All I could do was nod mutely. “I should stay too . . .” Orsino ventured, but Rodrigo gave a little flick of his fingers and Orsino trudged out with a resentful glance but not another word. Sandro hesitated a moment longer, looking at me, but I nodded and he too departed with reluctance.

“Rodrigo,” I began with a deep breath as the doors closed and left me alone with the Holy Father. But he was sweeping down from his throne with a fond beam.

“A moment,” he said, taking me by the shoulders and dropping a kiss on my forehead. “I see you’re cross with me, and you should be. Just as well you didn’t bring Laura this evening, eh? That’s nothing for a child to see.”

“It was nothing for any of us to see! Rodrigo, what has happened?”

“A spot of tidying up. Hardly important.” My former lover brushed that away. “I kept you behind so you could congratulate me, mi perla. Lucrezia has given me a grandchild.”

All the breath left my lungs in a frozen rush. “What?”

He placed a finger to his lips, eyes twinkling. “Cesare will be very cross with me for telling you. He’s gone to great lengths to protect our Lucrezia’s reputation, of course. But you’re hardly an outsider, are you? You’ll be pleased to know Lucrezia is in good health.”

“But Perotto—” I said stupidly. I couldn’t seem to think of anything else but that dying young man with his stunned eyes.

Rodrigo misunderstood me. “Did Perotto father Lucrezia’s child, you mean? No, it seems not. That was Sforza. Lucrezia really was rather unwise there, but she is very young, after all, and her lapses can be forgiven.”

“Of course,” I echoed. The lapses of the Borgia children were always forgiven. A pregnant wife branding a decent man with the charge of impotence, under holy oath no less? Just a spot of tidying up; hardly important.

The Holy Father laughed. “I will say, I can appreciate the irony of it all.”

Irony was not the word that occurred to me. I sat down, and luckily there was a cushioned chair behind me. “So why was Perotto attacked?” I managed to ask. “What has he done to deserve this?”

“It is Our plan to wed Lucrezia to Alfonso of Aragon.” Rodrigo tossed off the rest of his wine, moving with all his old energy. “Sancha’s younger brother, you know, so he’s bound to be a handsome fellow. Lucrezia will like that, and their marriage will shore up my alliance with Naples very nicely. And since he’ll expect a virgin bride, well, a virgin bride is what We shall give him.” A small shrug. “Regrettable about Perotto, but he was Lucrezia’s envoy. He knew.”

My lips felt very dry. “And now I know.”