‘My dear child.’ Friar Bartolomeo spoke with a weary sigh. ‘Calm yourself. Your father’s arrest is most assuredly the work of the preacher, who wants to intimidate those of us who plot against him. This may not ease your fears, but it is the truth, Luna, and you are intelligent enough to understand. Your father never gave up his support of the Medicis and has been working secretly to aid my family’s return to Florence. This parchment you speak of may be reason enough for them to have taken Vincenzio, though it is not the cause of his scrutiny. He will go before the Great Council, and even though that forum is weighted with Savonarola’s men, your father is sharp and he will ably defend himself to the assembled officials and more than likely return home by day’s end.’

‘Please God, it must be so,’ Luna said softly.

Friar Bartolomeo poured her a small glass of the monastery’s wine. ‘Your colour is returning,’ he said as she sipped it. Then he gave her a curious look. ‘What did you write that could upset Rucellai so?’

Luna spoke plainly; there was no need to hide from her friend, though the moment she opened her mouth she felt the colour rise in her neck. ‘I wrote in defence of the Pythagorean Aristarchus’s theory that the Sun is stationary at the centre of the universe and Earth moves.’ How monstrous the notion sounded.

The friar pressed his lips together firmly. ‘This is heresy, to be sure.’ He paced the walls of his small cell. ‘How many moons ago did I warn you that your vanity would be your undoing? Well, perhaps that day has come, only it is your father who must bear the consequences.’

‘What can we do?’

‘First, I will take you home then I will go to Bernardo and find out exactly what Vincenzio is charged with. I will ask for Piero’s support if needs be; your father has been loyal to the Medicis so if there is a fine to be paid, then Medici coin can pay it.’

‘I want to help,’ Luna said with determination.

‘Your place is with your mother. She’ll need you.’

Friar Bartolomeo ordered the library’s wagon to be brought around when he saw how agitated she was. Luna sat beside him and clung to the sides as they bumped through the rutted laneways, thinking how relieved Mamma Lucrezia would be once she saw Friar Bartolomeo, even hoping that Papa might already be home.