City of Secrets (18 page)

He would ask the class what they thought before coming up with a final mark.

Luciano cleared his throat nervously and began:

‘When is it right to kill a man? Any honourable person's first reaction to this question will be a horrified “Never!” but a moment's thought will tell us that there are occasions when it might be the lesser of two evils. For example, if you saw someone about to stab a child, you would act without thinking to save that child, even if it meant killing the attacker. I shall list the cases where it is appropriate, even desirable to kill another human being.' And then he delivered a fine
coup de théâtre
. ‘As someone who himself has killed a man, I feel I am in a unique position to tackle this topic.'

He certainly had his audience's attention now.

Luciano moved steadily through the arguments about defending the weaker and more vulnerable, through coming to the aid of one's comrade-in-arms, fighting to defend one's country in time of attack, protecting one's family, property and finally oneself.

‘I have been present at a massacre,' he said, ‘when many peaceable people had to take up arms to defend themselves against the murderous assault of armed men upon a ceremony in a church – consecrated and hallowed ground.' He paused to let this sink in.

‘And I have been challenged to a duel to the death by someone I believed myself not to have wronged. I took part to defend my honour and in the course of the duel killed a man who was older than me, a more experienced fencer and a person of great personal wealth and position and influence.'

Filippo's eyes glittered as Luciano reached his concluding arguments.

‘It was not my intention to kill him but his wound proved fatal. There is no doubt that, had I not struck him, he would have killed me. That was his intention and his wish. In the circumstances I did the only thing I could. It does not mean that I am proud to have done it. On the contrary, I regret it deeply. But it was a case when it was right, as in the other cases I have set out, to kill a man.'

Luciano went back to his seat and the class erupted in applause. Constantin nodded his approval. Luciano's speech had not followed all the classical rules of Rhetoric but it had made a powerful impact on his audience, which was one of the main purposes of teaching the discipline. He would get a high mark.

Filippo di Chimici was applauding along with the others. But he was not smiling in congratulation. Luciano did not realise that by admitting in public to killing a di Chimici, even while not naming him, he had appeared to boast of it in front of a family member and that was an insult that could not be pardoned. In that moment Luciano's fate was sealed.

Chapter 17

An Anatomy Lesson

Luciano came out of the Rhetoric class dazed by lack of sleep and surrounded by fellow students who wanted to clap him on the back and buy him a drink. He was relieved to discover that one of them was Cesare, who took him in hand and led him to the Refectory, managing to lose several of their followers on the way there. He organised food and drink for both of them, and for Enrico, who had a habit of turning up when free refreshments were likely.

‘Drink up,' said Cesare to Luciano. ‘You've earned it. That was brilliant. I don't think I'll ever be able to stand up in front of a roomful of people and declaim like that.'

‘Was that what you did, signore?' asked Enrico. ‘And what were you declaiming about then?'

‘Killing people,' said Luciano. ‘You should have been there. You could have given your professional opinion.'

‘Now then,' said Enrico. ‘There's no call to be personal. Was he there? Filippo?'

‘In the front row,' said Luciano.

‘And was he impressed?' asked Enrico innocently. ‘I mean if you were talking about killing people, you must have mentioned his uncle, seeing as how you haven't killed a lot of people.'

‘He clapped,' said Luciano, beginning to feel uncomfortable. ‘I don't see what you're getting at.'

‘Only that the di Chimici don't like people boasting about how they put their relatives away,' said Enrico. ‘Especially in public.'

‘I wasn't boasting,' said Luciano irritably. ‘I just said it was the right thing to do.'

There was a sharp hiss as Enrico breathed in through his teeth. ‘Oh dear,' he said. ‘Oh dear, oh dear.'

But Luciano was getting tired of this and wanted to be back at home with Arianna. He started to get up but then saw the boy ‘Adamo' coming in, followed by the tall companion who was never far from his side. Immediately Luciano was on his guard.

‘Congratulations,' said Adamo gruffly. ‘Marco and I sneaked in at the back. You did a great job.'

‘Enrico Poggi,' said the spy, standing up and bowing. ‘At your service.'

‘Adamo, um, Cesarini,' said the boy, randomly seeking inspiration from seeing Cesare. ‘And this is Marco.'

Enrico offered to get chairs for them but Adamo shook his head and said, ‘No, thank you. We have to get back home. I just came to say goodbye and to congratulate you, Signor Luciano.'

And Luciano had to watch his love walk away without embracing her or knowing when he would next see her. He had wasted all their time together, first with stravagating and then writing his speech. He wondered if pizza and a shower had been worth it, even though he had seen his parents. But that was a mixed blessing in itself.

While Luciano had been dazzling the Rhetoric class, Matt was fast asleep. He hadn't meant not to stravagate but the book had fallen out of his hand just as he was losing consciousness. He struggled to reopen his eyes, desperately aware that there was something he needed to do but it was no good. He was just too exhausted by the strain of all the business at the hospital.

He didn't wake up until Jan knocked on his door, saying ‘Driving lesson in half an hour.'

‘Your concentration is a bit off this morning,' Brian remarked, after Matt had been slow to get away at a green traffic light and messed up a perfectly easy reverse around a corner.

He can say that again, thought Matt. His mind was in Talia, wondering what excuse Constantin had made for him this time and whether the other pressmen would be against him on his return.

‘I wouldn't worry,' Brian was saying. ‘We all get off days when we're learning any new skill. The important thing is not to do it when you're a qualified driver.'

Matt was grateful. It seemed as if he had good men looking out for him in both worlds. After the lesson, he was at a loose end and found himself mooching past their favourite café. He looked in and saw Sky, for once without Alice, reading one of the newspapers. The dreadlocked boy looked up and, on an impulse, Matt went in.

