Read Online The Outcast Blade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jon Courtenay Grimwood
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helped provide the determination to face up to her aunt and leave the Ca’ Ducale while everyone was still worrying about poor Marco.
“Marco will recover, won’t he?” That wasn’t the question. Just what got in the way of the question she wanted to ask.
“Of course he will. Aunt Alexa says so.”
Giulietta swallowed hard. “This sounds strange… You don’t think Aunt Alexa had me abducted, do you? I mean, she’s never said anything?”
“
Giulietta…
”
“I’m serious.
Has she?
”
“No, of course not. She was really upset. She offered money, titles, patronage for news of you. No one’s seen her like it. It’s a ridiculous thought.”
Giulietta decided Eleanor was right.
Tycho had suggested it. That night on the
San Marco
when he made up his story about arriving in Venice to kill her aunt at her uncle’s orders. Just another thing he said to upset her.
11
“You have servants for your house?”
Giulietta made herself pick up a tiny cup of fermented tea and sip it before answering. “Yes, thank you. A cook, a wet nurse, a porter, a guard. I’ve been hiring staff for days.”
“Because if you haven’t…”
“That’s kind. But my household is hired.”
She sat with her back to the fretted screen of a marble balcony overlooking the small gardens at the back of Ca’ Ducale. The beginning of June was the perfect time for flowers in Venice: bocca di leone, gloriosa and bouvardia filled tubs and fell over the edges of stone urns older than the city itself.
Giulietta could swear her aunt was smiling.
“How’s Marco now?” The question wasn’t intended to deflect attention from whether she’d accept one of Aunt Alexa’s spies. It managed it all the same.
“Better than yesterday, which was better than the day before…”
“I’m glad.”
“Yes,” said the duchess dryly. “So am I.” Leaning back, she added, “You know my favourite memory of the boy?”
“No, my lady.”
“Sigismund sent him a toy wolf made from real fur.” Seeing Giulietta’s surprise, she added, “We weren’t always enemies. And he is Marco’s godfather, for what that’s worth. Back then I thought the toy sweet. Now, of course…”
Since the emperor turned his
krieghunds
’ attention on Venice anyone could recognise the toy for the double-edged offering it was. What lesson was she meant to take from this, Giulietta wondered, before discovering her aunt hadn’t finished.
“One day I went to Marco’s nursery. You know what he was doing?”
Giulietta shook her head.
“He was playing chess with the wolf. Making moves for both of them. Good moves, real moves… A week later the fever took him. It turned a bright boy of six into a stumbling idiot who needs help dressing or washing.”
“A fever like this fever?”
Alexa stared through her wretched veil. If Alexa hadn’t been her aunt, Giulietta would have been scared of her. Well, more scared.
“You’re calling this a slight fever, aren’t you? I assume so because that’s what the common people are saying on the streets.”
“And you know this how?”
“Because I’ve been there.”
It was hard to explain the excitement that sparked. Simply mixing with women in the market, walking through half-deserted
campi
, visiting out-of-the-way and unimportant churches to light candles for Leopold in front of Madonnas who’d gone ungilded and unpainted for years.
Aunt Alexa had never known such freedom.
Would never know it. Her marriage swapped one captivity for another. The death of her husband tying her to different responsibilities. Being Leopold’s widow freed Giulietta. Baby Leo might be a prince but no throne awaited him. The death of a man who’d loved her, albeit strangely, had given Giulietta a house andadded the power of his name to hers. Reducing her own family’s hold.
“You’re thinking…”
“About how the world works.”
“And how does it work?”
“Subtly,” said Giulietta, and Alexa laughed so loudly a boy
“Marco will recover, won’t he?” That wasn’t the question. Just what got in the way of the question she wanted to ask.
“Of course he will. Aunt Alexa says so.”
Giulietta swallowed hard. “This sounds strange… You don’t think Aunt Alexa had me abducted, do you? I mean, she’s never said anything?”
“
Giulietta…
”
“I’m serious.
Has she?
”
“No, of course not. She was really upset. She offered money, titles, patronage for news of you. No one’s seen her like it. It’s a ridiculous thought.”
Giulietta decided Eleanor was right.
Tycho had suggested it. That night on the
San Marco
when he made up his story about arriving in Venice to kill her aunt at her uncle’s orders. Just another thing he said to upset her.
11
“You have servants for your house?”
Giulietta made herself pick up a tiny cup of fermented tea and sip it before answering. “Yes, thank you. A cook, a wet nurse, a porter, a guard. I’ve been hiring staff for days.”
“Because if you haven’t…”
“That’s kind. But my household is hired.”
She sat with her back to the fretted screen of a marble balcony overlooking the small gardens at the back of Ca’ Ducale. The beginning of June was the perfect time for flowers in Venice: bocca di leone, gloriosa and bouvardia filled tubs and fell over the edges of stone urns older than the city itself.
Giulietta could swear her aunt was smiling.
“How’s Marco now?” The question wasn’t intended to deflect attention from whether she’d accept one of Aunt Alexa’s spies. It managed it all the same.
“Better than yesterday, which was better than the day before…”
“I’m glad.”
“Yes,” said the duchess dryly. “So am I.” Leaning back, she added, “You know my favourite memory of the boy?”
“No, my lady.”
“Sigismund sent him a toy wolf made from real fur.” Seeing Giulietta’s surprise, she added, “We weren’t always enemies. And he is Marco’s godfather, for what that’s worth. Back then I thought the toy sweet. Now, of course…”
Since the emperor turned his
krieghunds
’ attention on Venice anyone could recognise the toy for the double-edged offering it was. What lesson was she meant to take from this, Giulietta wondered, before discovering her aunt hadn’t finished.
“One day I went to Marco’s nursery. You know what he was doing?”
Giulietta shook her head.
“He was playing chess with the wolf. Making moves for both of them. Good moves, real moves… A week later the fever took him. It turned a bright boy of six into a stumbling idiot who needs help dressing or washing.”
“A fever like this fever?”
Alexa stared through her wretched veil. If Alexa hadn’t been her aunt, Giulietta would have been scared of her. Well, more scared.
“You’re calling this a slight fever, aren’t you? I assume so because that’s what the common people are saying on the streets.”
“And you know this how?”
“Because I’ve been there.”
It was hard to explain the excitement that sparked. Simply mixing with women in the market, walking through half-deserted
campi
, visiting out-of-the-way and unimportant churches to light candles for Leopold in front of Madonnas who’d gone ungilded and unpainted for years.
Aunt Alexa had never known such freedom.
Would never know it. Her marriage swapped one captivity for another. The death of her husband tying her to different responsibilities. Being Leopold’s widow freed Giulietta. Baby Leo might be a prince but no throne awaited him. The death of a man who’d loved her, albeit strangely, had given Giulietta a house andadded the power of his name to hers. Reducing her own family’s hold.
“You’re thinking…”
“About how the world works.”
“And how does it work?”
“Subtly,” said Giulietta, and Alexa laughed so loudly a boy
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