Fruit of the Golden Vine (27 page)

Orfeo grimaced. “To think you know such language. Where did you learn that foul word?”

“From you, you shit-brained bastard. You really think sitting at the other end of the table means I can’t hear you? Or do you think women are somehow deaf to cursing?”

One of the guards snickered. “Your future wife, eh? You’re welcome to her.”

“Stop humiliating me, girl,” Orfeo said. “If I have to get these men to gag you, I will.” He averted his eyes. “Tie her hands and feet and throw her into a coach.”

The guards forced Adelina into the hallway while she writhed and swore. Her shoulder pulsed, sending spikes of agony down her arm, and her breath came in ragged gasps. Despite the anger fueling her, she was beginning to tire, but she kicked and wrestled regardless. Let them hurt her. Let Father and Mother see what they’d done.

“Unhand her.” Upon the sound of her lover’s voice, as stern and magnificent as she had remembered, Adelina’s fury gave way to weeping. Silvana stood at the foot of the stairs with her hand on her sword hilt, her face composed and her eyes smoldering like those of a wrathful deity awakened. The branches on her cheek glittered in the lamplight as she descended the final step and drew her sword.

The guards glanced at Orfeo. “Stand your ground,” he said. “She’s trying to intimidate you, that’s all.”

Silvana’s slender blade hissed through the air. Before Orfeo could do more than blink, its point settled at his neck. “Tell them to release her.”

Orfeo’s eyes lowered to the lethal tip. “You can’t do this. I’m unarmed.”

“How unfortunate for you.”

“This is abduction.” A trail of sweat glistened on Orfeo’s temple. “The town watch will catch you in hours. You’d be hanged. You can’t mean this.”

“The tip of my blade is at your throat. Look at my hand, Orfeo. See how steady it is. If I were bluffing, how could I remain so calm while I hold your life by the most slender of threads?”

“But to kill me would be madness.”

“No.” Silvana smiled. “It would be love.” She frowned at the guards. “Set this woman free and go up those stairs. Now.”

“Do it.” Orfeo closed his eyes. “For the love of God, do what she says.”

The guards released Adelina and backed up the stairs, still gaping at the scene below. “Are you hurt, my beauty?” said Silvana.

Adelina clutched her throbbing shoulder. “I think they broke my arm.”

“No doubt it’s just a sprain,” said Orfeo. “And it wasn’t my fault.”

“Wasn’t it?” Silvana lowered her sword. “And whose fault was it, then?”

“It was Adelina, she fought back—”

The sword blurred, and Orfeo cried in pain. He pressed his hand to his cheek, and blood flowed between his fingers. “You cut me!”

“No, I marked you.” Silvana wiped the bloodied tip of her sword against her boot. “A tell-tale scar so that the world will know you as a man of brutality.”

“This will not end well for either of you.” Orfeo stared at the blood in his palm. A crimson wound split his cheek. “Fugitives don’t survive long in these parts. The road watch is very good at their job.”

“Your concern for us is touching.” Silvana sheathed her sword and touched her fingers to her forehead in a gesture of farewell. “Until we next meet.” She strode to Adelina and put an arm around her shoulders. Adelina pressed herself against Silvana’s lean body. That warm body, that subtle scent, God, how she’d missed her…

“Can you walk?” Silvana spoke with calming softness. “Or is the pain too much?”

“I can walk.”

“Come then.”

Silvana guided Adelina through the corridor, out the door and into the tepid night. They hurried for some distance across the cobblestones, until the White Branch was no longer in sight, and stopped within the mouth of an alley. The moonlight traced the forking lines on Silvana’s cheek, and tears glittered on the tips of her lower lashes.

Adelina took Silvana’s hand. “I swore to myself that you’d be mine by the coming of the full moon. And there it is.”

“And here I am.” The women kissed, gently at first, then with the tenderness of lovers long-parted. “Do you forgive me, my love?”

“It’s me who should be begging forgiveness. I should have believed you. The way I treated you, I was afraid you might have left already.”

“Never. When Rafael told me you’d run away, I vowed to find you. Each day I’ve scoured the city. I even prayed for you, and I’ve not prayed since I was a child.”

“I’ve done something terrible.” Adelina clutched Silvana’s hands. “I visited the Golden Vine and lay with Nerine. I thought that by sharing my body with another woman, the bond between us would finally be broken. Instead, that passion only brought my thoughts back to you.”

