Carpathian 00 - The Scarletti Curse

different, almost like spiral staircases leading down to the bottom of the sea.
    Sophie stirred, her little hand moving around in the bed, obviously seeking Nicoletta. When she discovered she was alone, she gave a startled gasp and sat up, her eyes wide with fear. Nicoletta instantly hurried to her side. "I am right here, bambino.. Surely you are not afraid. You braved i fantasmi last night to share my room. In the light of day, nothing can scare you."
    Sophie circled Nicoletta's neck with her thin arms. "I was afraid you would not come back. Margerita said you were an evil witch and Zio Gino would never marry you. She will insist he make you go away or have you stoned or drowned. She does not like you and does not want you here." She burst into tears and hugged Nicoletta tightly. "I want you here, Nicoletta, and I do not think you are a witch."
    Nicoletta stroked Sophie's tangled hair soothingly. "Margerita was just trying to scare you with her silly tales, Sophie. Your zio is a great man. Not even the powerful Spanish king has dared to invade his lands.
    The king has swallowed our neighbors, but he has not managed to defeat your zio. A mere bambina such as Margerita will not change his mind." She kissed the child's head and reached for her comb to begin taming Sophie's tangles. "Margerita has a wild imagination." Nicoletta was very gentle as she eased the knots from the child's hair.
    "I do not want you to ever go, Nicoletta," Sophie confided. "You could marry mio padre and then you would be mia madre."
    "I am to marry your zio, Sophie, so I will be your zia and live here in the palazzo. We will always be together, and if I ever have a bambina, you will be the zia, and you will help me so much." She hugged the child to her. "Do you suppose we should go to the kitchen and ask Bernado to fix us a treat? I think we overslept."
    A smile crept into Sophie's eyes, dispelling her troubled look. "I must dress." Then her face clouded.
    "Did you hear them last night?" She scooted around Nicoletta to the alcove where the chamber pot was.
    "Hear them?" Nicoletta echoed. For some reason her heart jumped at the phrasing. Her hands curled around the bed post. "What did you hear last night, Sophie?"
    The little girl came back to Nicoletta, her large, dark eyes solemn. "I heard them whispering again. They found me in the nursery. I thought I was safe there, but they are coming for me. That is why I came and hid in your room."
    Nicoletta felt her heart pounding out a drumbeat in her ears. She believed Sophie. She had heard the strange murmurings her first night in the palazzo. And Giovanni Scarletti could project his voice directly into her mind. Could it be that he was conducting some strange experiment with his ability, and poor little Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    Sophie was feeling the effect of it?
    "Come here, bambina," she invited softly, holding a hand out to the little girl. She was aware of Sophie waiting anxiously to be condemned for lying as she had been in the past. "I want you to tell me whenever you hear those voices. You were very brave to come through the passage to me. I am proud of you."
    "I think they will get me soon," Sophie confided, her lower lip trembling. She took Nicoletta's hand.
    "They got mia madre, and Margerita says they will take me away, where I will never be in her way again."
    "Margerita seems a very unpleasant young woman," Nicoletta pointed out, "and she is not very bright.
    Your zio has said you must attend me in the wedding. No one disobeys your zio." But Nicoletta's teeth nibbled nervously at her lower lip. She'd had a strange premonition of danger when Sophie mentioned the whispers in the night. Nicoletta had the feeling the child really was in danger, but why? What danger could she possibly represent to anyone? She was not in line to inherit the palazzo, not with Giovanni about to be wed and Vincente and Antonello so young and virile. Certainly one of the three brothers would eventually produce a male heir.
    "I do not want to go back to the nursery," Sophie said. "I only hear them at night, but I have never heard them there before." Her dark eyes were trusting as she looked up at Nicoletta. "What if they are there now?"
    "I will go with you to the nursery and help you dress," Nicoletta offered instantly. "You must tell me immediately every time you hear the voices, Sophie. Come, we are already late, and Maria Pia is sure to scold us when we