Seabound [English Translation]

Chapter 2. She suspects something...

It was very dark and cool inside – especially after the sunlit street with bright colours of flowers and the sea. We came into the hall and I noticed white mourning lilies on a round table. The drooped flowers reflected in a deep-black pool of its lacquered surface. I gently touched the smooth petals, trying to hold back my tears. Ricardo put his hand on my shoulder.

"This is one reason why I asked you to come. For you now it's better to be with us... with your family. "

"Yes, I got your letter. I couldn't imagine that you would be... that you would feel so sorry about it. "

"She was also my mother," he said, and that sounded a little like a rebuke.

Most of the time our parents had to live separately from each other. I was born weak and sickly, so the family doctor recommended I be taken away from the damp air mists of Venetta. My mother and I settled in the Brenta valley, not far from our estate in Patava, while father and Ricardo stayed in the city. I think my mother was glad to stay away from my father – a rough and domineering don Granacci. Unfortunately, they didn't get along very well. Even when he died ten years ago (another conspiracy or something) my mother refused to return to Venetta.

"You said "one reason". What about the other one?" I turned around just to see a kind of confusion on his lovely face. Yet it disappeared almost immediately.

"It's good that you came today. We're expecting Count Arsago in no time. You only have a few hours to get dressed. "

Here we go again...

I knew it.

"Ricardo, I can't. Not now... Don't you understand? For goodness sake, our mother died only two months ago! "

"Oh, Madonna! Why are you making a scene again?" he rolled his eyes to the painted ceiling. "All the girls in Venetta would be happy to take your place!"

I tensed, watching him was walking back and forth. He didn't change at all. An unexpected obstacle on his way instantly made him burst with anger.

"Besides, " he added with a little hope to make me change my mind, "this marriage had been already approved by the Council of Ten, and I'm in no position to argue with them."

"The Council of Ten can't sell me to the Count as if I were a cow," I said.

In fact, they could. It is true that Venetian patrician families have a lot of privileges. But in return the Council controlled every aspect of their lives. Especially if you wanted to inherit the Senate seat from your late father. And Ricardo did. Therefore, we couldn't buy lands outside the Venetian Republic – we only could possess the property within the reach of the sacred Golden Griffin. And my future husband had to be picked by the noble men of the Council as well.

The only reason was conspiracy – that the Council was afraid of even more than of a plague or the invasion of the tarchies. The Senate couldn't tolerate strengthening of any of its parties. And despite of the outward unity there was a constant dog-eat-dog opposition inside.

Meanwhile, Ricardo received an unexpected help from the women's quarters. First I heard the steady tapping of a cane on the marble tiles. Then came a lean figure, dressed all in black from head to toe. A heavy turtleneck gown excluded even a little hint of women's attractiveness, and white lace collar made wrinkly grumpy face even more sallow. That was signora Assunta, my father's sister and my ever-nagging aunt. We never got along.

"The cloister air doesn't seem to be doing you any good," she said instead of greeting. I cringed under her sharp hostile stare. "You're as pale as death, my girl. Ricardo, let her come with me."