Silvana’s lips moved in a cryptic smile, identical to the one that had first captured Adelina’s heart. “If you’re worried I’ll think you somehow unfaithful, have no fear. I care not which road you’ve followed, only that it led you back into my arms.”

An inarticulate emotion suffused Adelina, something like a trembling fever that slipped through her body and left her weightless. She tried to capture the sensation, but it subsided, leaving behind an overwhelming sense of solace and certainty.

“Ada?”

“I’m sorry. I was dizzy for a moment with something I can’t explain.” Adelina took Silvana’s hand again, and her fingers touched against the band of the tree-marked ring. Her joy fled in an instant, and burning shame took its place. “You still have your ring.”

“Of course I do.” Silvana moved her hand, and the moonlight caught the ring’s edge. “I kiss it every morning, thinking of you.”

“And I threw mine away. I don’t deserve your love.”

Silvana laughed and reached into her pocket. “Have no fear.” She opened her hand to reveal Adelina’s ring. “Rafael retrieved it for me. I kept it knowing that someday I would place it once more upon your finger.” She slid the ring onto Adelina’s finger and looked directly into her eyes. “I love you, Ada. Be mine.”

“From this day, we’ll never be parted.” Adelina pressed her lips to the ring. “And even the stars will wonder at the sight of us.”

Standing outside a modest inn, Silvana looked into Adelina’s face and lost yet another moment in reverie. She had long doubted that she would ever see Adelina again, and this was like the manifestation of some strange dream. Strange, in fact, in more ways than one. “By the way,” Silvana said. “Your hair…”

Adelina gave a winsome smile. “I’m just like you now.”

Silvana stroked Adelina’s cropped locks. To think that her long-haired beauty had become this waifish, vulnerable woman. “You look delightful, but you’ve lost some confidence, haven’t you?”

“I know. I thought that I would become bolder, but all I’ve done is frighten myself. I seem so small now, and everywhere I go people look at me.”

“In truth, the length of one’s hair is irrelevant. If you prefer to wear yours long, you’ll be no less bold for doing so—as long as it is your true preference, and you aren’t merely obeying what people expect of you.”

Adelina laughed. “Well, it’s too late now! Anyway, it was a good disguise.” She took Silvana’s hand. “Come on. Are you hungry?”

“Yes, as it happens. I skipped dinner. I’ve often done so lately.” Silvana tried to keep the darkness from her voice. It would do Adelina no good to know that she had spent many hours in brooding, unable to eat or drink because her stomach was already stuffed with dread. During those long hours, death’s hand had seemed far too easy to clasp. If it weren’t for her duty to find the missing Adelina, who could say what she might have done?

Though the little inn was clean inside, its cheap artwork and uneven furniture suggested the financial hardship of its owners. Adelina rang the bell on the counter, and a door creaked in the distance. Moments later, a good-looking older woman bustled down a hallway, wiping her hands on her apron.

“Evening, Marielle,” she said, peeking at Silvana and smiling in a knowing way. “Would you like to introduce me?”

“Agnete, this is Silvana, my lover. Silvana, this is Agnete, who owns this inn.”

Silvana tensed, expecting some outraged reaction, but instead Agnete’s shoulders shook with laughter. “I ought to own it, the amount of work I do! These damn fool laws that prevent us owning property. We should rise up and do something about it, I say.”

Silvana offered her hand, and Agnete pressed it. “I’m pleased to meet you, Agnete. If you do decide to rise up, you have my sword.”

Agnete glanced at the sheath hanging from Silvana’s belt. “My word, you’re not joking. Well, Silvana, I’m pleased to meet you. What a striking woman you are! Marielle’s a lucky poppet.”

Adelina hugged Silvana’s arm. “I certainly am. May we have a late dinner, Agnete? If you’re not too weary?”

“I’ll scrape something together for you, don’t worry. There was a stew tonight, and there’s plenty left, so I’ll go get it warm.” Agnete ushered them into an empty dining room and departed.

Silvana and Adelina took seats at the farthest corner. Silvana sat as she found most comfortable—reclined back in her chair, arms hanging loose, boots crossed. “How fortunate that she should be so unbigoted.”

“People are endless surprises. For one, Ira adores you and wants us to be together. I think my life’s most moving moment was when I admitted my feelings and she told me she still loved me.”

