Silk Merchant's Daughters: Bianca Part 12

Orianna Pietro d'Angelo, however, had different plans for her daughter Bianca. Her sudden arrival home but a few days after her departure was a great surprise to her household. They had expected her to be away for several weeks visiting Bianca. Her mood indicated she was not pleased. Both her servants and her children walked cautiously around the silk merchant's wife that day.

A servant had been dispatched immediately to fetch the master from his mistress's dwelling where he had been enjoying a leisurely afternoon away from his silk warehouses. His mistress was upset at his quick departure and cried, which annoyed him. He intended to be most put out on his arrival home, but one look at his wife's face told him the matter was very serious, else she would not be back so quickly. They spoke together in his library immediately.

"What is it?" he asked her, knowing Orianna needed little encouragement.

"Bianca is in love!" his wife began dramatically.

Was that all it was? The silk merchant decided that he was annoyed after all. "Is the man suitable? It will certainly solve the problem of what to do with her, cara."

"Do you consider an infidel suitable, signore?" she asked archly. "She has fallen in love with the Turkish sultan's grandson, and worse, he loves her."

"What?" He knew of the Turkish antiquities and rug merchant the Arte di Calimala claimed as their own member. "How did she meet him, Orianna?"

"His is the villa next to Luce Stellare," she explained. "But it does not matter how they met, Gio-they met. They are lovers in love! Such a thing cannot be allowed, husband. He is an infidel! He would leave Florence and take her to his home in Turkey, and she is eager to go with him. My father had planned an important marriage for Bianca before you forced her to wed Rovere," Orianna reminded her husband sharply.

"Would you have had Rovere see our son accused of a murder his own son probably did?" Giovanni Pietro d'Angelo demanded to know. Would Orianna never forget? It was water under the bridge now.

"My father has agreed to make another match in Venice for Bianca," his wife said.

"What of Francesca?"

"Francesca can come home to Florence, and we will seek a French marriage for her now. Our second daughter has my coloring, and is as great a beauty as Bianca is with her dark hair. What cannot be allowed is for Bianca to run off with this Turkish prince. You must go to Lorenzo di Medici. He can have the sultan request that his grandson return home. That will put an end to the matter, Gio. For G.o.d's own good mercy, you cannot allow Bianca to be stolen away."

"By the time the Medici sends to the sultan and gets an answer, Bianca and her prince could be gone," Giovanni pointed out to his wife. "If you have shown them your disapproval, and I am certain you have, they are even now preparing to flee."

"Let the di Medici imprison Prince Amir until he can be sent home," Orianna said. "Then we may forcibly fetch Bianca and bring her to her senses, Gio. Her marriage to Rovere was a horror, as we both know. Let her come home and see the benefits of a happy marriage between two good friends, Gio. In the meantime, my father will find her a husband of wealth and stature in Venice. I want our daughter happy."

She wanted Bianca happy, he thought. Yet she would plot to take their daughter away from the man she loved because he was an infidel. Giovanni Pietro d'Angelo did not discuss his religion with anyone, but having married a woman who did not love him, he thought perhaps the prince who loved Bianca, for all that he was an infidel, was a better match than some stranger of wealth and stature anywhere. But he knew better than to argue with Orianna in matters of their children. She would not be denied that which she believed right, and Bianca's misalliance with Rovere had been allowed only to protect their oldest child, Marco.

"I will seek an audience with Lorenzo di Medici immediately, cara," he told her.

Orianna's shoulders relaxed, and she smiled at him. "Go back to your mistress now, Gio. I apologize for taking you away from her. I am sure you were relaxing from the cares of your business. Will you be home later?"

"But late," he said quietly as he arose to go. Orianna could be very understanding.

"Of course," and she smiled again. They were going to save Bianca from the biggest mistake of her life, and she felt rea.s.sured now. Orianna felt little guilt for the unhappiness she would cause her eldest daughter. It would be temporary. Bianca was like her mother-a practical woman. Once she accepted the fact that she had no other choice than to let her misery go, she would. As she had accepted the fact of her marriage to Sebastiano Rovere.

Giovanni Pietro d'Angelo, as he had promised his wife, sought an audience with Lorenzo di Medici. Although Florence was a republic, and had no n.o.ble lord ruling it, the head of the di Medici family had for some years been considered the most influential man in the city. The main government body was chosen regularly several times each year. Every male guild member who was thirty or older, free of debt, who had not served a recent term or was related to a man who was currently serving, was eligible for a two-month term in the Priori. Their names were drawn from bags kept at the church of San Croce. They served in the Signoria, which consisted of nine men. Six came from the major guilds, two from the minor guilds. The ninth man was called the gonfaloniere. It was he who was the temporary custodian and standard-bearer of the city's banner.

