Fiona Paul - Belladonna

She shivered a little. Signor Mafei had seemed so charming when she and Madalena had first met Belladonna for tea. But he had been there at the church, dressed in black, pouring blood just like Piero. Anyone who belonged to the Order of the Eternal Rose was sick and depraved. Evil.

Cass’s heart splintered in her chest as she realized the gravity of her words. There could be no more excuses. Her parents had been evil too.

The carriage turned onto the dirt road leading to Belladonna’s villa. Siena yelped as one of the wheels hit a rock. Cass glanced up and realized they were at the edge of town.

“Where are we going?” Siena frowned slightly, as if she knew the answer but couldn’t quite believe it.

“Villa Briani.” Cass lifted her chin toward Siena’s disapproving gaze. “Just for a moment.”

Siena shook her head but didn’t say anything. She turned her attention back to her lap and sat silently until the carriage slowed to a stop in front of Belladonna’s villa. Cass wondered what Siena was really thinking. Cass had pulled her handmaid to the side late the previous night after everyone had fallen asleep. She had told her there might be a way to help Luca escape from prison. At first, Siena had looked at Cass as if the wound on her arm had traveled all the way to her brain.

But slowly, Cass had explained the possibilities. They could contrive their way into one of Palazzo Ducale’s many servants’ entrances and hide away until nightfall. Then they could find their way into the Doge’s prison. True, once they were there, they would have to overpower the guard to steal his keys. Cass was still working on that part of the plan.

“I’ll go with you,” Siena had said without hesitation, her blue eyes as serious as Cass had ever seen them.

Cass didn’t know if Siena believed they could really free Luca from the Doge’s prison or if her handmaid loved him enough to volunteer for a mission that might get her killed, but the offer of help had made the idea seem real. It was foolish and crazy, but if there was the slimmest of chances that Cass could actually save Luca, she had to try.

But first, she had to deal with Falco.

One last good-bye.

Cass took the driver’s hand and stepped down from the carriage compartment. She felt a tremor of nervousness move through her as she made her way along the path that led to the arched front door. She could barely bring herself to knock. What if Piero answered? What if Belladonna answered, naked and covered in blood?

Idiota. Signor Mafei would answer, of course. It was only proper. And when she wasn’t posing for nude paintings or bathing in blood, Belladonna did seem fond of being proper. Cass reached out and rapped bravely on the wooden door.

Sure enough, moments later Signor Mafei’s green eyes studied her curiously. “Are you here to see Dottor Basso?” he asked. He looked down at Cass’s bandaged arm, just the end of which peeped out from her cloak.

“Actually, I—I have a message for Signor da Padova,” Cass said, hating herself for feeling self-conscious. She knew how it sounded, as if she and Falco had been lovers. But really, how was it that she felt compelled to stammer and blush about a few stolen kisses, whereas Signor Mafei could stand over her so smugly, having drugged and seduced women to steal their blood?

“I believe he’s working down in the garden,” Signor Mafei said. “If you want to wait here, I can see if he’s available.”

“That’s all right,” Cass said quickly. Suddenly, she was in a hurry to escape Signor Mafei’s mesmerizing stare. “I’ll just go say hello. I remember the way.”

“But Signorina—”

Cass ignored the protest. She swept her way up the stairs and through the portego and dining area, barely glancing at the painted likenesses of Belladonna. What was it Falco had called her? Hard? Unnatural?

Cass had just started to descend the back steps into the lush garden when she saw them. Belladonna lay back on a divan, her milky, perfect skin completely exposed except for a twist of dark curls draped over her breasts and a string of strategically placed roses covering the area between her thighs. Falco sat on a stool, sketching on a large piece of parchment. Cass squinted. Bella’s curvy form was coming alive through Falco’s strong lines.

Belladonna said something and laughed, tossing her curls over one shoulder and exposing her breasts. Setting down his charcoal, Falco stepped over to the divan to adjust her hair. His hand seemed to linger on her bare skin for a moment. Cass told herself she was imagining it, but then Belladonna reached out and twined Falco’s fingers in her own. She looked up at him passionately, and he did not pull away. He bent toward her, free hand delicately adjusting one of the rosebuds perched along the curve of her perfect legs. Cass thought for certain they were going to kiss.

Or worse.

Falco’s hand reached for another bloom.

Cass backed her way up the stairs, tucking the letter she had written deep inside the pocket of her cloak. Belladonna ran a hand through Falco’s hair and Cass stumbled, landing on the top step with a thud. Scrambling to her feet, she clawed at the door handle, desperate to be back inside the villa, away from the garden, away from what she had seen.

Too late. Falco whirled around. “Cass,” he said. Pulling free from Belladonna, he galloped across the grass toward the stairs.

Cass finally got the handle to work. She ran inside, slamming the door behind her. Lifting her skirts with both hands, she raced through the dining area to the portego. A servant girl who was dusting the canvases turned to look at her curiously.

Cass heard the sound of the back door opening and closing again. Ignoring the servant’s perplexed look, she ran back down the main stairs to the foyer.

“Cass!”

She flung open the heavy door, relieved to see the horse and carriage just where it had been.

She vaulted her body back into the compartment without even waiting for the driver to assist her. “That was quick,” Siena said.

“He was busy,” Cass said. She turned to the driver. “Go. Now. Please.”

The driver snapped the reins, and the horse whinnied and surged forward. Within seconds the carriage was headed down the dirt drive. Cass didn’t turn around. She didn’t need to. She knew what she would find. Falco watching her leave.

The carriage turned onto the main road. “Is everything all right?” Siena asked.

“Yes,” Cass said quickly, willing the carriage to go faster as it headed north toward the Apennines.

“You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.” Siena furrowed her brow.

“Don’t be silly,” Cass said. She could hardly breathe.

Falco and Belladonna. She didn’t want to believe it, but it had been right there in front of her face. The way Falco’s hand had grazed Belladonna’s breast as he adjusted her hair. The way Belladonna had gripped his fingers in her own deformed hand. The look that had passed between them.

That look.

Could Cass have imagined it?

She hadn’t seen Falco’s face, but Belladonna’s had been unmistakable. Triumph. Hunger. A desire to claim what she felt was rightfully her own.

And Falco hadn’t pulled away.

Not until he realized Cass was there. The nerve of him to run after her. Just days earlier he had said her jealousy was unfounded, that Belladonna was “hard” and “unreal” to him. Cass swore under her breath. She had been right all along.

Siena gave her another strange look.

“I’m just worried about Luca.” Cass closed her eyes and rested her head against the wall of the carriage compartment.

The journey home mirrored the trip to Florence, only the mood was infinitely more somber. Cass was a ghost, a shell, going through the motions. She passed the time staring out the carriage window, praying that the weather would hold, that the roads wouldn’t flood, that the wheels wouldn’t break. Her brain registered the beauty of the forests, the mountains, and the crystal-blue lake, but her heart ached when she thought of Falco, and her mind spun obsessively around the problem of freeing Luca.