The stranger slipped it into his satchel and nodded. They froze at the sound of movement, till two cats shot out from the opposite doorway.

‘Godspeed.’ Signore Fusili grasped the man’s arm then turned towards the gate. He did not wait to see the messenger retreat into the shadows for he thought he heard footsteps and wanted to get back to the safety of his garden. He hurried, pulling the hood of his cloak down so that his face was shielded. At the gate he stopped and scanned down the alley one last time. That moment of hesitation was enough for his assailant’s weapon to find its mark.

Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

When she woke the next morning, the first thing Luna heard was the sound of banging. She went to the window and saw that workmen were already replacing the old garden gate, clearly on her father’s orders after last night’s misadventure. When she had gone to investigate why he was taking so long out in the alley, she had found him unconscious, his face covered in blood, and had revived him enough that she could help him stumble back into the safety of their garden, locking the flimsy gate behind them. He had said that it seemed to be a robber who had attacked him but fortunately he had been carrying nothing of value. She hoped it wouldn’t mean an end to their re-established star-gazing endeavours.

Now, she shielded her eyes from the morning brightness. It was late to still be abed so she dressed hurriedly. Filippo’s voice echoed and, by the sound of it, he was in the courtyard. She rubbed her throbbing shoulder—still sore from supporting her father back through the gate—as she went downstairs.

It was cool in the courtyard, though light spilt along the corridor from the outer street doors, already opened wide in anticipation of the day’s business. The central well around which the home’s three floors were built would not brighten until the middle of the day, when a waterfall of sunlight dropped down into the cavity. Then it would become busy, as merchants and visitors held conversations in the pleasing space.

Luna found her brother playing with his knucklebones. Alessandro was directing one of the stable boys to clean out Apollonius’s empty stall. Her father must be riding this morning. The stable boy stopped what he was doing and leant his back against the wall, timing it just as Luna walked past. She felt his eyes on her as she went to where her step-mamma sat on a bench against one of the pillars.

‘I slept late.’ She kissed Mamma Lucrezia in greeting as she sat beside her. The scrape and rustle of the stable boy’s pitchfork turning over the hay resumed.

‘You needed the rest—Papa told me what happened.’ Mamma Lucrezia spoke quietly so Pippo couldn’t hear. ‘God will forgive you for missing morning prayers.’