Carpathian 00 - The Scarletti Curse

Giovanni, who nodded in approval. She was swaying with weariness.
    Giovanni swept an arm around her, gathering her close. His mind sought hers. Her incredible gift of healing took a tremendous amount of energy, draining her strength. He felt it in her, yet she was still looking over the soldiers, determined to give aid to any other in need. "Rest for a time," he suggested softly.
    She smiled up at him. "These men have suffered much in their battle. I will do what I can to make them more comfortable." They had seen combat, but not in the type of battle she had first imagined. The injuries they had sustained were from knives, not from swords or arrows. These men had been very close to their assailants.
    Giovanni moved a distance away, still keeping his eye on her while he consulted with the captain in low tones. She moved among the men, attending wounds, smiling, even laughing softly with them, very much at ease, yet she managed to look regal in her bare feet and peasant clothing, managed to look beautiful and every inch a lady. Giovanni tried not to notice the way his men looked at her, the way their eyes followed her. He tried to ignore the tightness in his chest and the surge of hot blood swirling beneath the thin surface of his civilized veneer.
    Nicoletta knew she wasn't supposed to see too much. These men were members of the don's elite guard. Trusted soldiers, every one of them. Men who had proven their loyalty to the don many times over. Don Scarletti seemed to know each one personally. The captain and the don spoke in hushed tones, going over a map much like the ones she had seen in the elderly Scarletti's private study. For one Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    brief moment it occurred to Nicoletta that Giovanni had rifled through his nonno's maps and stolen those he needed. But that made no sense. Giovanni was the don, and owned everything in the palazzo and in the surrounding lands. More likely his nonno quietly made his grandson fresh maps to aid him.
    When Nicoletta was finished attending her last patient, Giovanni gathered the soldiers together. "There is a continued need for secrecy. You unmarried men volunteered, and none of you have families that might insist on knowing where you are. You must continue to be silent, rest, and be ready for the next call.
    Transport young Goeboli to the palazzo."
    Nicoletta's head went up, and she immediately turned to stare at the young soldier whose injuries were so severe. She knew the name well, the history of the house of Goeboli. The elder Signore Goeboli had owned the vast lands to the north of the Scarlettis. He had the reputation of being a good don. Long before Nicoletta's birth, when the King of Spain had looked greedily upon the land, his family had taken in high-ranking members of the Holy Church and hidden them. At the same time he had tried to make a peace treaty with Spain. But he had been slain, his lands gobbled up, his people scattered, and it was rumored that his sons were long dead along with their father. This young man had to be a grandson. All had not been lost.
    "What is going on here?" she asked Giovanni as he swung up onto his horse and pulled her up in front of him with his casual strength.
    Giovanni was silent until they had ridden some distance from the camp. "You asked if we were at war.
    We have no choice but to be at war. Large wolves surround us, powerful and greedy. They look to our lands and our riches. That is why I have long kept the treasures and wealth of the famiglia Scarletti deep within the passageways, protected by our ancestors' traps. Our country's wealth has been plundered time and time again. A good leader senses when a change is in the wind, and he must act immediately. Wars are not necessarily fought on a battlefield, yet they can be just as deadly and just as fierce. Austria looks to control our lands, and soon, if I am right, she will be in power. I think the time is right to align with her.
    She will allow the more powerful famiglie to continue ruling here while she looks to her own borders.
    We will have a chance to grow stronger and thrive. To arrange this, when some are evidently not in favor of my decision, we meet in secret, in small groups, so only a few may identify others. Since there is a traitor in the palazzo, the young Goeboli must be kept hidden. The men will bring him to the cove, and I will bring him into the palazzo through the passageway. My own guards will