To make certain each of the major and minor guilds was properly represented when the names were drawn, only those eligible for that particular term were chosen to serve. Once elected for their two-month term, the members of the Priori moved to the Palazzo della Signoria to live. They were housed luxuriously, fed splendidly, and even entertained. Each man wore a bright scarlet coat with an ermine lining. The collar and cuffs of the coats were also ermine. The gonfaloniere had gold stars embroidered on his coat so he might be told apart on public occasions.

There were other councils as well, consisting of other citizens: a council of twelve citizens, and another of sixteen. They were called the Collegi. If necessary, other councils were elected for commerce, security, or war. There were various officials such as a chancellor and a chief justice.

When difficulty threatened the republic, the great bell in the campanile of the Palazzo della Signoria would be tolled to bring all the male citizens of the city over the age of fourteen into its piazza. Each section of the city gathered behind its banner to march together into the piazza. Once it was decided that at least two-thirds of the male population was there, it was considered a parlamento, which formed a balia, a committee to deal with whatever emergency had brought them into the public square.

Still, despite the pride the Florentines had in their system, there were always families like the di Medici who seemed more prominent than other wealthy families. Families that appeared to have more influence over the events of other men's lives. It was they that people like Giovanni Pietro d'Angelo, needing special or great favors, sought out in times of personal crisis. So it was that the silk merchant found himself being ushered into the presence of Lorenzo di Medici one afternoon, having begged an urgent audience several days earlier.

Lorenzo was probably the most charismatic di Medici ever born. Alone in a beautiful library, he was strumming on a lute, which, upon Giovanni's entrance, he handed to a hovering servant. He then dismissed the man with a graceful wave of his hand so he and his guest might have the privacy he knew Giovanni would want. He greeted the silk merchant warmly and invited him to sit. He himself poured the wine and handed Pietro d'Angelo an exquisite crystal goblet with a gold rim, which allowed the drinker to admire not just the taste but the lovely color of the vintage he offered.

He was surprised to see Giovanni Pietro d'Angelo coming to him. The silk merchant was a successful man. He was known to manage his own affairs with competence, and without the need or advice of others. "It must be very serious," he said to his guest, "for you to come to me, Gio. You look troubled. How is your beautiful wife? And your fine children? How may I serve you?"

"It is serious, my lord," the silk merchant said and then he took a deep swallow of wine before continuing. "What I need cannot be accomplished without your help. Whatever the cost of that help, I must have it."

Lorenzo di Medici nodded encouragingly and let his guest unburden himself.

"It is my eldest daughter, Bianca, my lord."

"A lovely girl," Lorenzo noted. "I remember Rovere displaying her at his more respectable dinner parties. And then she was not seen again. She had wit, Gio, and great charm. I was surprised when you married her to Sebastiano Rovere."

"I did not want to, my lord, but Rovere, to my shame, blackmailed me, and I had no other choice," Giovanni Pietro d'Angelo admitted.

"Tell me," di Medici said. "It will not go beyond this chamber."

The silk merchant reluctantly told the great man the tale of Stefano Rovere and his eldest son, Marco. He completed the story by saying, "I feared for my son, and I feared for our family's good name and fortune, signore. I knew not what else to do."

"Ahh, so that is how he obtained the fair Bianca," Lorenzo replied. "How dishonorable of him. The man was despicable, and the city better for his death. Do you perhaps know who killed him, Gio?"

The silk merchant looked horrified. "No, my lord, I do not!" he exclaimed.

"They did Florence a great service," Lorenzo di Medici said drily. "Gelding him and stuffing his c.o.c.k and b.a.l.l.s in his mouth were most fitting. But now let us get back to whatever problem it is you are having regarding Bianca, and we will see if we can help."

"Signore, you know the Turkish merchant Prince Amir ibn Jem?"

"A charming and intelligent man, and an honest, reputable merchant. Yes, I know him quite well, Gio. Why?"

"My late son-in-law would not allow us to see Bianca for some months after the wedding. Then finally one day my wife was permitted to enter his palazzo. She found our daughter abused, sick, and terrified of her husband. Rovere was in the courts that day. Orianna did not hesitate. She removed Bianca from her husband's home immediately and hid her in the convent of Santa Maria del Fiore until we were able to send her secretly to a small villa down by the sea that had been part of my mother's dowry. She has lived there ever since. Her neighbor is Prince Amir."

