She scoffed quietly at that, but couldn’t help smiling. ‘I am merely remembering what my step-mamma showed me.’ She paused. ‘Though I am most gladdened by your company.’

After that he did not leave as she’d expected, but instead took the chair on the opposite side of the bed. Luna sat close by Elisabetta and placed a cloth upon her brow, then she picked up the Book of Hours and brought the candle closer. The afternoon light was fading.

‘Would you allow me to read?’

She nodded, surprised at his request. Nicolaus took the book and settled back into the curved seat with his head bent to the page. Luna studied him as he read aloud; he could not be more than five and twenty yet the timbre of his voice lent such a depth of feeling to the words he spoke. He wasn’t a fool like most of the young men in Florence, and certainly not vicious like Guido Palagio, nor did he seem to have the arrogance of the learned men Luna knew from her father’s company. She sat back and let the richness of his voice wash over her.

She must have dozed, because the next she felt was his gentle press upon her shoulder.

‘I must go to find the professor.’

Luna jolted awake. She felt her cheeks burn hot.

‘You did well to stay awake as long as you did,’ he said. ‘I am a better thinker than I am speaker.’ He smiled ruefully and Luna blushed again.

*

Another week passed easily in this pattern and Luna was ashamed to say she enjoyed her time in the sick chamber. There were increasing moments when Elisabetta opened her eyes and smiled at Luna, or waved her hand for a glass to be put to her lips. It lifted Luna’s spirits to be needed so and the emptiness that had sat in her belly since losing her sister and brother and parents grew smaller. She wrote to Livia telling her about the accident and suggesting she remain with her sister until Signora di Novara was fully recovered. Luna explained that she was needed at the lady’s sick bed and would not leave until she was assured of her returned health.