Blood and Gold - Anne Rice [158]
As soon as we came into her room, I saw immediately the strain in Amadeo, that he could not tell her of what had happened to him, and only in that moment did I realize how difficult this secrecy was for him, and how in spite of all his strength, he was still quite young and even weak.
Indeed, Amadeo’s frame of mind was far greater cause for alarm than that of Bianca, who seemed only happy to see Amadeo restored.
They were like a brother and sister together, and I thought of course of the vow I had extracted from him when I made him, and I wished I could take him aside and remind him of it now. But we were in her drawing room and there were many other visitors, with all the usual music and talk going on.
“Come into my bedroom,” she said to both of us. Her lovely oval face was beaming. “I am so very glad to see you. Why didn’t you come before now? Of course everyone in Venice knew that Amadeo was recovered, and that Lord Harlech had gone back to England, but you should have written to me if you couldn’t come.”
I showered her with my apologies. It was my thoughtlessness. And indeed I should have written a letter. What had blinded me on such a score was my love for Amadeo. I had cared for nothing else.
“Oh, I forgive you, Marius,” she declared. “I would forgive you anything, and look at Amadeo. It’s as if he were never sick at all.”
Gratefully I accepted her embrace, but I could see how Amadeo suffered when she kissed him, when she clasped his hand. He could not endure the gulf which separated them, but he must endure it, and so I did not move to leave.
“How goes it with you, my beautiful nurse,” I said to her, “you who kept Amadeo by a thread until I could come to him. You and your kinsmen? Are you a happy lot?”
She gave a soft gentle laugh. “Oh, yes, my kinsmen, some of them have met with the most unfortunate end. Indeed, it is my understanding that the Grand Council of Venice believes they were murdered by those from whom they exacted heavy payments. My kinsmen should have never come to Venice with their evil designs. But I am blameless as everyone knows. Members of the Grand Council of Venice have told me as much. And you would not think it but I am now richer on account of all this.”
Of course I saw it in a moment. Those who had owed money to her miserable kinsmen had, after their murders, given her costly gifts. She was richer than she had ever been.
“I am a happier woman,” she said softly, looking at me. “Indeed, I am someone altogether different, for I know a freedom now that was inconceivable before.”
Hungrily her eyes moved over me and over Amadeo. I felt a desire emanating from her. I felt it as she looked at both of us, that she wanted a new familiarity, and then she came to me, and putting her arms around me, she kissed me.
Quickly, I held her back and away from me, but this only impelled her to embrace Amadeo, and she kissed him on his cheeks and on his mouth.
She gestured towards the bed.
“All of Venice wonders about my magician and his apprentice,” she said warmly. “And they come to me, only to me.”
With my eyes, I let her know my love for her, that I would trespass now if she didn’t strictly forbid it, and moving past her, I seated myself on her bed.
Never had I taken such a liberty with her, but I knew her thoughts. We dazzled her. She idolized us.
And how lovely she was in her luminous silk and jewels.
She came and took her place beside me, nestled close, and unafraid of whatever she saw when she looked into my eyes.
Amadeo was astonished and soon sat beside her on her right. Though he’d fed well, I could sense his blood hunger, and that he fought bravely to keep it down.
“Let me kiss you, my exquisite one,” I said. And I did so, counting upon the dim light and my sweet words to bedazzle her, and then of course she saw what she wanted to see—not some dreadful thing quite beyond her comprehension, but a mysterious man who had rendered her an invaluable service and left her wealthy and free.
“You will