Race of Scorpions - Dorothy Dunnett [240]
ATTRITION, BRIBERY and plain common sense brought about the fall of Kyrenia a few weeks after Nicholas returned there, and although Carlotta, kept in ignorance, might have been devastated by the news, it held no surprises for the people of Cyprus. The Savoyard knights and their companions marched out, and Zacco and his army crossed the drawbridge and took possession of the castle. There was a banquet, shared by all his captains, when gold plate, money and villages were freely dispensed and no man, Mameluke or white, was favoured over the other. Having garrisoned the citadel, Zacco left. The town outside was long since ruined and empty, and he preferred St Hilarion in the heat of the day. He would admit, when brought to it, that the bulldog policies of this Niccolò had achieved what he himself, had he cared, could have brought about several years ago, with some small application. At any rate, it had been accomplished. The last private nest of the Lusignan Queen had been raided, and Carlotta had no home to return to. Now, in all Cyprus, there remained only Famagusta to recover.
Nicholas, presented with the problem of capitulated Kyrenia, adopted his best bulldog stance and based himself, perforce, in the north in the weeks after his marriage. It was during that time the lady Primaflora was summoned to the Palace at Nicosia to be scrutinised by the King’s mother.
Despite the siege, Nicholas had made the short journey many times to sleep at his villa. While there, he naturally spent time at the dyeworks; and twice, he had made the longer journey to Kouklia. Nevertheless, as Primaflora was immoderately aware, he would not have come for these alone, with no heed for the heat of the day. Since Rhodes she had known (since he told her) how he had met the Flemish woman in Lindos; and had equally known (although he had not told her) that Katelina van Borselen had somehow been persuaded or forced into commerce with him. Whatever had happened, nevertheless, he had not brought the girl back, but had turned her off to go home to her husband. Whatever had happened, the experience had disturbed him. She knew him well enough now to see through some of the camouflage – perhaps all of it. The effects of this unease she found entirely rewarding.
Then Kyrenia surrendered, and he was away, inescapably, for some time. The prisons filled. Atrocity stories filtered through, of the Mamelukes bursting into the citadel; of the destruction, the rampage; the plundering. It would take time to set that to rights, and make of Carlotta’s old home a palace fit for her brother to live in. Meantime, Primaflora amused herself perfecting her household, an art in which she had long experience. She made it her business to get on well with the steward, and her pleasure to keep Bartolomeo Zorzi dancing to an almost inaudible tune. She liked to preserve an edge on her training.
When the summons came from the Palace, she took care to dress neither as a lady of pleasure nor a noblewoman. A courtesan was a woman of gifts who attached herself to a great man, and expected to be displayed as a badge of his wealth. Marietta of Patras had come from the Morea in the train of Helen Paleologa, wife of John, King of Cyprus. Whether she came to Cyprus a virgin was unknown. What was patent was the King’s installation of her as his mistress, his delight in Zacco her son, and his habit of avoiding the febrile company of Carlotta, his legitimate daughter by Helen. Marietta of Patras was a woman of birth, honoured as a dead monarch’s permanent mistress. In status, she ranked as far above Primaflora as Primaflora above a public prostitute. Otherwise Helen, Carlotta’s mother, would never, of course, have felt impelled to bite off her nose.
In the dying heat of the day, Cropnose gave audience to Primaflora on her balcony. Muslin fell between arches which overlooked a garden of palms and fountains and citrus trees. Vines shaded it, and pots of brilliant flowers had been placed on the balustrade. At one end there stood a stand made of gold, upon which slept a red and blue bird,