He didn't know this Stravagante as well as he did Nick and Georgia and this was a chance to talk to him on his own. The other two were so caught up in each other and some underlying stuff about Luciano that they could be hard work.

Sky greeted him warmly. ‘Last day of freedom,' he said when Matt brought his cup over to his table.

‘What? Oh yeah, half-term. But we've still got the weekend.'

‘We have every weekend,' said Sky. ‘Today is the last day of our week off.'

Matt looked down at the paper Sky had been reading. There was a picture in it of the veteran rock star, Rainbow Warrior. He looked familiar and something clicked in Matt's brain. ‘Is he your dad?' he asked.

‘So you can see the resemblance,' said Sky. ‘Yeah, he's my dad and time was I'd have to read the newspaper if I wanted to know what he was doing. But it's OK now. He's got a big UK tour coming up. I'm going to see him on Sunday.'

‘Is it him you're going to stay with in the States next year?'

Sky nodded. ‘Him and his wife. She's OK, actually.'

‘It must be cool being a famous singer's son,' said Matt. ‘Mine sings chorus at the opera – how uncool is that?'

‘I expect it's OK if your dad's a nice man,' said Sky. ‘It took me a while to find out that mine wasn't so bad. In fact it was going to Talia that did it.'

‘So it does something for you, this stravagation, does it?' said Matt. ‘I thought it was supposed to be the other way round. Not that I've been any help there yet. More of a nuisance, really,' he said, thinking about how Constantin and Luciano had got him out of the mess he'd made.

‘It changes people,' said Sky. ‘Makes their lives better. Look at Georgia. She says she was a miserable, lonely kid being bullied by her stepbrother before she went to Remora and now she's confident and happy and going out with Nick.'

‘It wasn't exactly a happy experience for Luciano, was it?' said Matt, lowering his voice. ‘He died, for God's sake.'

‘He thinks he would have done that anyway,' said Sky. ‘And you've got to admit being a Knight of Bellezza beats lying six feet under.'

‘But he's doing that too, isn't he?' said Matt. He shivered, as if someone had walked over his own grave. He wondered if it was a premonition of winter.

Just then, two girls walked into the café. One was Alice, who gave Sky a radiant smile; the other was Lucy, the girl who had being going out with Jago. Matt supposed she was history now, but she didn't seem upset. On the contrary, she seemed on top of the world.

‘Hi, you two,' said Alice, slipping into a seat at their table and giving Sky a kiss, while the other girl queued to give their order.

‘Lucy seems happy,' said Sky.

‘She's just been with Jago,' said Alice. ‘He's much better but still needs to sleep a lot so I asked her if she'd like to join us for coffee.'

‘Are she and Jago still on then?' asked Matt in a whisper.

Alice looked surprised. ‘Why shouldn't they be? She came back early from her trip to Paris with her parents as soon as she heard he was ill. Of course she missed all the drama at the hospital but I expect she's glad about that. They seem pretty devoted to me.'

Suddenly the day felt brighter and warmer to Matt. He made his excuses, waving to Lucy, and left the others in the café. He was going to see Ayesha.

Angelo Angeli was giving one of two public dissections that Frida, but Ludo the Manoush was not in the Anatomy Theatre. His people had a deep respect for the remains of fallen companions and elaborate rituals for their disposal. At this time more than any other, leading up to the Day of the Dead, what was going on under Professor Angeli's knife would have seemed a sacrilege.

Ludo's hiding-place at the back of Antonio's house had not been discovered but he spent as little time there as possible, not wanting to put Giunta more at risk than necessary. When he could, he met up with others of his kind and roamed the city. They couldn't wait to get away from Padavia. It was like a prison to them. Not to be able to play or sing or wear bright clothes made them feel like caged birds. But they would stay until the 3rd of November when the three days of their Festival of the Dead would be over. And then they would leave this city and not return unless it repealed the laws that forbade the worship of their Lady.

And they would have to be careful how they celebrated their festival. They usually carried out their rituals at night or in the early morning anyway, for it was then that the moon, believed to be a form of the goddess, would watch over them. So, with luck no Padavian citizens would see them carrying out what would now be illegal acts.

Ludo was restless; he wished that he had never come to this city. From the day he had met Luciano, he had lived in semi-hiding, like a shadow of his real self. He respected the young Bellezzan, who Aurelio had told him came from another world, and he knew that the young printer was also one of the same kind, though not the horse-boy of Remora.

But Ludo could not forget two things. One was the reading of the Corteo Cards that he had seen Dottore Crinamorte lay out, with the figures of Death, the Scales and the Magician all close together. The other was having seen Filippo di Chimici. For Ludo had a secret of his own, one that he had not shared with Luciano: he was only half-Manoush.

Ever since he was small, his mother had told him that his father had not been of their people. Ludo had not felt the lack of him; the way in which the Manoush lived meant that there were always older men around. And he was especially attached to his older cousin, Aurelio. But he was curious about the other half of himself, that made him look different from his fellows, the only redhead in a tribe marked out by its glossy black hair and dark skin.

But it wasn't till his mother had been dying a few months ago that she admitted to him that his father had been of noble birth. ‘The highest in the land,' she said. ‘If you ever fall on hard times, if the Manoush should ever fail you, the di Chimici will take you in.'

She had died before he could find out any more. He had no idea which branch of the family he might belong to. And since his mother's death he had made no attempt to find out. She had given him a signet ring bearing a crest but he kept it in a bag close to his chest and never looked at it.