Dane (29 page)

She turned to walk in the opposite direction again, oblivious to the view of the Forum excavations beyond the railing. Under her breath, she rehearsed what she would say when the door across the lane finally opened to spit out the Patrizzi matriarch.

“Can we go down to wander in the ruins?” Mimi asked for the fiftieth time. She‟d brought Mimi and Lena along to stroll with her, as an excuse for her presence here in this fine neighborhood. A servant walking two well-dressed children along a vantage point above the Forum ruins wouldn‟t attract undue attention. But they‟d been here an hour now, and Eva‟s orphans had grown bored and begun whining.

“Can we?”Mimi begged again.

“Quiet or I‟ll sic demons on you,” said Odette. Mimi‟s eyes widened and she stepped closer to Lena.

“We‟re cold,” Lena complained. “Either take us home or let us return there on our own.”

“Shush, I tell you! You‟ll wait here and be quiet about it,” she said.

She went to give Lena a smack, but stopped, hearing the door open across the way. The one she sought stepped out at last. Gaetano‟s mother, Serafina Patrizzi.

“I‟m going to speak to someone,” she told the girls.

“Who?” asked Mimi, trying to see.

“A grand, rich lady, too fine for the likes of you. Stay here until I return, if you know what‟s good for you.”

“When will you be back?”Lena demanded to know.

But Odette was already crossing the street and didn‟t bother with a reply. “Signora!” she hailed. “I would speak with you regarding. . ”

A driver wearing dignified livery stepped in front of her, preventing her from reaching the carriage. “Away, old woman! What do you think you‟re doing?”

Odette craned around him, calling out. “If you want Evangeline Delacorte for your son, you‟ll listen to what I have to say.”

Serafina paused, her foot on the carriage step. Though she didn‟t deign to turn her head and acknowledge her, she asked, “And what would you know about that?”

“I‟m her serving woman. Been with her since she was born. And with her mother before that.”

“What could you possibly have to say that would interest me?”Serafina asked, sending her a quick glance.

“You‟re interested, all right. Because I know how he can still have her.”

“I‟m not accustomed to conversing in the streets. Ride with me. I‟ll give you ten minutes. Driver, circle once around the park and then return us here.”

Odette swung up, entering the carriage behind the woman, noting the fine leather cushion and the expensive smell. Soon her Eva would ride in a carriage like this one and Odette with her. She stroked a hand over the velvet curtain at the window. She herself would be in charge of Eva‟s servants. No more menial work. They‟d be living like queens, her and Eva.

“Well?”asked Serafina.

“You want my Evangeline for your son?”Odette asked. “Or is it just him that wants her?”

“You‟re here to give me information, not to ask questions. What is it you have to say?”

“First, I want the answer. Gossips say you run things in your family. I don‟t think your son would have offered for her if you didn‟t want her for him, too.”

“Why should I want her when she has embarrassed all of us with Lord Satyr?”

“But you do?”Odette insisted a little desperately. She didn‟t know what she‟d do if this family didn‟t want her girl.

“My son wants her. And I want grandchildren from him.”

Odette smiled in relief. “Good, then. That‟s what I want. It‟s what her mother wanted. My Fantine. She was foolish. But Eva is—“

Serafina gasped. “Fantine? The Fantine?”

Odette nodded, a proud smile playing on her lips. “You remember from when she was here before, eh? All the men wanted her back then.

But she fell in love with the wrong one.”She fisted her hands on her lap.

“Won‟t let that happen to my Eva.”

“Judging from her appalling behavior last night in the Circo, it seems it already has.”

“Satyr?” Odette curled her lip. “Bah! I know how to fix him.”

“Fix him?”

“You want the grove and my Eva for your son? What you willing to do to get those things? Those my questions to you. Before I give you any answers.”

Serafina considered her. “I‟d say I‟m willing to go to great lengths to have those things.”

“But him, your son? She humiliated him. He still wants her?”

“He‟ll do what I say. But how do you propose to convince her?”

“Satyr is all that stands in our way. If he disappears, Eva will come to her senses and turn back to your son.”

Serafina‟s brows rose. “If he disappears? How will you manage that?”

