Carpathian 00 - The Scarletti Curse

older woman agreed. Her expression was grave. "Once you are wed to the don, I will not be able to stay in the palazzo. This night will be my last night to attend you as chaperone, but then I will be useless and forced to leave."
    Nicoletta put her arms around the other woman. "You are my famiglia. I do not want you in danger. I want to be with you, too, but I do not want you where evil stalks the halls and haunts the bedchambers.
    Something is not right at the palazzo, and until I am able to ascertain what is going on, I do not want your life at risk." She was very firm.
    Maria Pia shrugged her thin shoulders. "There is safety in numbers. I would prefer that I remain in the palazzo." She ducked her head to hide the sudden sheen of tears in her eyes. "I will be very lonely without you."
    "I have been trying to think of a solution for Sophie's fears," Nicoletta answered thoughtfully. She waved at the girls in the villaggio who were awaiting their arrival. "I will have my own bedchamber, of course, and I expect Sophie will sneak in often, but I would prefer that someone sleep in her room with her on a nightly basis. She has heard ominous whispers in her room…"
    "That is nonsense." Maria Pia tried to shush her. "There is talk among the servants that the child is hearing voices as her madre did before her. It is in her blood." She hesitated for a moment. "Some say it is the Scarletti curse that the women go insane and must be locked in the tower, or that the Scarletti men become furiously jealous and murder their wives." She repeated the ominous rumors in a voice of doom.
    "I am not insane, Maria Pia, and I heard the whispers in young Sophie's chamber the night the chandelier fell. You were asleep, but I heard them with her. Those voices are real, not her imagination. I think the child is in danger, but I do not know why. No one will believe her." Nicoletta turned the full power of her solemn eyes on the older woman. "She has great need of us, if you are willing to risk the danger."
    Maria Pia had only enough time to nod in agreement before they were engulfed by the young, laughing women who bore them off to the community bath. The men had the other side of the bathhouse, separated by the long meeting hall where local festivities were often held. Thick stone formed the large communal tub filled with collected rainwater. It was cold and invigorating, and the women laughed and gossiped, teasing Nicoletta unmercifully.
    The sky was a brilliant blue, the breeze coming off the sea steady and cool. Dark clouds were drifting in from out over the bay, but the puffs were flowing slowly, as if they were lazy and not certain they wanted to move inland. The birds sang to one another cheerfully, and the trees swayed gently to the tune.
    Nicoletta tried hard to join in the merriment, knowing it was all in her honor, but a terrible dread was Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    seizing her, shadowing what should have been the most memorable occasion in her life. Her natural trepidation of what happened between a husband and wife was not eased by the teasing; the sexual innuendoes only heightened her fear of what was to come.
    While they dressed her hair and body, Nicoletta stared at the beckoning hills, wanting desperately to run for safety. The hills were so close. It wouldn't take her long to visit her beautiful garden, to tend her plants for just an hour or two to escape the stares and the laughter and whispers while the women gossiped behind her back. She could hear two of the girls spitefully discussing the Scarletti curse and even speculating if Nicoletta would live out the year. Angry that they were not picked as the don's bride, they made certain Nicoletta overheard their remarks.
    She knew they didn't really believe she was in danger. Giovanni Scarletti was handsome and rich and powerful. The money and position were all the women thought or cared about. But Nicoletta knew there was danger at the palazzo, an evil that would swallow her as it had so many before her if she did not discover its identity.
    She held out her arms obediently as they clad her in the exquisite white gown the don's dressmakers had created. The girls gasped in admiration. None of them had ever seen such a magnificent garment.
    Nicoletta kept her mind on the hills. On freedom. On the wind and the sea.
    My bride cannot run on our wedding day. The voice came out of nowhere. Soft, like a caress. The sound of