‘Stop shaking, woman, or it will never be done.’ He was tired and wanted to be out of all these clothes.

‘I need you to be strong, husband.’ Lucrezia dropped her voice. ‘If what you say is true, then we are in real danger. Filippo was nearly killed at Mass. The preacher is a law unto himself; he could so easily do worse. I see it happening to our friends every day and it scares me.’ She applied a cold compress to his forehead as she spoke but he pushed her hand away.

‘Yet Filippo is recovered. I saw him eat heartily at the table. Sleep easy, wife, and leave the politicking to me.’

‘Sleep!’ Lucrezia hissed the word. ‘How do you think a mother sleeps at all knowing her son nearly died? If, as you say, the eye of God’s chosen preacher is upon us, I doubt I’m ever to sleep easily again.’

Vincenzio swayed as Lucrezia undressed him. He coughed great exhalations of sour breath and she took him by the shoulders and shook him till he revived. She was not to be silenced this night. The horror she’d felt at seeing her son dropped from so dangerous a height to the cold stone ground festered within her and the disbelief in her darling Pippo’s eyes as he fell would not fade. He may have recovered but Lucrezia’s hands would not stop shaking.

‘Our daughter is near betrothed, Vincenzio, and with the Lord’s blessing, there will be much to celebrate in the coming months. Your loyalty to the Medicis must end.’

‘Be quiet in your mouth!’ Vincenzio shouted, then paused as he remembered something. ‘They will join us next week to sup, the Palagios. I invited them to celebrate the betrothal.’

‘Thank you, my love, for being gracious even as you suffer.’

He nodded; it was too much effort to speak and Lucrezia’s voice was like a sword thrusting in his ear.

She kissed him. ‘I will tell Maria the good news in the morning. Thank you, husband. Now, I beg you to spare me more florins so I may begin to fill her marriage chest with those pieces every wife needs.’

Vincenzio grabbed his wife’s arm. ‘What?’ His brain was addled by the wine, he knew that, but still, mention of the coin brought him momentary clarity. ‘I must have that money back.’

‘What money? I have all but spent this month’s allowance and I still need more to help pay for Maria’s things.’

‘Don’t coddle me, mistress.’ He pushed her away. ‘Those coins are not yours to spend.’

‘Then why did you give them to me?’ she asked.

He sat on the bed heavily. The room moved, fast as a circling hawk. ‘I had no choice.’

Vincenzio waved his hand erratically, the alcohol having loosened his limbs as well as his mind. ‘I had no choice but to use those coins.’