And oh, part of me wanted it too. Bring up my Laura by the lake, away from the serpentine politics of the Vatican that had governed Lucrezia’s brief childhood. I could live quietly; not a harlot anymore, not spat on in the streets. In time my notoriety would fade, and I’d just be another young mother in the bosom of her family, taking her daughter to Mass and eating those little fried smelt that I liked so much. Eating as many of them as I wanted because I wouldn’t have to keep myself slim anymore just to keep a man’s passion stoked.

But—

“When the Pope orders you to send me back to Rome,” I said, “what will you do?”

His eyes flickered. “Maybe the Pope won’t order you back. You said his letters were angry—”

“But he still wants me.” My long absence really had made his heart grow fonder—which had been my aim, when I first departed Rome this summer. Now it looked like I’d succeeded a little too well. “What will you do if he comes for me himself, Orsino, instead of just sending your mother?”

A long silence as my young husband bit his lip. And then a knock sounded at the door, and before I could send Pantisilea to answer it, a figure swept in: square-faced, sharp-eyed, powdered, and curled.

“Madonna Adriana da Mila,” Leonello announced unnecessarily.

“Good evening, children,” my mother-in-law beamed, and her eyes did a fast relieved flick to see that we were well attended by maidservants. Holy Virgin forbid I ever be alone with my own husband! “So lovely to see you again, Orsino. Giulia, my dear, you’ve been too long gone from Rome! I’ve missed you terribly, and I’m not the only one.”

I didn’t offer her either wine or a seat. She helped herself to both.

“Goodness, but I’m tired,” she said, giving a wave of her hand to dismiss my maids. I nodded Leonello out too, and he shut the door on our little trio without comment. Normally, I’d have welcomed his presence here as a caustic-tongued shield against my mother-in-law, but I’d hardly spoken to my little bodyguard since the day I’d slapped him beside the shore. And I didn’t really want his sharp eyes on the quarrel I could already feel building in this room like storm clouds gathering over the lake, hunching Orsino’s shoulders and bringing my chin up at a defiant angle, as Adriana settled herself like a cozy velvet-clad cat.