Page 57
I was doomed—unless I could confront him with his most recent crime and perhaps remind him, not of his rage but of his duty.
“With Elder’s murder, you avenged your sister’s fall from virtue.
With Princess Eleanor’s death from widowed sorrow, you destroyed the happiness of his family.
Why now take up the cause? Because Princess Ursula claimed to have contacted the spirits in her séance?
What is your new goal? To save your own puny neck?
Is that why you tried to batter that aged and gracious lady to death? ”
“I didn’t want to hurt Princess Ursula. She was good to me.” He straightened his shoulders and proclaimed, “When she threatened to discover me, reveal me, she forced me to attack her.”
Of course! It wasn’t his fault he had violently tried to bring about Nonna Ursula’s death. She’d brought it on herself. Crown him the Weasel King of Irresponsibility!
“And Pasqueta?” I asked.
With a wave of the hand, he dismissed her cruel death. “A female and a servant. Of no consequence.”
“Then why did you beat her to death?”
“The stupid she-thing fought me.”
I swallowed. I was a she-thing, and I fought him with words and, when it would be necessary, with fists and teeth and the blade of my stiletto.
To be battered to death was fearsome torment, worthy of Dante’s seventh circle of hell.
I turned away from the knowledge and armed myself with my findings.
“Unknowing of Helena’s family, Elder took what was offered.
When he discovered her untouched state, was he without remorse? ”
“Guilt, remorse. What did that matter? He tried to find her afterward. He asked me for help. Me!” Barnadine laughed with a note of hysteria and spoke as if Elder stood before him. “Too late to change the results, Escalus!”
“He’s not here.” Oops. Barnadine didn’t need to know that.
“Really?” Barnadine crooned. “Where did he go, this imaginary elder of yours?”
“You were speaking to him. Don’t you know?” Nice feign, Rosie. But too late.
“Where’s my fornicating prince now?” Barnadine glanced around, pretending to look for him. “Where’s your friend and mentor when you need him?”
I tried to turn the conversation back to Barnadine and his guilt. “What does it matter whether he’s here or not? You murdered him as you tried to murder Nonna Ursula. Prince Escalus the elder is of the spirit world and he has no affect upon the living.”
“He’s abandoned you, hasn’t he? He doesn’t want to stand by helplessly while I murder you.” Barnadine sniggered. “But I never before thought him a coward so, admit it, he doesn’t exist.”
He did exist, and I needed him nagging, shouting, telling me how to handle this crazed soldier. “You seek to destroy me. Why? What’s your agenda?”
“I pursue the extinction of the House of Leonardi.”
I hadn’t wanted to ask this question, hadn’t want to point out the massive blemish in Barnadine’s vendetta, hadn’t wanted to point Barnadine in this direction—but time fled in the onslaught of this scourge, and if he had his way, I’d soon join Elder in his haunting of the palace.
“Why? Why me?” I said. “If you wish to extinguish the house of Leonardi, why don’t you murder my betrothed? Princess Isabella is merely a woman. She’ll marry and take her husband’s name. It’s Prince Escalus the younger who’s the source of all future Leonardi generations. Why not kill him ?”
Barnadine hesitated a heartbeat too long.
“That’s it!” I waggled my finger at him. “That’s it! You pigeon-livered coward, you’ve confirmed my suspicions! You can’t beat Cal.”
“I can! I helped train that featherless fledgling.” Barnadine paced toward me. “I know tricks he can’t even imagine!”
“Cal doesn’t wallow in the pigsty of shame. He hasn’t swum through purple oceans of wine. He’s young, healthy, virile.” I flung my hand out toward the stairway.
Barnadine glanced as if afraid I’d produced my betrothed into this field of battle.
No such luck.
He announced, “I’m not afraid of meeting him in combat. I stood at his back during the recent troubles and kept him from harm.”
“Why?” My mind leaped to the only conclusion. “Because Cal’s bodyguards would have eviscerated you .”
Sulkily Barnadine said, “Marcellus suspects everyone.”
“Especially a man who fights with a hand so numb it should scarcely hold a sword?”
Barnadine flexed his fingers. “I’m perhaps not so unable as I portrayed.”
“A coward, a liar, and the villain who attacked an elderly woman in her bed. In pursuit of your own safety, you trod through rot and refuse, and carry with you the stench of betrayal.”
“My family name requires—”
“You already killed one good man for the stain he brought on your family, breaking your vow to defend your prince. Cal is another good man, who allows you honor despite your failure to Elder.” I lowered my voice to a menacing growl.
“Tell me, Barnadine, how long have you watched Cal, hoping for an evil trait, a foolish failing, any excuse to do away with him? Yet he’s the podestà who’s brought honor and stability to your beloved Verona. ”
“ You are his foolish failing. You distract him from his business. His sharp gaze no longer examines every aspect of his people, his city. He focuses on you and your charms.”
I snapped, “According to Cal, I have only two charms and they both hold up my bodice!”
“What?” Barnadine looked merely confused.
I hastened to go back on the offensive. “It’s not the house of Leonardi that’s ultimately responsible for Lady Helena’s fall from grace.
You know who is, do you not . . . Barnadine?
” I advanced on him; a foolish move, perhaps, but I intended to take him by surprise with my aggression, and, indeed, he took a step backward.
“The man responsible is the man who took her to the masquerade. Instead of being the brother who would resist her pleas and keep her safe within the family compound, you escorted your beautiful, innocent sister into a wild bacchanal. She had always sensed life beyond her walls, and rather than be what you and your family intended, she seized her moment and tasted freedom.”
As I spoke, a tide of red rose to stain his neck, his cheeks, his forehead. “You bitch!”
He’s lying to himself. Tell him the truth, but tell it more gently. “I’m sorry Helena is dead to the world, Barnadine, but your murderous intentions can’t bring her back.”
My gamble could produce two results: Barnadine could realize he couldn’t kill me, an innocent woman, and retreat again; or he could realize I was simply one more murder that paved his road to hell.
He chose hell.
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