Luna shifted round. It was terribly quiet. She strained to make out her father’s figure returning from amongst the dark shadows but instead saw a bear crouching by a bush and a boy hovering near the wall but it was only a trick of the moonlight, teasing her with its shapeshifting. She would not let her nerves best her. Papa would return presently. So she gazed up again and focused on finding Aldebaran in the constellation of Taurus. First she must seek out the three stars of Orion’s belt. She tilted her head and circled around till she had them in her line of sight, only their repeated blinking made her feel even more uneasy. She looked to the gate again. It was hanging open but she could hear no sound of her father’s return. There was nothing else to be done except to go and find him. Despite herself, she shivered.

Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR

Vincenzio Fusili stood resolute and angry. He did not want to be in the filthy alley behind his palazzo at this late hour, yet he knew it was the safest place to meet the messenger. Piero de’ Medici would be impatient for news of his spy’s safe arrival. Just as well Friar Bartolomeo had alerted him to the appearance of this agent, Roberto di’ Rivaldo de’ Medici—his nephew as it turned out. The Medicis had not even forewarned him. Roberto’s purpose, too, was a mystery, though Vincenzio was sure it would be dangerous to them all. How was he to act as private emissary for the Medicis if he was not included in their communications? Every day that he stayed loyal to the exiled family he risked his own safety and that of his family. God’s teeth, he struggled with Piero’s ineptitude.

Still, he must do whatever was asked of him—and he must do it with great discretion so there would be no chance of those in power uncovering his allegiance. His fortune was tied to the Medicis as tightly as a new grape bud grafted to the trunk of one of his vines. He was proud of the steadfastness of his loyalty to them but he must be clever and careful meeting with this Roberto, lest he be exposed as a traitor. The Great Council would show no mercy. His head pounded at the thought of discovery. He could not afford the disgrace this would bring to his name nor the inevitable ruin to his business. He thought of his bolts of cloth: plain wool one moment then dyed dark as night the next. Gossip could spread as swiftly; whispered secrets could change a man’s fortunes in an instant. Why had Piero chosen this moment to resurrect his family’s return to Florence? The timing was reckless. The preacher Savonarola was still favoured by the city and the Medicis didn’t have the numbers yet to change that.