“Irena has a sweet heart and a generous soul. I like little Felise too. She’s clever in her own childish way.”

“How are they? Do you know?”

Silvana gave Adelina another lingering inspection. She was as beautiful as Silvana had remembered, though a touch wan, and it was thrilling to hear again that sweet voice with its mesmerizing lilt and to look once more into those expressive blue eyes.

“They both worry for you,” Silvana said. “Felise mopes about with her puppy in her arms, and Irena spends her days gazing toward the town.”

“And the courtship?”

“Your father has offered Irena to Rafael in marriage. She maintained his deception, not speaking a word about his poverty, and her happiness was so evident that even Delfina conceded to the match.”

“It’ll be terribly trying for Ira if this estate is as decrepit as you say.”

“Put that concern aside for now. When your parents learn that I have assaulted Orfeo and taken you ‘captive,’ as Orfeo will explain it, then Rafael will be tarnished perhaps irreparably by association. It may force the marriage to be canceled.”

“But that’s not fair to Rafael or Irena.” Adelina caressed the back of Silvana’s hand as she spoke. “Can’t we do something about it?”

“If we want to rescue their chances, all we can do is speak to your parents and obtain your father’s legal permission for you to travel with me. Otherwise, we will be hunted by the law, and the town that your father depends upon will consider me a criminal.”

Adelina took an indignant breath, and her ample bosom moved with it. Silvana smiled as her thoughts took an inappropriate turn. “Then that’s what we’ll do,” said Adelina. “Tomorrow we’ll go back to my family and make a final plea. I don’t imagine they’ll ever say yes.”

“I don’t imagine so either, but we can try. I won’t let you be apprehended, you can count on that much.”

“I wonder if my parents even care that I’m gone.”

“They do. Your father spends each day scouring the town, and he traveled to the three nearest towns in search of you as well. Your mother hasn’t left her bed since you disappeared. She sees nobody but Irena, who says that her eyes are always red from weeping.”

“Mother? Weeping? I don’t believe it. Her eyes are red because she’s a demon.”

Silvana kissed Adelina’s fingertips. “I don’t think so. Neither of your parents believed that you’d react in this way. I suspect that whatever their final words to you were, they’ve spent most of their hours since regretting them. They believe you very likely dead.”

Agnete reappeared with two steaming bowls. “Here you are, my ladies.” She set down the bowls and withdrew a pair of spoons from her apron. “If you’re thirsty, there are water jugs in the kitchen. You may help yourself.”

“Thank you, Agnete!” Adelina twirled her spoon in her hands. “And thank you for being so welcoming to Silvana.”

“Oh, it’s only common courtesy.” Agnete squeezed Adelina’s shoulder. “You keep an eye on this one, Silvana, do you hear? I’ve a liking for her. Third day she was here, my husband shouted some abuse at one of the servant girls, and Marielle shouted right back that he ought to be more respectful.”

Adelina giggled. “Oh, the look on his face.”

“Have no fear for her,” said Silvana. “There’s no woman more protected or loved in this world.”

“Goodnight, then,” said Agnete. “I’ll see you both in the morning. Don’t stay up too late now.” She winked as she left the dining room.

Silvana sampled her stew. Plain though it was, it had been a long time since she had been able to enjoy her food, and she soon reached the bottom of the bowl. Adelina ate at a more measured pace, pausing often for coy looks and shy smiles. How readily it recalled the memory of their first dinner and the way Adelina’s cutlery had trembled in her hands each time Silvana spoke…

“Do you remember when I offered you that goblet?” said Silvana.

“What a silly question. I’ll never forget.”

“I never expected you to accept it the way you did.” Silvana rested her head in her hands and watched Adelina licking her messy lips. When the sight of somebody eating stew inspired affection, then it could only be true love. “I intended the gesture to be suggestive and thrilling, a way of expressing that I’d like to bed you. You see, the fancy had entered my mind to lure you into a lewd dalliance or two.”

Adelina sucked her spoon dry. “You mean you were trying to seduce me.”

“That’s right. But instead of recognizing my bawdy joke, you took very seriously the gesture of courtship. You wanted more than to couple discreetly with me. You wanted to love me, to take me as your life’s companion. I saw it all in your eyes, and though I didn’t then know it, from that moment I became yours.”

“You flatterer!” Adelina grinned, revealing a piece of food stuck between her front teeth. “To think that the shameless temptress proved to be a romantic at heart.”