Page 29 of A Dangerous Bargain

I shoot him a sly smirk. “If you don’t want any, I’m happy to eat your share.”

He bolts out of his chair with a snort. “Not on your life, Pitti!”

Slowly, and then with more enthusiasm, the other artists abandon their work to take a slice of the creamy sweet. Some even wish me happy birthday and seem to mean it.

When I take my own slice, I whisper to Lupa, “How did you get this?” Verrocchio’s cook would never make a zuccotto for a lowly apprentice. Which means—

“I stole it.”

Splendid! Now she’s not just abandoning the workshop for me but committing crimes for me too. The pasticciere she stole the cake from is probably already in Verrocchio’s office demanding their payment. Verrocchio’s going to make me grind pigments for weeks.

Lupa sucks cream from her thumb. “No one will know. I used my magic to steal it.”

“Your magic?” I thought angels’ magic was limited to the bargains they gave artists.

“Yes. I made myself invisible and unlocked the door. It was easy.”

A strange thrill goes down my spine. “You have magic of your own?”

“That is what I said.” Lupa frowns. “Do you not hear me? Is there something wrong with your ears?”

My heart starts pounding unevenly. “So the time I saved you from the angry mob… you could’ve saved us instead?”

Lupa shrugs and licks more jam and cream from her fingers. There’s so much I don’t understand about her. I thought I knew all there was to know about angels, yet each time I speak to Lupa, the mystery of her deepens. Perhaps I shouldn’t trust her, but it’s obvious she trusts me.

No, it’s not that she trusts me. It’s that I’m her friend.

And, despite the part of my soul that stills like a frightened rabbit when her eyes gleam in shadows, I think she might be my friend too.

I draw closer, speaking too low for anyone else to hear. “Could you use your magic to help me get past the guards at the Palazzo della Signoria?”

Niccolo told me not to follow him, but I don’t give a damn about his message. It’s been two years, and I’m not the hopeless little brother he left behind anymore. I might not deserve to have him back, but my mamma and sisters do, if he’s out there to be found.

Lupa smiles, her pointed teeth stained red with jam. “Yes.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

You didn’t come home last night.”

Leonardo pauses on his way out the door with our sketching supplies. He turns slowly, a smirk unfurling. “Did you miss me?”

Even though there’s no reason to be embarrassed—even though it’s completely normal to notice whether or not someone is around!—heat fills my cheeks. I play it off with a shrug.

“You didn’t prep the panel for the painting like you said you would.” I finished up his abandoned chore myself after everyone else went to bed, sullenly slopping the glue on the wood and then pressing the linen into the stickiness.

Leonardo sucks in his cheeks, not quite remorseful enough to appease me. “I’ll add the gesso tonight, then.” Gesso is the last layer we need on the panel before we can start transferring our sketches to it. I should be happy we’re about to move on to this stage of work—it means I’m closer to getting my hands on the Medici’s golden florins—but my exasperation with Leonardo remains, a hissing cat that won’t leave my lap.

“You also missed my birthday party.”

His eyebrows shoot skyward. “Did you want me there?”

I sputter, thrown by the question. I looked for him last night, even saved a bit of cake for him, because I’d hear about it for days if I hadn’t, but looking isn’t the same as wanting. Suddenly self-conscious, I swallow and address the spot six inches to the left of his face.

“I needed to talk to you, was all. Don’t go to the palazzo today. Let me buy you breakfast instead.”

His eyebrows rise even higher. “You? Buying me breakfast?” He puts his hand against my brow.

I hiss and swat him away. “What are you doing?”