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The hunch in Enzo’s shoulders eased by a hair’s-breadth. “Will you be aboard theKingfisher?”
“Very likely. Or with Artemisia at Bellenos’s temple. She’s concocted something with the puppeteer’s guild for the parade.” Fiore tried not to think of what had happened to him the last evening he’d spent in a crowded celebration.
And from the furrow in Enzo’s brow, the same recollection had occurred to him. But rather than questioning Fiore’s judgment or forbidding him outright, Enzo only said, “Artemisia will be with you, then?”
“She will,” Fiore promised.
A slight sigh of relief escaped Enzo. Still he hesitated before asking, “Would you like to take some of the household guard with you, as well? They needn’t intrude on your celebrations,” he hastily added as Fiore blinked in surprise. “Canello or Zanetta could shadow you from a distance, as Carlotta does for me.”
Fiore didn’t want to admit how much safer he felt at the prospect. Particularly in the wake of a brigand kidnapping him from his own home out from under his landlord’s nose. With a lackadaisical smile, he declared, “I’d be delighted for their company.”
A shy echo of that same smile plucked at Enzo’s scarred lips. “And maybe Vittorio would like to stretch his legs as well?”
Fiore’s feigned ease burst into a genuine grin.
~
Enzo had oft fantasized about the wedding night of Bellenos and Neptune. Perhaps he might persuade Fiore to re-enact it when he returned to Ca’ Scaevola. For the moment, however, he remained trapped aboard the prince’s flagship until the rite concluded.
It was a simple enough ritual. The pomp and circumstance surrounding it, on the other hand, had grown immense over the centuries. Now it required a full day to assemble all the aristocracy into a fleet of their most ostentatious ships and set sail out of the lagoon to the true sea.
As brother to the prince, Enzo had pride of place aboard the flagship. The largest ship, naturally; a sleek thing carved over with serpentine scales and slathered black with tar and lacquer alike. Halcyon in mortal guise formed the ship’s figurehead, his outstretched arms transforming into leathery wings, seafoam and scales alike obscuring his peculiarity. Whilst the other aristocratic guests—the senate, plus a few courtiers hand-selected by Lucrezia based on those who had already proved their loyalty and those she wished to encourage to prove themselves to her—mingled on deck over coffee and chocolate and sumptuous treats, Enzo withdrew to the helm at the stern of the vessel. There he stood atop the hind-castle beside the captain, half-watching the crew go about their work and half-sneaking glances back at the city they’d left behind. He hoped Fiore was enjoying himself. Artemisia would be with him, alongside Vittorio, with Canello and Zanetta keeping guard from a distance. Still, Enzo worried.
They reached the sea at sunset. Then Lucrezia took her position at the prow of the vessel. A hush silence consumed the hundred vessels gathered around the flagship. Only the whistling wind, the rolling waves, and the calling birds remained.
“Desponsamus te, Neptune,” Lucrezia intoned, “in signum veri perpetuique dominii.”
She reached out her hand and dropt the ring into the sea.
Every year the city’s jewelers competed to craft a wedding band worthy of the gods. This year’s ring, chosen by Lucrezia from a selection of a mere score hand-picked by the senate, held a simple yet perfect black pearl for its jewel. The ceremony would return the pearl to Neptune’s embrace, or so the half-jesting refrain ran throughout the city. A minuscule net of silver threads formed its setting with a trident weaving through them as the band. Like the rings of years before stretching back beyond what Enzo could remember, it would likely set the trend for espousing couples in the following social season.
Enzo wouldn’t mind wearing it himself. He’d feel happier still to offer it to Fiore. To murmur those same words into Fiore’s ear and slip the ring onto his hand. With the ceremony complete and preparations underway to return to the city, Enzo found his imagination returning to the wedding night of Bellenos and Neptune—this time with Fiore as Neptune, catching Enzo in his net, the prongs of his trident around Enzo’s throat as he claimed him, pouring pearls within the salty tide of Enzo’s cunt—
Until then, Enzo made a note to enquire if the jeweler who’d crafted this year’s wedding band would take on the commission of armor for Fiore’s finger-bones. The delicacy of the silver netting in particular boded well for their meeting such a challenge.
It would take some time for the prince’s flagship to reverse course. First the hundred-odd vessels clustered ‘round it had to make way. Only after they’d cleared a path could the flagship return to the city where his Fiore awaited.
The prince and her guests passed the hours with a sumptuous banquet. The other guests knew better than to bother trying to start conversation with Enzo. His mind continued to wander, not just towards his fantasies but down more mundane paths, wondering what Fiore would make of the festivities and what commentary he might provide on the guests and their conduct. There must be something, Enzo thought, that he could do to ensure Fiore’s attendance next year. He would have to speak with Lucrezia about it.
Tonight, however, he had more pressing business to conduct with her.
Night had fallen by the time they docked in Halcyon again. The brilliant lights of the city’s celebrations rivaled the glittering stars above.
The prince disembarked first. Enzo followed close behind; as much a requirement as a privilege of his fraternal position. For once it felt more like the latter, as it allowed him to catch a moment alone with her as they entered the princely palace.
“May I have a word?” Enzo asked.
Lucrezia exhaled sharply through her nose but nonetheless indicated an alcove with a jerk of her head. There they found some modicum of privacy.
No sooner had they arrived than Enzo cut straight to the point. “How ought I to go about bringing a suit against Nascimbene?”
Lucrezia raised her brows.
“The impresario of Teatro Novissimo,” Enzo added.
“I know of whom you speak,” Lucrezia replied almost before he’d finished, her words clipped. “I wonder only that you wish to pursue him legally rather than with a sword.”
“I’m given to understand you disapprove of my dueling. Therefore the law seems a better recourse.”
