Race of Scorpions - Dorothy Dunnett [140]
The soldiers were frowning. She withdrew her hands and replied gravely in the same language. ‘The Grand Commander thinks I am a servant of the Queen, and obey the Queen’s wishes. I am to remind you of your duties to Carlotta, and make sure you have no seditious thoughts.’
‘Seditious is not the word I should apply to them,’ he said. It sounded jocular, which was not the way he felt. He said, ‘I thought we had lost each other. But what have you done? Are you sure you want to come with me?’
‘I am here,’ she said, and the small pleats had formed, again, at the corners of her ripe, dimpled mouth. ‘Do you question what the gods send?’
‘Not when they go mad and send me a goddess,’ Nicholas said. ‘But the cost? And it must be difficult. They’ve put you to share with Katelina?’
‘It isn’t difficult. She’s unwell, and I can help her. Sometimes she comes near to accepting that the Queen has changed her mind and sent me to watch you. Sometimes she thinks you have lured me without the Queen’s knowledge. I’m sorry, though, that she’s here. She means to cause you harm. She is here only for that. She and the boy.’
Nicholas said, ‘I could forgive her anything but keeping the boy from his home. He’s too young for all this.’
Her pale, clear eyes considered him. ‘He is fully grown, and knows his mind. It was his decision to stay. Since his aunt won’t abandon the feud, he has made himself her protector. He did not, perhaps, expect her to follow you to Cyprus but he’ll stay so long as he thinks she’s in danger from you.’ She paused. She said, ‘You are very tolerant, are you not, of all these people who have set out to injure you? You once said, I remember, that there was only one person you hated. Is that why you are letting the Queen send you to Cyprus?’
‘Because of Tzani-bey al-Ablak?’ said Nicholas. ‘If you are asking whether I’ve forgotten what he did to you as well as to me, I can assure you I haven’t. You would like me to do something about it?’
She smiled. ‘Some day, I should like you to tell me your plan. I don’t need to ask if you have one.’
‘Oh, I have one,’ Nicholas said. ‘Only the details change from time to time, according to circumstance. I can promise you, however, that he’ll have time to be sorry. Primaflora, there is something else. They are sending me to Famagusta. That isn’t for you. Until I can join you, we shall be separated for a while.’
She had become very still. ‘They are under siege at Famagusta. Who is sending you there?’
‘The Genoese,’ he said. ‘And King Luis. The Queen was forced to agree. Napoleone Lomellini is captain of Famagusta: that’s why he’s here. After they land me there, you must go with Astorre and the rest to Kyrenia. There is food in Famagusta. I’ll come to no harm, and shall join you as soon as I can. It’s only a way of compelling Astorre to fight hard.’
‘Then he must,’ she said. After a moment she said, ‘If that’s how they want to test your allegiance, then accept it. You would prosper under the Genoese if they win. They must have made promises.’
‘They have,’ Nicholas said.
‘Then stay in Famagusta,’ she said. ‘If you don’t, the Genoese or the Queen’s men will slaughter you all. And Katelina will encourage them.’
‘I’ve said I shall,’ Nicholas said. ‘Until Kyrenia is taken, at any rate. Then, surely, they’ll free me to join you.’
There was a look she had, that he had learned to know. She wore a scent he knew also, as he knew every fold in her body. She said, ‘But I shall be with you already. If you go to Famagusta, so do I.’
‘No,’ said Nicholas.
‘Why not?’ she said. ‘If there’s no hardship?’
Above the smile, her eyes searched his face. Nicholas said, ‘Where is the large house you wanted to run, and the fine clothes to choose from?’
‘They will come,’ she said. ‘But not if you flout everyone by trying to reach me. I will come with you to Famagusta. That is a promise.’
The ship rose into the waves and crashed, shuddering before rising and rolling again. One of the soldiers suddenly opened the door and went out. The other grinned. Primaflora, her eyes intent, showed no distress at all.