"They have become lovers," Lorenzo Medici said astutely.

"Yes, after Rovere's death but not before, my daughter swore to her mother. We wish to make a new marriage for Bianca, but she refuses to return to Florence or even discuss the matter. She would remain with the prince, and he would take her as a wife," the silk merchant said in a distraught voice. "Such a thing cannot be, my lord. It cannot!"

"No," Lorenzo di Medici agreed slowly, "it cannot. He is an infidel for all of his charm and good reputation among our community. But how do you expect me to help you with this problem, Giovanni Pietro d'Angelo?"

"Can you not send to his grandfather, the sultan, with all speed requesting that he recall Prince Amir to Turkey, my lord? If he were gone, my wife is certain we could bring Bianca to see reason," the silk merchant said. "She has no calling to the Church, and so she must be married again. Her grandfather in Venice is even now seeking a suitable match for her. That was where we intended marrying her before Rovere blackmailed us."

"I can send to the sultan with such a request, of course," the di Medici replied, "but it would be weeks before this matter could be settled and Prince Amir gone. In the meantime, he could get your daughter with child, and such a thing would make her unmarriageable, for no man of good family would accept her as his wife then."

"Then what are we to do, my lord?" the silk merchant asked despairingly. "What are we to do? I wish this man no harm, but he cannot have my daughter. My wife cannot eat or sleep for her distress in this matter."

"However," Lorenzo di Medici continued as if his guest had not even spoken, "we could secretly jail Prince Amir in the Palazzo della Signoria until his grandfather sends his Janissaries to escort him home. No one need know he is there. I will personally see that he is treated with all the respect due to his rank. Once he has disappeared, you can retrieve your daughter and make happier plans for her. Would that suit you, Giovanni Pietro d'Angelo?" Lorenzo di Medici smiled as he saw relief filling the silk merchant's face.

"My lord! It is a brilliant plan! How can I thank you?"

"It is actually a small thing for me, Gio," Lorenzo di Medici replied. "I know how to approach Sultan Mehmet, for my father's many years as a diplomat and my own small experience serving the republic taught me how to deal with great rulers. Make no mistake, Gio; Mehmet the Conqueror is a great ruler and an intelligent man for all he is an infidel. Sending Prince Amir away is a sacrifice on my part, for I have always enjoyed his company, and the treasures he has found for me over the past few years are unequaled. No other dealer in antiquities has ever been so successful. But while we can share our courtesans and wh.o.r.es with an infidel, we cannot give them or allow them to take our daughters. I have never known him to care enough about a woman to want her for a wife. He is unlikely to give Bianca up, and from what you have said, Bianca will not give him up willingly. She must be protected for her own sake. As for what you owe me . . ." He paused as if thinking. "There will come a day when I ask a favor of you, Giovanni Pietro d'Angelo, and you will not refuse me, no matter the price."

Once Sebastiano Rovere had said almost the exact same words to him, and he had agreed for the sake of his family. But Lorenzo di Medici was not Rovere. He was a man of honor, more powerful, his family more dangerous, and the price would be correspondingly higher, it was true. But Bianca must be saved from her infidel lover before it was too late. "I agree," he said quietly. "I will not refuse the favor you require of me when you need it, my lord." He stood and held out his hand to Lorenzo.

The great man stood and accepted the silk merchant's hand as they shook in agreement. Then the two men sat again to drink their wine. When he had finally drained the goblet, Giovanni Pietro d'Angelo arose once more, thanking Lorenzo di Medici for his kindness. He returned home to tell his wife the matter would shortly be settled.

Orianna didn't ask him for any details. Sometimes it was better not to know. She knew what she needed to know. Prince Amir would be removed from Bianca's sphere. Orianna would shortly regain her eldest daughter's company. Then she would make a wonderful marriage for Bianca, and Bianca would be truly happy again.

But Bianca was happy as Amir made arrangements for them to leave the republic and sail to Turkey. He had already seen to a vessel to take them to Constantinople. He had just one more trip to Florence to put his warehouse into the hands of his two employees, who were being told he was seeking new antiquities for his business. As he had taken such trips twice before, they had no suspicion that anything was different. Later he would inform them that he did not mean to return.

"I wish you didn't have to go to the city," Bianca told him the morning of his departure. "Why can you not simply send a message to your men?"

