This Rough Magic

Maria shook her head vehemently. 'You couldn't be more un-alike!

Renate twinkled. 'I think that's a compliment. But there are some similarities that Eneko Lopez would see. For example: We are both aristocrats at the apogee of our social setting. We both turned to other sources of comfort after we arrived here. We both, I believe, did so for the same reasons: We both wanted to get pregnant. I know Sophia has tried all sorts of 'treatments' and diets and consulted churchmen at some length. She fell in with a trickster. I . . . fell in with one of my maids. She was a Corfiote and felt sorry for me. There, but for fortune, went I.'

Maria shook her head again, vehement. 'No. Sophia cares for nobody but herself. It's a blessing she's never had a child. You care for everybody. I don't believe you'd have done something like trying to curse me and mine. That's not like you.'

'I don't think I would have done what she did, no. And caring is what the sisterhood looks for: sisterhood. And that was why I was taken to the temple. That is why you were. And that is why she wasn't.'

'The two things are not alike at all,' said Maria, stubbornly sticking to her earlier contention. 'The Mother is gentle—not sick!'

Renate shrugged ruefully. 'Stella is inclined to sensationalize news, but still, yes, those women were seeking perversion. Probably some of it came out of their mothers telling them that the natural urges and pleasures of their bodies were bad, wrong, and evil. Therefore they came to conclude that evil gave pleasure. Possibly only because they were bored and their husbands were under the impression that if they were pleasured and pleased, it didn't matter if their wives were.' She sighed. 'I don't want to deceive you, Maria. The great Goddess . . . well, there is one aspect that does call for a willing sacrifice. And the spring ritual dance is conducted in the nude. But no men are part of it. It is done for a reason.'

She stood up again. 'Now, I think you're all safe enough tonight. Here.' She took from her reticule a sprig of green holly. 'Prickly thing. And full of the heart of green-ness. Put it above the door lintel. Not with cold iron. If it turns black—come running, and bring your child. And go barefoot if you can. Touching the earth, it will be difficult for any other magic to affect you.'

Now she looked mischievous. 'Don't tell Eneko Lopez that's why his spells don't work well here. Contact with the earth of Corcyra. The earth here drinks magic. The more they use, the less well it works. And the magic is reborn in other forms within the Earth. We use it.'

'I want to learn.'

'Very well. You must come to me, here. This hilltop was a temple before it was a fort. One of the entries to the inner temple is still here.'

 

Chapter 79

He looked as though he might very possibly throttle her, thought Sophia. He hadn't said a word all the way back to their chambers in the east wing of the fortress. Now, with the heavy door closed behind them, he turned on her in fury.

'How could you, you bitch! How could you! I'm the laughingstock of the Citadel. I'll be the laughingstock of all Venice when the siege is over. I'll never hold another position of authority you—you— My mother was right! I should never have married you!'

She drew herself up. 'Nico, I did this for you. I went to this man to try and see if there was something— anything—I could do to have the heir you needed.'

He snorted disdainfully. 'Ha. Yes. By turning yourself into a puttana! By sleeping with half my officers! Grand. You give me an heir that isn't even mine.'

She looked down her nose at him. 'Those are absolutely trumped-up lies, Nico Tomaselli! As if I would ever desire another man but you.' She sniffed. 'I thought it was a fertility rite. Harmless. And they . . . they made out we were having orgies and . . . and all I wanted was a baby for you.' She burst into calculated tears. They had never failed her before.

But they did this time. He folded his arms, and not around her. 'Even if it were true, it's not what people are going to say. Venice takes a dim view of these things. That new Doge, Dorma, is very straightlaced. Why, he even exiled his own ward for his antics and they were nothing like being paraded through half the streets of the Citadel, screaming and fighting, stark naked. I don't know how I will ever hold up my head in Venice again!'

'Then don't.'

'What choice do I have, Sophia?' he demanded. 'What choice have you left me?' His weak man's rage was beginning to build again.

Sophia had one last card left to pay. One last token from Morando, which she'd been trying to think of a way to use for weeks. It had come, magically transported, her lover had said. He'd suggested she make a lever out of it. She'd hesitated, but . . .

Now she had no choice.

'I have to show you something. In my bedroom.'

'I'm not interested right now.'

'You will be. Come.' She simply walked up to her room.

By the time he got there, she'd taken out the folded letter. 'Here.' She handed it to him.

He looked at the address. The seal. 'Who opened a letter to me from the Doge?' he demanded.

'I did. Because I love you and look after you. Open it. See how well Venice rewards you for your loyal service after all these years!'

He opened the letter. She watched as his ruddy face turned pale. He looked as if he were about to burst into tears. 'Who cares what they think of you in Venice?' she demanded. 'Let us go where they will appreciate us!'

He bit his knuckle. 'Damn Dorma. Damn him to hell. Leopoldo in my place! After all I've done here!'

It was entirely typical of her husband, Sophia thought contemptuously, that he never thought to ask her how