Carpathian 00 - The Scarletti Curse

you is not mere lust."
    Nicoletta leaned over to kiss Maria Pia's cheek. "Grazie. I know that was not easy for you to say. I do not know exactly how I feel about Giovanni. When I am with him it is one way, and then, when we are separated, I am not so sure of anything. I look to the hills, and they beckon me, but if I attempted to follow my heart, in truth, I would not know which way to go." Ashamed, she studiously surveyed the courtyard, not wanting to look directly at the woman who knew her so well.
    "He could have refused to allow me to return to the palazzo and kept us separated, but he did not,"
    Maria Pia conceded. "He knows I do not trust him, yet he cares that you are happy, piccola."
    "Yet he is secretive." Nicoletta voiced her concerns, feeling a traitor.
    Shivering, Maria Pia glanced at the long row of windows that covered the side of the palazzo. They seemed to be great, wide, empty, malevolent eyes staring at them with glassy hatred. "Do you feel it, Nicoletta, the way they are always staring at us? Watching us all the time? The palazzo has secrets, evil Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    secrets, and it doesn't want us to find them out."
    Maria Pia didn't have a sixth sense, she wasn't "different" in any way, yet the sensation of being watched was so strong, she felt it, too. Nicoletta didn't need any other warning to realize the danger was very real.
    She felt compelled to look up at those windows, too. She could make out the figure of the don pacing back and forth in his study. She could see the shadowy figures grouped around his desk, looking down at something, studying it. What was he so involved in that he would leave his marriage bed in the middle of the night?
    "I think they are all mad," Maria Pia ventured. "Antonello slinks around in silence, secretive and strange, his clothes often torn and dirty. Vincente pays no attention to his own child, and Giovanni could be il —"
    "Do not call him that!" Nicoletta said sharply. She then swung around and marched back toward the palazzo. "I must begin to learn the workings of this house, or I will be of no use to my husband. I think it is time for young Sophie, too, to begin her education. She has no knowledge of art or reading or anything she will need later in her life. No one pays her any attention, Maria Pia, and she is sorely lacking."
    "You do not wish to walk with me?" Maria Pia raised her eyebrows in speculation.
    "I have no time this day. Perhaps tomorrow." Nicoletta hurried back into the palazzo. She felt guilty for leaving Maria Pia so abruptly, but, in truth, she already had doubts about her husband, and she didn't want the older woman to witness or add to them. She moved through the great halls slowly, taking her time to examine the exquisite artwork, furnishings, tapestries, and strange carvings. Behind her, in silence, the two guards shadowed her every move.
    It was Francesco who alerted her to the presence of the old man. The eldest Scarletti watched from the doorway of a small room as she approached. He glared at her guards. 'Tell Giovanni your guards are useless. Thievery is rampant in the palazzo. Someone has rifled my maps again. They cannot even guard a little room."
    Nicoletta offered him a tentative smile as she neared him. "Has something upset you, Nonno? I shall speak to Don Giovanni at once."
    He waved her concern aside. "Pay no attention. I shall tell him myself. We should talk about you. I think you are not the happy bride," he observed. The voice was low, almost rusty, as if, without yelling, he was unsure how to speak.
    She stopped walking and glanced back at her guards. They were clearly uneasy with her proximity to the old man. "There is much here I do not understand, signore, much that frightens me. I look to the hills for solace. Do you ever walk the hills?" Nicoletta stepped away from the door to gesture toward the windows.
    "Not since I was a young man." His faded eyes took on a far-off look. "I do not venture far from Giovanni's protection. There is much hatred toward me." His world-weary gaze fixed on her face. "Tell me, why are you not afraid of me? Do you not think I will wrap my hands around your throat and strangle you as I strangled my wife?" He was ramrod stiff, a fierce pride in his carriage.
    "I think, signore, it is much more likely that Maria Pia Sigmora will do such a thing, or perhaps the don, if I do not soon remember to wear the shoes he thinks so important."