felt the colour rising in my cheeks. If she thought my eyes strange, they were nothing compared to the lagoon-green of hers. They were impossible to read. I shifted from foot to foot under her scrutiny. I longed to reach out and touch her, to feel what she was thinking. ‘Why am I here?’ I insisted.
She smiled, revealing even, white teeth. ‘That’s something I’ll save for a longer conversation and for my father to explain. You met him on the gondola as well.’
‘I remember,’ I said. I also recalled just before I leapt into the canal, before the Bond Rider tried to take me, the people from the quartiere who had followed me onto the bridge, calling, shouting. They had witnessed what had happened, Dante’s death. They would now know who and what I was. They would be in grave danger. Pillar’s life would be forfeit. My hand fluttered over my heart. The kind face of Zia Gaia, Dante’s great aunt, swam before my eyes. How would the Macellerias endure the reality of Dante’s death? Would they blame me? Could they forgive me? They would be heartbroken … but they too were not exempt from the danger that must surely lurk wherever I walked.
‘Scusi, Signorina. Do you know anything about the family of the man that was … killed by the Bond Riders?’ I fought to keep my voice even. ‘About the people that followed me onto the bridge? Pillar, my master? Are they all right? Did the soldiers come?’
Giaconda regarded me carefully. A tiny frown marred her otherwise smooth brow. I could see a faint muscle twitching in her cheek. ‘Your questions will be answered shortly,’ she said, finally. ‘For now, you are to prepare yourself to meet with my father.’
Before I could protest, she continued. ‘Once you’re bathed and dressed in the clothes I’ve chosen for you, Hafeza will bring you to the portego – the main reception room. We will be waiting for you, Tallow. We will all be waiting.’ The rest of her sentence remained unspoken, but it charged the air around us. As we have been for a very long time.
Rising from the bed, she bobbed gracefully. ‘I will see you soon. Relax and enjoy Hafeza’s ministrations. For now we will ease your body.’ She gestured to my arm. ‘Later, we will soothe your mind.’
As the door closed gently behind her and I was left alone in this sumptuous room with Hafeza, I wondered why I didn’t quite believe her.
NO SOONER HAD GIACONDA LEFT than Hafeza, with a peculiar gesture and an odd grunting sound, disappeared as well. Before I could react, the door was flung open and she reappeared dragging a large metal tub, shooing me away as I ran to help her.
Over the next twenty minutes, she went in and out carrying large buckets of hot water that she poured into the bath. In no time at all, tendrils of steam rose above the metal edges. My bath was ready – even if I was not.
Hafeza dropped the pail onto the floor and pushed the scarf back on her head. She nodded to me. Whether it was because Giaconda was no longer present, or because she felt assured I would do her no harm, she was in control.
I had only just come to her side when she grabbed the bottom of my shift and began to pull it over my head.
‘No!’ I cried and, with my unbandaged arm, clutched the ends and tried to tug the garment back down, my knees rising as I fought to hide my nakedness. My cheeks burned as we wrestled with the fabric. The thought of being disrobed in front of Hafeza appalled me.
She shook her head and made funny clucking noises, releasing the gown and facing me with her hands on her hips.
I rolled the nightgown back over my legs, my mind roaring in my ears. I found it difficult to look at her, but I did. She regarded me with twinkling eyes. A great smile burst forth, mapping her face with lines and revealing missing teeth. She tossed her fingers towards me and made up and down motions with her hands before flinging them in the air. I understood. She’d seen it all before – from her patent lack of discomfort, even me.
I felt stupid. ‘Mi dispiace,’ I muttered. ‘I’m not used to this – to be being undressed … to being washed, actually, and by someone else.’ I cast my mind back to a few