Waterfall (29 page)

That night, I did as Fortino and Luca had instructed. They’d spoken to the guards, and all was in place. All I had to do was climb the turret stairs and they would have me over the edge in minutes. Under my skirts, I pulled on my skinny jeans. Somehow, having pants on made me feel extra protected, prepared. It seemed silly, even to me, but at that point, I was grasping at anything I had.

I was about to invite the enemy into what had become my home.

And I had to go and tell the enemy all about it. Lie with everything in me. Academy Award kind of performance. Make him believe it. If he doubted me at all, we would lose on every front. At Castello Forelli. At Castello Paratore. Lose, lose, lose, I chanted, running down the path.

There was no horse in the whole basket plan. Which was just as well. It was easier to steal away from Castello Forelli and toward the Paratores without being on top of a mount. But that still meant I had to jog two miles in those cursed slippers again. I wished I could have pulled on tennis shoes as well as jeans, but somewhere along the way my sneakers had been stolen or misplaced.

I looked about, trying to make out Lucas shape in the shadows of the forest. He had promised to be out here, waiting on me, following me across every acre and back again, even if I didn’t see him. It was vital he was not seen with me. That the Paratore crew all thought I was alone. But it comforted me to think that he shadowed me, watched over me. It allowed me to ignore every spooky sound I heard in the forest, only chalking it up to Luca, on guard duty.

just put one foot in front of the other, I told myself, pressing on, picking my way across the creek in bare feet, donning the cursed slippers again on the other side. I hurried now, thinking of Lia, awaiting me. A half hour later I reached the road that led to Castello Paratore. My heart beat in double time, and not just because of the jog on over there.

I reached the gates, and the guards lifted torches high, then tossed one down at my feet in order to see me better. I scattered backward, aghast that they risked setting me on fire in order to catch a better glimpse, but I maintained my stance, looking up. A man slid open a tiny view window. “Open the gates, quickly,” I hissed, looking back and forth, as if I was afraid I’d be seen.

The guard shut the window and the gates creaked open, only wide enough to allow me passage in. They closed quickly behind me, and I tried to get a grip. Wordlessly, I submitted to a search for weapons, but this time, I had come unarmed. There was no reason to endure more groping than was necessary-although they did puzzle over my jeans.

“It’s the Norman way,” I said. To which they furrowed their brows and shrugged.

I was then ushered inside the living quarters, through torch-lit halls to the grand salon where I’d first met with Lord Paratore. I steeled myself for the moment when I’d see him again.

The guards brought me into the room, then slowly closed the doors behind me. I stared at the figure by the fireplace, frowning. He didn’t look quite right. But it was dark in the room. Only three candles in the massive space.

And then he turned. Lord Vannucci. He gave me his thin-lipped smile and turned to eye Lord Paratore, in the far corner, gazing out the window. My head whipped to face the other man. With both in the room, that whole fight-or-flight thing kicked into high gear. And I had a serious impulse to fly.

“Lord Vannucci,” I managed. “I am glad you made a safe return.”

“And I am glad to see you. Although a bit surprised.” He came over to me and circled me. “I thought it was understood that I would come to you at Castello Forelli. Imagine my surprise in finding you had already been here.”

“I could not wait,” I said, shaking my head, “knowing Evangelia was so close. I had to see her, talk to Lord Paratore myself. And I’ve made progress,” I said eagerly, cursing myself for sounding more like a guilty schoolgirl, eager to make things right, than a trustworthy confidant.

“I’m interested to hear of it,” he said, pausing before me, taking my hand in his and covering it with the other. “You have a plan?”

“I believe so.”

Lord Paratore moved to speak with the guards outside, and then quietly shut the door again. He went to a small table and poured me a glass of wine. I accepted it, cursing my trembling hand.

My heart was pounding like crazy. Get it together, Gabi. Academy Award, Academy Award..

“Please, sit. Tell us what you’ve discovered.” Paratore sat across from me. Lord Vannucci sat nearby, staring hard at me. Why? To see if I’d crack?

Quickly, I began to spit out the plan, lamenting the impenetrable nature of the castle and the audacious attack that would be required to take her.

“I’ve been inside Castello Forelli,” Lord Vannucci said, leaning toward me. “What is to keep the people from merely barricading themselves in the corridors?”

“Castello Forelli has not sustained a breach in her gates or walls in decades,” I agreed. “The people sleep with the doors closed, but they are unlocked. I’ve seen servants enter every corridor, late at night, and early in the morning. And I assume that even you, Lord Paratore, would not attack them during the light of day.”

He nodded at me, as if I’d just tossed him a serious compliment.

I smiled at him as if I wasn’t thinking jerk in silent reply.

He looked to Lord Vannucci, and they consulted, turning their backs to me so I couldn’t hear as they considered my plan.

A quiet knock sounded at the door. Lord Paratore rose and went to open it, swinging both sides wide.

“Lia,” I breathed. She was a vision, dressed in the palest blue silk, as if she were a princess at a ball.

“Forgive me,” Lord Paratore said, touching Lia’s bare shoulder lightly, “but I find this necessary to make clear my position to you both.”

I frowned. What was he talking about?

Lord Vannucci put a hand on my lower back and propelled me over to the others. At first, I went along willingly, but then I saw Paratore wrap his meaty hand around the back of Lia’s neck. My sister blanched.