Odette‟s expression turned crafty. “The Defixios.”

“Binding spells? Curse tablets? If that rubbish is all your plans amount to, then we have nothing more to say.”

“Done it before, twice. The man that gave me this lame leg?

Disappeared.”She snapped her fingers. “And Eva‟s father that got my Fantine big with child? Gone. Like that.”She snapped again.

Serafina‟s eyes sharpened. “I remember Fantine had a string of admirers here in Rome. Who exactly fathered her daughter?”

“Won‟t say. Eva can‟t know.”

“But you know, don‟t you?”

Odette sent her a sly look. “I‟m the only one who does, and I‟ll never tell. The fewer who know, the safer that secret remains.”

“You‟ll tell me or I won‟t help you. I want babies from my son.”Serafina leaned toward her and eyed her significantly. “And I want to know precisely what sort of babies I can expect from his marriage with your Eva.”

A chill drifted over Odette. “What you mean by that?”

“You know what I mean.”Sitting back, Serafina put a perfumed handkerchief to her nose and opened the window of the carriage to let a breeze in. A strange, spicy odor emanated from the serving woman as if she‟d sprung from a crypt of demons that very morn ing. “I‟m asking if the moon affects the girl.”

The mulatto‟s eyes rounded in her dark face. She was offensive, grasping above her station, and a little nervous at being in the midst of such great wealth but trying not to show it. She would be easily manipulated.

“You know about all that? And you still want her for your son?”

“Of course. Her heritage is the very reason I want her. I‟ll confide something to you in hopes you‟ll confide in me in return. Mademoiselle Delacorte stirs my son when little else does.” She inched closer. “Come, now it‟s your turn. I must ensure that offspring will ensue from the pair of them. My Tano has difficulties in that area, and I may have to facilitate things. So tell me, can she only get with child during Moonful?”

The serving woman panicked. “No. No, I‟ve got to go,” she said, trying the door.

Serafina put a gloved hand on her arm and her voice turned soothing. “Don‟t be stupid. Answer me. I don‟t mean any harm. What‟s your name?”

“Odette.”

“Well, Odette. I‟m not going to the authorities. Quite the opposite.

I‟m inviting Eva and you into my family. To share in our home, our societal position, and our wealth. You could both travel like this every day.” She gestured around the sumptuous interior of the carriage. “You could dress well, dine well. What do you think of that?”

Odette swallowed the bait. “Yes, it‟s what I want,” she said eagerly.

“Excellent. But for that to happen, you and I must first become allies. So let us speak frankly. Fantine was fey, was she not?”Serafina enquired casually, as if such a question were nothing out of the ordinary.

When Odette nodded, her pulse raced. Gaetano had been right, then. Eva had ElseWorld blood in her veins. “Who was Evangeline‟s father?”

Odette withdrew slightly, dubious. “You not gonna tell her? Or anyone else?”

“She doesn‟t know?”

“No, the less she know about that the better.”

“I promise, then.”

“Well, then, it was Angelo Sontine.” With a fingertip, Odette drew an invisible sign of some sort on her own chest and spat from the window. “I curse his name every time I speak it. He gave my Eva his blood, made her the rarest of Else creatures—a female satyr. Ruined any chance Eva had to be normal. And ruined my Fantine for anyone else. But I made sure he paid for all that.”

As the woman ranted on, Serafina blanched at the revelations that tumbled from her lips. Eva was of satyr blood? And fathered by Angelo?

Her own, beloved Angelo? All this time, she‟d thought him alive and living a happy life on the opposite side of the gate in that other world of his, with Fantine. But to find out he was dead!

“You remember him?”asked Odette, wondering at her silence.

“What? Yes, but only by name,” Serafina lied.

She could see that Odette didn‟t believe her. After all, Angelo had been as handsome as a dark angel, and charming and rich. But she must convince her. “I was twenty-five, already married and a mother when I met him. We didn‟t move in the same social circles. Why am I telling you this? We‟ve agreed that we want the same thing, but you seem to have it all figured out, with your Defixios. What do you need from me with regard to Lord Satyr if you‟re so powerful?”