"Because neither of them reads very well," he explained. "Actually only one of them can understand the bills of lading. They do better and are more rea.s.sured when their instructions are verbal, my love. They would consider it odd if I went off without speaking to them. Then they would gossip with others about it, and who knows what would be thought of my disappearance. So let me go and speak with them, Bianca. Krikor will come with me and I shall not linger. Two days at the most." He kissed her a lingering kiss, breaking away with a sigh. "Soon we shall be at my palace and you will be happy, beloved," he told her. Then he was gone.

Bianca was all packed and ready to depart. She waited two days, three days, and then a week went by. He had been delayed, of course, she thought, but he might have sent word to her. How like a man, she thought and she smiled. He probably expected with each new day that he would be leaving, and what a waste a messenger would be. But when the week ended and there was no sign of Prince Amir, Bianca took her horse and rode down the beach to the neighboring villa. When she arrived, she discovered to her shock that it was all closed up and deserted. As she walked around the outside of the house, she could see that heavy wooden shutters had been placed over the windows and the doors. She managed to peer through a crack in a kitchen window. Inside, the ovens and fireplace were cold, without fire. There was no sign of life whatsoever.

What had happened? Why was his home closed up when they had not gone yet? Frightened, Bianca returned to Luce Stellare to see if her own servants knew anything. They didn't and were as surprised as she was, but that evening one of the young local menservants who enjoyed the housemaid Pia's company arrived at the kitchen door. They brought him to Bianca to tell his story.

"Three days after the master departed for the city," he began, "an official bearing the insignia of the di Medici family came to the villa. He paid us a full year's wages, instructed us to close the house immediately and return to our own village. He remained the night while we accomplished the necessary tasks and then left with us seeing the villa was secured. That is all that I know or can tell you. The only one of the servants not one of us was Krikor, and he had gone with Prince Amir, madonna."

"Thank you," Bianca told the servingman. "I see my family's hand in this," she told Agata. "They have somehow managed to involve the di Medici in all of this."

"Then you are lost," Agata replied.

"No! The vessel that was to take us to Turkey is due off our coast in just a few days' time. We are getting on that vessel, Agata. We will go to Turkey, and we will find our way to Prince Amir's palace, where we will await his arrival. He will come home eventually. I know he will! Lorenzo di Medici would not harm him, nor has my father the stomach for a.s.sa.s.sination."

"Travel alone? Without the prince? Are you mad?" Agata demanded to know. "We will be murdered, or taken into slavery without his protection."

"I shall tell the s.h.i.+p's captain that Prince Amir was suddenly called home, and took the overland route; that he has instructed the captain to deliver me off the coast nearest the Moonlight Serai because traveling by sea will be easier for me. We will get to where we are going safely, Agata. I do not intend to allow my parents to make another marriage for me, no matter their well-meaning intentions."

"G.o.d and his blessed Mother help us," Agata said.

Bianca laughed. "I wish I could see my mother's face when she discovers that I am gone for all her manipulations."

But the next morning a troop of men-at-arms in the company of an official, all wearing the insignia of the di Medici, arrived at Luce Stellare.

"I have been instructed by my master, Lorenzo di Medici, to return you and your servant to your parents' palazzo in the city," the official told Bianca.

"I regret I cannot comply with such a request," Bianca told the official, but her heart was hammering against her ribs even as she spoke the bold words. "Neither my parents nor your master has any authority over me. Your men are free to water their animals, but then I would ask that you leave my house and my property immediately."

"Signora, I will not bandy words with you. I have my instructions. Whatever the legalities of this matter are, they are not my concern. I have been given my orders by my master himself, and I am not a man to fail in his a.s.signment. I will give you one hour to prepare for the journey."

"You will leave immediately," Bianca told the pompous official bravely.

He sighed. "Signora, I beg you. Do not make this matter more difficult for yourself than it obviously already is. You will come with me in an hour, and if necessary you will be tied to your horse for the journey."

"Signore! Do not dare to threaten my mistress," said Agata, speaking up boldly.

"Woman, gather the servants who are part of this household and bring them to me immediately," the official told her.

Agata looked to Bianca, who nodded, realizing that those who had been so loyal to her should not be made to suffer with her. Agata hurried off, returning quickly with the four women servants and the two menservants.

"Is this all of them?" the official asked.

"Mine is a small household," Bianca told him.

He nodded, then spoke to them. "This house is to be closed up and secured immediately. You are to be paid for a full year's service now. Master Pietro d'Angelo thanks you for your good care of his daughter, and bids you all return home to your village. Any livestock here is yours with his permission. This lady will now be taken to Florence, and she will not return. Go now, and do as you have been bid."