Vannucci’s hand moved to my forearm and gripped it tightly. They dragged us into the hall and to the end, then down a narrow, stone staircase.

“M’lord, what are you doing?” Lia asked, voice quavering.

“Ensuring that our plan goes as your sister has laid it out.”

No. No, no, no!

“Fear not,” Lord Vannucci said to Lia, but his eyes were on me. “I’m certain this will be soon over. In a day, perhaps two at the most.”

Dread surged through me. Lord Paratore reached for a torch and went first, pulling Lia behind him. We descended more stairs, curving down into the depths below the castle. It was immediately twenty degrees colder, and I shivered, wanting to rub the chill from my bare arms.

“Ahh, here we are,” he said proudly, as if he were about to show us his most glorious quarters. He went about the room and lit the other three torches, placing his own on the fourth wall. “It gets so dark down here without a little torchlight. Those shall last a good four or five hours,” he said.

He pulled Lia to the far wall and wrenched her hands together, wrapping a leather band around them and tying it tight.

I cried out to her, but Lord Vannucci held me fast, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, pressing my back against him, keeping me in place.

“Please,” I said, tears dripping down my face. Lia did not cry. She merely looked utterly surprised, still unsure this was really unfolding. As if Lord Paratore was joking around, about to let her go and escort her to the ball he had dressed her for.

But I knew. I knew. This was all about me. And making me remember how much was at stake.

I closed my eyes, unable to bear watching Lord Paratore attach a hook to Lia’s bindings and the hook to a chain. He reached over and cranked the chain until she had to stand on her tiptoes.

“Lord Paratore,” she gasped, wide blue eyes upon him.

But his gaze was on me. He moved to a contraption in the corner and lovingly ran his fingers across it. “Do you know what this is, Lady Betarrini?”

“I can guess,” I said.

“You attach a prisoner’s feet here.” He pointed to the bottom. “His hands here, and then you crank, crank until you hear his vertebrae begin to crack and pop. Sometimes it’s his shoulders or knees. I’d wager it would work for a woman as well.”

Now Lia was crying. “Stop it,” I spit out. “Cease! I understand.” You’re the biggest jerk ever. A bully. And I have to do what you say.

“Do you? There’s another alternative.” He walked over to a cage in the corner. “She’s a pretty thing. Birdlike. Mayhap I’ll put her up in the corner of the courtyard. Give the men something fine to play with and admire.”

I shook my head, speechless at his evil taunting.

“So let’s go through the plan again, Lady Betarrini,” he said. “We shall not have time for a protracted siege. Sienese forces would arrive within hours, and then we’d lose the advantage.”

“Cut off their messengers. Make certain no word reaches Siena,” I said, remembering what Fortino had told me to say when this came up.

He lifted his chin, considering my words.

“But the length of the siege is not up to me; it is up to you. Our deal”-I pried Lord Vannucci’s arm away and turned to face him-“and our deal,” I said, whipping my head around to face Lord Paratore, “was that I help you gain entrance-entrance, that was all. And then you were to give me my sister.”

The two men shared a long look, then glanced back to me.

“Gain us entrance as you promised, and in two days’ time, you will be away with your sister, under the protection of my own men,” Lord Paratore said. “You will reach Firenze as day breaks, your load of gold behind you.” He stepped forward and stared down at me. “Go now, Lady Betarrini, back to the Forellis,” he said slowly, “before you are missed.”

I looked to Lia. “I’ll be back for you,” I promised. She nodded, trying to be brave, but there were still tears running down her cheeks. Taking a deep breath, I turned to go, but Lord Vannucci put an arm in front of the doorway. I looked up at him. What now?

“Know this, m’lady,” he said in a whisper, leaning toward my ear, “if we run into a trap, your sister will bear the full cost of your betrayal. She will die, and not before she begs for it.”

I was walking with Luca the next morning, telling him of Castello Paratore’s dungeon and the route inward, shivering at the thought of Lia still suffering, listening to details of Fortino’s plan, when the guards called down to open the gates.

Fortino wanted Paratore to believe that he could have the castello-so that Marcello, in turn, could attack Castello Paratore and claim due provocation. If war came, they were ready for that, too. Years of having to hold back, of not being able to invite full-on war, was about to end. Fury and greed could have their full sway.

And it all hinged on the Betarrini girls’ arrival from the twentyfirst century. Super.

We paused and watched as an old, hunched-over man came limping into the castello courtyard, pulling a mule, which in turn pulled a cart loaded with hay. Two guards moved in on the old man to search his robes.

But as soon as the gates screeched to a close behind him, he lifted his hood and straightened. The guards took a step back and laughed.

It took a sec, but then I knew.

It was Marcello in disguise.

He grinned at the knights and his brother, who rushed over to meet him.

Luca patted my hand, grinning like a kid who was just given permission to open his first Christmas present, and went off to greet Marcello.

Lord Forelli and Fortino entered the courtyard from the Great Hall.

I turned on my heel and fled.

I thought I was ready to see Marcello. I wasn’t.

And Lord Forelli would totally freak if we didn’t stay as far apart as possible. Fortino had tried to tell him of what was to come, of a potential attack, of reinforcements … that it was all due to me, really, that they could even consider vanquishing Castello Paratore, once and for all, but it seemed to send the old man over the edge. He had become more shaky and distant, having trouble focusing and even forming words.

I wondered if he had had another stroke. Because of me?