“Before I say, I need to know your son is gonna want her after I do the deed. She needs a human husband. Your son‟s babies for me to look after. A fine house.”

“She‟ll have those things if Dane is gone.”

“Promise me. Swear on your life.”

“I swear.”

“All right, then, I‟ll tell you. It‟s not just the curse tablets I employ.

I‟m skilled in the art of poison making. Gave those other ones poison to finish them off and then pushed them in the Tiber myself. There were inquiries from the polizia when the bodies were found, but there wasn‟t enough left of them after the fish enjoyed them to recognize. They didn‟t have family to keep an investigation going, so nothing came of it. This Satyr, though, he‟s got brothers looking out for him.”

She‟d poisoned Angelo! A hot mix of anger and grief boiled in Serafina, making her wish she could kill this woman herself, but all things in good time. “What do you propose?”

“I can get Satyr dead, but I need help getting him from town into the river this time. Older than I used to be. Not as strong.”

“We‟re almost home again,” Serafina noted, glancing from the carriage window. “And what‟s this? I see your Eva and my daughter Alexa up ahead.”

Alarmed, Odette peered out at the road opposite the house, looking toward the ruins. Those two little brats were gone! How was she going to explain their loss to Eva?

“Not that way. On this side, standing on the sidewalk,” said her companion.

“I know that. I‟m hiding. She‟ll have too many questions if she sees me with you.”

Serafina nodded and rapped on the roof of the carriage. As the driver let the steps down, she told him, “Take this. . lady... around once more and then return here and drop her off.”

“No, take me home now. To Capitoline.”

“Very well. Take her to the address she specifies on Capitoline, and put the carriage away afterward. I won‟t be attending my luncheon after all.”Then to Odette, she asked, “When will you do it?”

Odette flicked the driver a glance. “Soon. Can‟t be sure yet. Who‟ll you send to help when it‟s time?”

“Gaetano. He will know how to handle things.”Without another word, Serafina took the driver‟s hand and alighted from the carriage. How wonderful that this repulsive serving woman had appeared, willing to take the risk in such a murder. Afterward, Gaetano could be depended upon to make sure that both her victim and she wound up feeding the fish.

“Alexa!” Eva called, paying no heed to the carriage.

So ill-bred, Serafina tsked silently. Shouting on the sidewalk. She despised women who raised their voices in public. A well-modulated tone was one of the hallmarks of a lady. After the girl wed Gaetano, etiquette lessons were obviously in order. As she stood on the walk running the names of possible tutors through her mind, Eva caught up with Alexa.

“I thought we were to meet at the market on Aventine this morning,” she said breathlessly.

Alexa whirled on her, anger coming off her in waves. “Don‟t pretend all is well.”

Eva turned beseeching. “Please, can‟t you forgive me? We didn‟t intend to hurt you.”

“Yet you did,” Alexa replied.

Serafina let them argue, taking the time to examine Eva‟s face, studying it for similarities to that of her dear Angelo. She had his dark hair. The line of jaw and brow were the same. The cheekbone resembled his, and the way she gestured with her hands so animatedly.

It was all so like him that a shadow of poignant grief passed over her. He‟d been the only man she‟d ever loved, and she‟d lain sobbing in her bed for weeks when she realized he had gone from Rome without a word. It had been a fleshly love, for he knew what he was about in bed, as all satyrs did. But it had been love, at least on her side.

If Evangeline truly bore his satyr blood, she was one in a. . Well, there had never been such a creature to make comparisons! The possibilities for her were endless. Determination filled her to own this daughter Angelo had created in his cuckolding of her. To make a fortune from her for decades to come. And if Eva suffered for her father‟s defection in the process, so much the better.

“Please.” Eva extended a hand toward Alexa.

Alexa shook her head. “I cannot be friends,” she said, sounding overcome. “Not yet. Give me some time. Then we‟ll talk again.”

Eva nodded, accepting the rebuff, but looking more hopeful now.

“Come, Alexa,” said Serafina, urging her toward the steps to their home.

Alexa made to go, then paused and glanced back at Eva. “Will you continue on with him?”