"Filomena," Bianca called to her housekeeper, "take Jamila with you. She would not do well in the city."

"What of the dog, signora?" Primo asked her.

"The dog?" Bianca was confused.

"Darius, Prince Amir's hound. He showed up here a few days ago hungry. I combed out his fur, which was badly matted," her manservant said, "and we fed him."

Bianca felt a slight cramp in her heart. Both animals were to have gone with them. She turned to Agata and murmured something low. Her servingwoman nodded and ran off. "Will you keep the dog, Primo? You know he is a good hunter, and I do not think he would thrive within the city. He is not used to it. He needs to run."

Agata returned, and pushed something into Bianca's hand.

"Take this ring," Bianca said, giving Primo the bejeweled gold band that had been her wedding ring. It was the only piece of the jewelry her husband had given her that somehow was not left behind when she fled him. "It will keep the dog for years to come. Indeed, it will keep you and your family most comfortably."

He took the ring but told her, "I would keep the dog anyway, signora. He is a fine animal. One day the prince will return for him. I will keep him safe until then." Primo gave her a small bow. "May G.o.d protect you, signora." Then turning about, he left her.

"I will care for Jamila, signora. You need have no fear," Filomena said. There were tears in the housekeeper's eyes as she spoke.

Bianca removed the small jeweled crucifix she wore about her neck on a golden chain and gave it to Filomena. "To remember me by," she told her. Then she removed three rings from her fingers, giving the one with a small aquamarine to Gemma, her cook; and to each of the two little maidservants she gave a gold ring. They all began to weep.

Seeing that he would soon have a situation on his hands, the official barked sharply at the sobbing women servants. "Go about your business immediately! This house must be closed within the next hour or two. Hurry now!" He clapped his hands at them. Now he turned to Bianca and Agata. "Signora, you will have baggage that must be loaded. Your father was so kind as to send a cart and driver. My men will help load your belongings if your servingwoman will be so kind as to direct them. I a.s.sume you will ride your horse. Will your woman, or would she prefer to travel in the cart with the driver?"

"We will both ride our horses," Bianca said. Then turning, she left him to prepare for her journey. She didn't want to leave Luce Stellare but there was no way she could forestall this official mandate of the di Medici. Well, she would return to Florence but only because it was the last place she knew Amir to have been. She was going to find out what had happened to him. And she was going to make her parents wish they had never interfered with her life. "I did not run from Sebastiano Rovere," she said to Agata, "only to be forced into another arranged marriage for the benefit of everyone except me. I will find Amir, and I will go with him wherever he goes."

Chapter 10.

Lorenzo di Medici smiled at Amir ibn Jem as they sat together in a small chamber in the Palazzo della Signoria. "I trust you are finding your quarters comfortable," he said in a deceptively mild tone. He sipped at the wine in his goblet, noting that his guest did not. He could see his friend was not pleased at all by his imprisonment.

Amir laughed drily. "My apartment is better than a cell in the Bargello below," he answered his host. "The last thing I seem to remember was being at your dinner table, Lorenzo. It was an excellent meal, as I recall. Can you tell me now why I am here? I do thank you for seeing that Krikor was brought to me."

"I have written to your grandfather asking that he recall you, Amir," Lorenzo di Medici said quietly. "I regret having to do this, but your behavior of late has brought you to this state. Since it will be some weeks before I will receive a reply and you cannot be left to wander freely, I have seen to your incarceration during this interim. It is for your safety as much as anything else."

"My behavior? I only come to the city for the purpose of doing business, Lorenzo, and I rarely socialize with anyone whom I might have offended." Then the truth dawned on him. Amir gave his host a rueful smile. "This will be about my involvement with a certain lady, Lorenzo, will it not?"

His companion smiled and nodded. "How discreet of you not to mention her by name, my old friend. Yes, it is about the lady."

"Your walls have a tendency to absorb interesting bits of information, and then repeat them to any who would listen," the prince replied with a small smile. "However, my intentions towards the lady are honorable. I wish her to be my wife. I love her, and she loves me."

"Are you prepared to convert to the one truth faith, then, Amir?" Lorenzo di Medici asked, knowing the answer in advance. "You are an infidel, and as such will never be allowed to wed the lady in question. I'm sorry, but that is the truth of the matter, and surely you are sensible enough to understand that."

"I would allow her to keep her own religion, as my ancestor Sultan Orkhan allowed his Byzantine princess wife to keep hers," Amir said.