Carpathian 00 - The Scarletti Curse

soldiers breached the castle walls, the family had simply disappeared, and most of the invaders died horrible deaths. A few days later, the famiglia returned as if the invasion had never happened." Shuddering, she held her crucifix in both hands and kissed it several times. "We will leave this place at first light. The bambina is much better and will surely live. Someone here must be capable of giving her her medicaments."
    Nicoletta tucked Sophie beneath the coverlet the child had restlessly kicked off herself. She coaxed the child to drink the medicine-laced water, smiling when the little girl clutched her hand. "Perhaps it would be best to continue this conversation when we are alone," she advised quietly. She leaned back and closed her eyes tiredly. Her calf was sore, burning and throbbing, already swelling. If she hadn't been so tired, she would have mixed a potion for herself. But first she wanted to sleep; and then she wanted to leave the palazzo and get back to her own world, where she could breathe more easily.
    "Nicoletta, the don is dangerous," Maria Pia announced softly. "You have too much compassion in you.
    You are very young. There is something wrong in this house. I do not like the way he looked at you."
    Nicoletta smiled without opening her eyes. "Ti voglio bene." She affectionately told the older woman she loved her. "Do not worry for me. You have done so all my life. I will not see the don again. I love living, Maria Pia. I do not want to be burned as a witch." She was smiling, reassuring the woman, but inside she was trembling. The don frightened her in a way no one ever had before, in a way she could not explain to Maria Pia or even to herself.
    The older woman hissed, looking quickly into every corner of the room, frightened by Nicoletta's audacity.
    "Hush, bambina, you cannot speak of such things. Not ever. The good Virgin will not protect you if you call down such unspeakable evil upon yourself."
    "The little one is asleep; there is no one to hear." Nicoletta was unrepentant.
    "There are eyes and ears everywhere. This house is not right," Maria Pia reminded her sharply, glancing uneasily around the silent nursery. An abrupt knocking broke the hush. Maria Pia gave a frightened cry as the door swung inward.
    The manservant slunk in carrying a load of wood for the fire. He didn't look at the women, his features stiff and set. He built a nest of curls of shaved wood, added the logs, and set the whole thing blazing.
    When the flames crackled to life, the man turned and regarded the "healer" and her "assistant" with a cold stare. "Your fire, as ordered," he said grudgingly. As much as he evidently wished the women gone, the Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    healer was respected and needed in the community, and he didn't dare alienate her completely. He turned on his heel and marched out, his back ramrod stiff.
    "We are not making many friends here," Nicoletta observed with a small smile. "Do you suppose they waited so long to send for us in hopes it would be too late to save the bambina?"
    "Nicoletta!" Maria Pia was shocked, her gaze wildly searching the room as if she expected to see the don standing there listening. "I forbid anymore of this talk."
    Nicoletta was happy enough to go to sleep. The child was warm in her arms, and with the fire crackling nicely, the room seemed much more pleasant. She snuggled down onto the bed and lay quietly. Within a matter of minutes, Maria Pia was breathing evenly, indicating she had immediately fallen asleep. Nicoletta was very tired, but she couldn't follow suit. Too many unanswered questions whirled in her head.
    She was "different." She had been born with unique abilities. Maria Pia called them gifts, yet she had to hide them for fear of being named witch. She could touch an individual and "feel" the illness. She knew instinctively which herbs or potions sick people needed to alleviate their suffering and aid their healing.
    She could even communicate with plants. She "felt" the life in them and knew what they needed to assist their growth.
    Nicoletta could also aid in curing the ill with her soothing hands and voice. From deep within her welled a healing warmth that flowed from her body into that of her patient. Maria Pia, devout as she was, would never actually call her a witch. She would never imply in any way that Nicoletta was capable of magic.
    She never pointed out that Nicoletta came from a long line of