her belly like wild butterflies.
There was a chance that Lorenzo de’ Medici would laugh in Ravenna’s face.
But thanks to Fortuna, she understood the importance of the Luni famiglia to him.
Above all things, he prioritized the health of the republic, and Florence had no greater defender than Saturnino.
If Ravenna had been a gambler, she would place a bet that the politician would do virtually anything to keep his greatest ally happy.
Perhaps even loosen his clutches on Volterra.
“All right,” Ravenna said. “When and where can I expect to meet with him?”
“Where?” Signor Luni said icily. “It seems you haven’t understood after all. You are not allowed to leave the premises. Ever.”
Her heart thundered in her ears, racing to a panicky beat.
Now what?
Ravenna tried another angle. “Then how will I cross paths with Signor Medici? Surely he is much too busy to come here. Wouldn’t it be better if I went to his place of work?”
“Florence is on the brink of war with Rome,” Signor Luni said.
“We are on the brink of war with the pope. Even in Volterra, I’m sure you’ve been made aware of the tensions existing between those aligned with His Holiness”—Signor Luni didn’t as much say the words as spit them out of his mouth—“and those in opposition to his tyrannical methods. While Florence accepts magic, many of the pope’s allies across the peninsula do not.
We have enemies everywhere with access to the city.
Which means they have access to us. And now you are one of us, Ravenna, which makes you at best a liability, or at worst, leverage in the wrong hands. ”
Signor Luni’s sharp gaze bore down on her, and it contained all of his immortal strength, the long years of his life spent in dominating others, and every cunning experience he’d gained in the years since. “I will repeat myself one more time: you are not allowed to leave the palazzo.”
Anger swirled across her vision, and she was thankful for it. It gifted her a voice that did not quake. “What about mass? I can’t miss it.”
Signora Luni shot a quick look in her husband’s direction. Ravenna’s stomach tightened—that look didn’t give her any hope. She had clearly been imploring her husband to think of some reason to keep her in the palazzo.
Ravenna couldn’t afford to miss church.
Her life already hung in the balance. The Church had little sympathy or tolerance for those who possessed even a modicum of magic. Showing her face on Sundays was the bare minimum she could do to protect herself from the Church’s wrath, and the intolerable gossips lurking on every street corner.
Or sitting in the same pews as her.
Florence might welcome those with magic but that didn’t mean she was safe. Word traveled quickly throughout the peninsula, and if she wanted a life in Volterra, then she had to keep up her practice of attending. Her soul depended on it, her reputation.
“We have a chapel you may use—” Signor Luni said.
The word burst out of her. “No. This is important to me.” She placed her hands on either side of her plate and locked eyes with the patriarch of the family. “I have to attend.”
“There is no harm in her joining us,” Saturnino said. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”
Ravenna shifted in her seat, her eyes flickering to Saturnino.
An undercurrent of tension rippled between them.
Signor Luni paused, his eyes landing on his wife.
She gave an imperceptible nod, and Signor Luni cleared his throat, then said, “You may go with us, then. If it’s so important to you.
Provided it doesn’t distract you from your work. ”
“Grazie,” Ravenna said quietly.
“Now that that’s settled,” Signor Luni said dryly. “We are hosting a banquet in your honor, a week from now. Florence’s best families will be in attendance, and I will personally secure a private audience with Signor Medici—”
But Ravenna didn’t want to wait. She didn’t want to be in the palazzo even for one second longer than necessary. “I told you. I will not work for you unless you’ll take me to meet with Signor Medici. Do you really want to delay my starting?”
“What do you think you’ll achieve?” Fortuna asked, incredulous. “He won’t hear your case and demand that we let you go. If that’s what you’re hoping for, it won’t come to that. You are ours, and not only does he know this, he supports it.”
A preternatural sense of survival descended over Ravenna. She would not yield. “Hear me: I will not work until you agree.” Ravenna pushed her plate away and leaned back against the plump cushion at her back, folding her arms across her chest. “And you cannot force me.”
“I will take her to see him,” Saturnino said from across the table.
“We’ll both take her,” Signor Luni said.
Ravenna stilled.
He smiled slowly at her, a smile that reminded her of a painting she had once seen of a tiger.
Gleaming teeth, obsidian gaze. Patiently waiting for the moment to pounce.
His own family gazed at him with uncertain eyes and matching levels of apprehension.
Their manner and conversation danced around him and his moods, and what he might do or say.
They were just as afraid of his unpredictable methods as she was.
“Fine,” Signor Luni said. “And since you are so willing, Saturnino, Ravenna is now your responsibility. And if I were you, I wouldn’t let her out of your sight.”
Panic stole Ravenna’s breath. Saturnino’s arched brow held a question for Ravenna. Look what you’ve done. Are you happy now?
She wasn’t. She really, really wasn’t.