The Angel of Soriano: A Renaissance Romance (18 page)

Aurelia couldn’t believe her good fortune. From now on, all would be well. She paused at the fountain and said a prayer of thanks to the Virgin Mother. So much had changed in the last few weeks since she was almost stoned to death here.

She turned when cheers sounded from under the arch. The pope had arrived from Rome with an entourage of over fifty. She knelt with the rest as he passed by, head bowed, but raised it when a low voice growled out. “Aurelia Nardini. By all the saints, it’s you.”

Startled she looked up and moaned. Rodrigo Borgia? She thought by now he’d given up on her but obviously not. Not by the way he looked as if she was a sweet morsel about to be gobbled up.

She glanced up and down the street, but Fulvio and Bernardo had left her alone for a moment, thinking her safely within the walls. After all, she’d only gone into the church for a moment, to pray.

While the rest of the men and women paraded to the top of the hill, Borgia circled her like she was a lost lamb and he a shepherd riding a white mare.

He dismounted, making sure she had no place to run. “So, we meet again. I thought I might find you here.” He moved rather well for a man so large.

Her back hit the fountain wall. “What do you want?”

“The same thing I’ve always wanted. You. Under me. Legs wide.” His stomach touched hers. Then he took her hand in his and kissed it.

“But I’m married now.” To her disgust, her voice exited with a mousy squeak, not the strong manly voice she’d been practicing for weeks.

“So? Most of my mistresses are married. In fact, it’s better that way. It keeps down the rumors.”

“I’m sorry but I’m not interested.” She tried to turn and walk away but he pulled her back by the hair and said, “I don’t think you know who you’re talking to.”

“But I do. We settled this weeks ago. Nothing has changed. If you insist, I’ll make sure your secrets are known.”

His smile went positively evil and his voice hissed like a serpent, if one could talk. “I’ve spoken to all the press owners in Rome and they assure me that you lie. So stand here before me.”

She did as he asked and he backhanded her onto her knees. Her eyes teared as she wondered if he’d broken her nose again.

“You’ll tell your husband that you come willingly with me. After two years, if you please me during that time, I’ll let you come home to Soriano. If you don’t, I’ll keep you forever in Rome and see to it that he dies. Do you understand?”

She nodded.

“If you breathe a word of our agreement to anyone, including him, he dies. Nod again if you understand.”

She did but she pictured clawing out his eyes with her fingernails.

“Good. Pack your things and be ready to depart after the ceremony.” His fat form created a shadow that loomed over her.

Stunned that she’d been outmaneuvered so well she walked up the hill. A small voice in her head instructed her to trust her husband. A louder one shouted that he would die if she did.

Bernardo called out to her but she didn’t stop on her grim march to the top of the hill. He peered into her face and went on alert. “What’s happened?”

“Nothing of import.” She tried to fake a smile while inside she was dying. How could she leave him now, after all that’d happened?

“Dearest. I know you too well. Something is amiss.” Concerned eyes searched her face.

She glanced down the street where the cardinal still stood watching and she whispered. “Look below.”

He cursed under his breath. “What did he say to you?”

“If I tell you, he said he will have you killed. And if I don’t please him for the next two years, he will have you killed.”

“That bastard.”

“He holds all the power, my love.” He clasped his hands.

He kissed them, even knowing the man in red watched. “No. He just thinks he does.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

“I’ve asked you this before but I must ask it again. Do you trust me?”

Funny enough, something had changed since the last time he asked. She nodded because she truly believed this man would see to it she would not be harmed. His grin was so rewarding, she almost laughed with him.

He took her hands and said, “Per favore. Act as if you are going along with his plans. Pack. Cry. Be sad. Fearful. Understand?”

She nodded. That part would require no acting what-so-ever.

Bernardo, despite the danger, was full of good cheer. His wife had placed her trust in him. With that knowledge alone, he could beat off the devil himself. He pulled his brother Niccolo aside, along with Fulvio. Under the guise of checking his lands from the parapets, he explained what Aurelia had shared about Borgia.

Both men were ready to die for her and he wasn’t surprised. Somehow her sweet nature and beauty inspired men to act irrationally.

“While I appreciate the offer to slit his throat, it hardly seems like the right thing to do while the pope sleeps under our roof. Besides, if rumors are correct, Borgia will be the next leader of the church. Then what?”

Fulvio paced atop the wall. “So what’s your plan? How do we save her from him?”

“Niccolo? Did you show the King of Naples the parchment?”

He grinned. “I did.”

“Is it valid? I know Aurelia owns that strip of land but does the king agree?”

“If you swear fealty to him along with the rest of the Carvajals, the land is yours. But how can you use it to your advantage?”

“Should Borgia ever need the Sicilians to rescue Rome, they would need pass over our land.” I will merely remind him of the strategic nature of that land.

Then Fulvio surprised him. “The Orsini will back you as well.”

“You’ve spoken to your father?” His heart lightened for his friend and yet grieved knowing he’d soon go home.

“Si. Aurelia thought it would be best. Something about family being everything.”

“And?”

“I am dis-disinherited.” He smirked.

Bernardo thumped him on the back. “Bene!”

Hiding her face deep within the cloak, Aurelia strode into the courtyard. The people who’d thrown rotten fruit just months before, cheered. She wasn’t sure how Bernardo managed it, but in the late afternoon light, the old woman’s cloak glowed as it had the night of the battle.

A statue sat in the middle of the square with the words carved into the base,
La Vecchia del Carnaiolo,’
meaning ‘The old woman who makes porchetta.’ The sculptor had given her a hump, the face of a witch, and a cat at her feet. One out of three is not so good she thought with a wry smile.

