'Have you delivered the documents?' Giovanni asked, crisply.
'Yes, father. But Duke Lorenzo had already left.'
Giovanni frowned. 'I hadn't anticipated his leaving so soon.'
'I left them with Boetio,' said Ezio. 'He'll get them to him as soon as possible.'
'That may not be soon enough,' said Giovanni, darkly.
Uberto patted him on the back. 'Look,' he said. 'It can only mean a day or two. We have Francesco under lock and key. What could possibly happen in such a short time?'
Giovanni seemed partially reassured, but it was clear that the two men had more to discuss, and that Ezio's presence wasn't desired.
'Go and find your mother and your sister,' said Giovanni. 'You should spend time with some of the rest of the family other than Federico, you know! And rest that head of yours - I'll have need of you again later.' And with a wave of his father's hand, Ezio was dismissed.
He wandered through the house, nodding greetings to one or two of the family's servants, and to Giulio, who was hurrying back to the bank office from somewhere, a sheaf of papers in his hand and looking, as usual, haunted by all the business he carried in his head. Ezio waved to his brother, still lounging in the garden, but felt no desire to join him. Besides, he'd been told to keep his mother and sister company, and he knew better than to disobey his father, especially after their discussion earlier in the day.
He found his sister sitting alone in the loggia, a neglected book of Petrarch in her hands. That figured. He knew she was in love.
'Ciao, Claudia,' he said.
'Ciao, Ezio. Where have you been?'
Ezio spread his hands. 'I've been running a business errand for Father.'
'That's not all, I hear,' she retorted, but her smile was faint and automatic.
'Where's Mother?'
Claudia sighed. 'She's gone to see that young painter they're all talking about. You know, the one who's just finished his apprenticeship with Verrocchio.'
'Really?'
'Don't you pay attention to anything that goes on in this house? She's commissioned some paintings from him. She believes that they'll be a good investment in time.'
'That's our mother for you!'
But Claudia didn't respond, and for the first time Ezio became fully aware of the sadness in her face. It made her look much older than her sixteen years.
'What's the matter, sorellina?' he asked, sitting on the stone bench beside her.
She sighed, and looked at him with a rueful smile. 'It's Duccio,' she said at last.
'What about him?'
Her eyes filled with tears. 'I've found out that he's being unfaithful to me.'
Ezio frowned. Duccio was practically engaged to Claudia, and even though there hadn't yet been any formal announcement.
'Who told you that?' he asked, putting an arm round her.
'The other girls.' She wiped her eyes and looked at him. 'I thought they were my friends, but I think they enjoyed telling me.'
Ezio stood up angrily. 'Then they're little better than harpies! You're better off without them.'
'But I loved him!'
Ezio took a moment before replying. 'Are you sure? Maybe you only thought you did. How do you feel now?'
Claudia's eyes were dry. 'I'd like to see him suffer, even if only a little. He's really hurt me, Ezio.'
Ezio looked at his sister, looked at the sadness in her eyes, a sadness suffused with not a little flare of anger. His heart steeled.
'I think I'll pay him a visit.' Duccio Dovizi wasn't at home, but the housekeeper told Ezio where to find him. Ezio made his way across the Ponte Vecchio and westward along the south bank of the Arno to the church of San Jacopo Soprano. There were some secluded gardens nearby, where lovers occasionally kept their trysts. Ezio, whose blood was boiling on behalf of his sister, yet needed more proof of Duccio's infidelity than hearsay, began to think that he was about to get it.
Sure enough, he soon caught sight of the blond young man, dressed to kill, sitting on a bench overlooking the river, his arm round a dark- haired girl he didn't recognize. He made his way forward cautiously.
'Darling, it's beautiful,' the girl was saying, holding out her hand. Ezio saw the flash of a diamond ring.
'Nothing but the best for you, amore,' Duccio purred, pulling her towards him for a kiss.
But the girl pulled back. 'Not so fast. You can't just buy me. We haven't been seeing each other that long, and I've heard you've been promised to Claudia Auditore.'
Duccio spat. 'It's over. Anyway, Father says I can do better than an Auditore.' He clamped her bottom in his hand. 'You, for example!'
'Birbante! Let's walk a bit.'
'I can think of something that'd be much more fun,' said Duccio, putting his hand between her legs.
That was enough for Ezio. 'Hey, lurido porco,' he snapped.
Duccio was taken completely by surprise, and spun round, releasing his hold on the girl. 'Hey, Ezio, my friend,' he cried, but there was nervousness in his voice. How much had Ezio seen? 'I don't think you've met my. cousin?'
Ezio, enraged at the treachery, stepped forward and punched his former friend full in the face. 'Duccio, you should be ashamed of yourself! You insult my sister, parading around with this. this puttana!'
'Who are you calling a puttana?' the girl snarled, but she got to her feet and backed off.
'I should have thought even a girl like you could do better than this arsehole,' Ezio told her. 'Do you really think he's going to make you into a lady?'
'Don't you talk to her like that,' Duccio hissed. 'At least she's more generous with her favours than your tight-assed little sister. But I guess she's got a hole as dry as a nun's. Pity, I could have taught her a thing or two. But there again -'
Ezio interrupted him coldly. 'You've broken her heart, Duccio -'
'Have I? What a shame.'
'- Which is why I am going to break your arm.'
The girl screamed at this, and fled. Ezio seized the whining Duccio and forced the young gallant's right arm over the edge of the stone bench on which he'd been sitting with a hard-on only moments before. He pushed the forearm against the stone until Duccio's whining turned to tears.
'Stop it, Ezio! I beg you! I'm my father's only son!'
Ezio looked at him with contempt, and released him. Duccio fell to the ground and rolled over, nursing his bruised arm and whimpering, his fine clothes torn and besmirched.
'You're not worth the effort,' Ezio told him. 'But if you don't want me to change my mind about that arm of yours, stay away from Claudia. And stay away from me.'
After the incident, Ezio walked a long way home, wandering along the riverbank until he'd almost reached the fields. When he turned back, the shadows were lengthening, but his mind was calmer. It would never become him as a man, he told himself, to allow his anger ever fully to rule him.
Close to his house, he caught sight of his younger brother, whom he hadn't seen since the morning of the previous day. He greeted the lad warmly. 'Ciao, Petruccio. What are you up to? Have you given your tutor the slip? And anyway, isn't it past your bedtime?'
'Don't be silly. I'm practically grown-up. In a few years' time, I'll be able to knock the stuffing out of you!' The brothers grinned at each other. Petruccio was holding a carved pearwood box close to his chest. It was open, and Ezio noticed a handful of white and brown feathers in it. 'They're eagle's feathers,' explained the boy. He pointed to the top of the tower of a nearby building. 'There's an old nest up there. The young must have fledged and gone. I can see plenty more feathers caught in the stonework.' Petruccio looked at his brother pleadingly. 'Ezio, would you mind getting a few more for me?'
