Race of Scorpions - Dorothy Dunnett [25]
‘So whom is she going to marry?’ Nicholas said.
‘No one,’ said Anselm Adorne. ‘It is you who must marry. Then she will cease to feel threatened.’
‘It doesn’t seem very simple to me,’ Nicholas said. ‘And, by the way, I have nothing to do with a lady called Primaflora. She is by way of a bribe.’
Adorne smiled. ‘We wondered,’ he said. ‘We had been told she was going to Brussels, but it’s unlikely Duke Philip will see her. Meanwhile she is sweetening the daily existence of the Duke’s Bruges Controller, and conferring frequently with the Knights of St John at the Hospital. Your friend John de Kinloch is enchanted.’
‘I shall make no effort to frequent the Hospital,’ Nicholas said.
‘So what will you do?’ said Adorne. ‘I imagine the possibilities are infinite. You know your good Gregorio has set up your Bank. You have a new home in Venice, and better connections than most with the merchant centres of Europe. You have the friendship of the Medici and Milan. You have been honoured by Venice. You know all the secrets of trade from the days of your army, your couriers. You have a grasp of Levantine affairs, and a galley and a round ship with which to exploit them. You have learned in Bruges and in Trebizond how to run a business, and some of the tricks of exchange banking. What you don’t know, Gregorio and others will teach you. And, of course, men will seek to employ you. You appear to have had offers already?’
And that was true. They had begun in Venice, the day after he landed from Trebizond. Queen Carlotta’s had been one of the earliest. He said, ‘Oh, there is no lack of choice. Rhodes or Venice, Cyprus or Albania. I could establish an agency for almost anyone in the Levant. Even the Franciscan Observatines have hopes of me. I sometimes think of rejoining my mercenaries.’
Adorne had a quality, which he shared with Father Godscalc, of sitting still when weighing news of importance. He said, ‘I see. The Naples war again?’
Nicholas said, ‘Yes. Astorre fought for King Ferrante before, along with the Papal forces and the Count of Urbino. This time, they’ll have Skanderbeg’s Albanians to help them when the season begins.’
‘And you are personally interested in helping Ferrante to become undisputed monarch of Naples?’ Adorne said.
Nicholas smiled. ‘I could make out a case. The sooner he is, the sooner the Pope and everyone else can concentrate on other things. I don’t particularly want to see John of Anjou and his French friends in Naples instead. Perhaps, like Astorre, I’ve begun to think of Duke John and his mercenary captain as a convenient enemy. Astorre likes fighting Piccinino.’
‘I think I knew all that about Captain Astorre,’ Adorne said. ‘I must confess I hadn’t expected the glamour of battle to enchant your mercantile soul. That is for the boy you once were. But, of course, it’s not the glamour.’
‘It is a simple bolt from my responsibilities,’ Nicholas said. ‘I thought it as well to warn you. If I do go, I shall leave my affairs in good order. Catherine is taken care of. I know I can rely on your good offices.’
‘Of course. I take it you have not mentioned this,’ said Adorne, ‘in the hope of being dissuaded, so I shall save myself the effort of trying. I shan’t pretend I am not disappointed. But it is a failure of fate, and not yours. Tell me, where is Tobias, your doctor?’
‘He went to war, with Urbino,’ Nicholas said. He and Tobie had quarrelled. He and Tobie had had an unforgettable quarrel.
Adorne appeared to know nothing of it. He said, ‘Then Master Tobias, at least, should be pleased. He advised, I hear, against your returning to Bruges. He thought you might be tempted to retreat to the peace of the dyevats.’
Nicholas was well aware of that fact. ‘I might, if I could get at them,’ he said.
Anselm Adorne looked at him thoughtfully. ‘There may come a time when it is possible. It is certainly barred to you now. We have wandered, I suppose, from the reason for your being here. Before we go any further, let us dispose of it. You don’t wish to say that your former colleagues invited