Then shaking, she took a deep breath and approached the pope, the right hand of God. Bernardo smiled broadly with arms crossed over his chest as he sat to the left of His Holiness. Borgia sat to the right smiling evilly at her.

She knelt and kissed the pope’s ring and stared incredulously. The same white marks that she’d seen on Dideco and Bernardo’s nails laced his fingertips. Her mouth dropped open and she stared at Borgia.

He glared back with the same twitch that he’d had weeks ago when she’d confronted him. Like then, she just knew. It made perfect sense. Everyone said Rodrigo Borgia was next in line to become pope. He was just rushing the date along by poisoning the pope! She wanted to shout it out to the world.

Then the holiest man in the world tucked an old finger under her chin and looked into her face with a smile worthy of his name. He kissed both her cheeks and stood with the help of two of his aides.

In a loud but infirmed voice he proclaimed, “This is Aurelia Nardini. She freed Bernardo Carvajal from the dungeon. Risked her own life to guard Lucella Santamaria and her grandmother of Spain. She chose love of our town over her own family. As a reward, and to create goodwill between these two twin cities, we give her to Bernardo Carvajal, the Steward of Soriano.

She’d never seen Bernardo grin more broadly. He held her hand high over their heads while the townspeople shouted. The bell at the top of the church tower rang, followed by chiming in the hills beyond. She was certain she knew which one was Bastia.

Fulvio started clapping, Bishop Carvajal cheered, and Pope Innocent opened his palms and blessed the town. She barely heard him as he implemented a “Golden Bull” and changed the coat of arms of Soriano to include the word,
Fidelitas.

How to use this to her advantage? She trusted Bernardo, but would he trust her when she told him what she’d seen?

After the ceremony, she rushed to find him. Together they must find a way to stop Borgia for all time. She was no longer willing to become a sexual sacrifice. Instead, she would fight.

She found him in the great hall just as one of Borgia’s minions tried to pull her away.

Bernardo pulled out his sword and using the flat side, thumped the man onto his knees. “Apologize.”

The man nodded on his knees. “Scusami. I was under the impression she was most willing to go.”

“She is not.” Her husband’s brows creased fiercely as if he might kill.

Borgia swept forward in his red robes and met Bernardo eye to eye. “Are you willing to die for her?”

“Si. Are you?” His hands were clenched and his mighty biceps ready to do battle.

Borgia’s men were armed and ready, but so were Bernardo and his brothers’ men. There were a few unknown to her, standing beside Fulvio that she assumed were Orsini. To Aurelia the battle seemed just about equal.

The pope watched it all, a bit dazed and confused. She walked over and kissed his ring, waiting for everyone to look on. Then she gave Borgia a raised eyebrow. Would he want it to be known that the pope was being poisoned?

“Stand down.” Borgia pointed to his men. “She wishes to stay here. I was mistaken.”

He growled at Bernardo. “You will regret this day.”

“I think not. We leave Soriano to you, Cardinal Borgia. My wife and I have been invited to Naples, indefinitely. The king has sent more men to escort us and I expect them shortly.”

He bowed to the old pope. “I’m sure you can find someone to replace me. In fact, I may know an Orsini, who’s more than willing.”

Fulvio stepped forward, doffed an expensive feathered cap, and knelt. “At your service.”

Bernardo entered the hall and hung his sword by the door. As of late, there was a sense of comfort in his new lands. A warm breeze blew from the south with the spring equinox only days away.

He bent over and picked a tiny flower from an unknown garden and prayed for the soul of his step mother. She used to love the small string of white bells that smelled sweeter than honey. He added a prayer to remove his father from purgatory, where he no doubt spent a great deal of time.

Sitting by the great hearth, Aurelia rocked to her feet, unbalanced by her growing belly. Uno, a yellow cat who’d somehow found his way into their home all the way from Soriano, meowed, then zoomed across the room. He stared from a tall window ledge, blue eyes locked upon him.

“Best you get used to more noises in this keep, cat.” He glared back, strode across the room, and handed Aurelia his gift.

She put the stem under her nose and smiled. “A ‘Lilly of the Valley,’ sign of virginity. Hardly appropriate, Signore Carvajal.”

He chuckled and kissed both her cheeks. “It’s the only one that’s as sweet as you.”

“Since when have you become such a poet?”

He kissed her belly. “Since you are having my son.”

“And if a girl?”

“I will go to the king, prepare a parchment, have it sealed in red wax, and tell her it is never to be opened.”

She chuckled. “I suppose, upon reflection, I was a mite foolish about that.”

“Not at all. Because the seal was not broken, Pope Innocent was certain it’d not been tampered with. In that, your father was quite correct.”

She shook her head. “Poor Papa.”

“Si, si. But he’s in heaven now, no doubt arguing with the great Plato, Cicero, and endless philosophers.”

She giggled. “Unless they’ve asked for a recipe to cure a stomach ache.”

“God forbid.” She looked to the door. “Where’s Fulvio? I thought he might stay here in Naples for a while.”

“I’m not sure and he wouldn’t say. But I suspect he left a woman behind in Soriano.”

“No doubt. I want to show you what I did today.” She took him up the stairs to their chambers.

“So soon. Before sunset?” He loosened his belt, eager to please his wife.

“Well, we could do that, too.” She laughed and opened the door.

Bright blue linens, the color of her eyes, hung from the rafters. A small white cradle sat waiting beside their bed. She pulled out a trundle that would someday fit two, perhaps even three more children.

The sun shone through the window, creating a halo around her now shoulder length light hair and he was undone. He took her into his arms, kissed her until she blushed, and then took his angel into heavenly bliss.