The Poet Prince (34 page)

“You are too kind, Niccolò.”

“Bedding beautiful women is a necessity for men like us, Lorenzo. It is our birthright. But it is a brief enough thrill and I dare say one that can be replaced. The sea, on the other hand, is eternal.” His eyes began to glaze over as he set off on another rhapsody. “An unequaled adventure that no woman, even Aphrodite herself, could ever take me away from.”

Lorenzo smiled at him, a sincere and bright expression. “Perfect,” he said, realizing that there was no fear of Niccolò listening to him, as he was already off on a tangent about the color of the Adriatic Sea at sunset.

Lorenzo turned the smile to Giuliano and Sandro. “My God, he is absolutely perfect.”

The engagement of Lucrezia Donati to Niccolò Ardinghelli was announced within a few weeks. The Donati family was pleased to find an equally esteemed and noble house to wed their daughter into. And as an engagement gift, the benevolent and generous Lorenzo de’ Medici provided a highly lucrative seafaring commission to his great new friend,
Niccolò, one that would take the man out of Florence for the better part of a year, immediately following his marriage.

True to his word, no woman—even the most desirable woman in Florence—would keep Niccolò from his adventure.

Lorenzo was right: it was absolutely perfect.

“He’s insufferable.”

“He’s temporary. And necessary. Colombina, once you say your vows, it’s over. He is on a ship and you are free once more.”

Lucrezia Donati turned from him, moving to the window of their room in the Antica Torre. She was furious with Lorenzo for his hand in arranging her betrothal. Although the Medici were famous for brokering marriages throughout Florence, she had not expected Lorenzo to be so completely involved in her own. How could he bear to do such a thing?

“But . . . how could you?”

Lorenzo joined her at the window, where they looked out over the Vallambrosan monastery, the cross of Santa Trinità shining in the sun. He placed a reassuring arm around her and explained patiently.

“How could I not? If I am forced to share you, it is my greatest desire to find the least oppressive circumstances. A husband who is absent for years at a time is a perfect solution. A God-given solution. I am grateful for it, Colombina.”

“But Lorenzo, how will I bear that one night?”

“We will get your husband raging drunk, which I dare say is not hard to do, and it will be over quickly. If we’re very successful, it may not happen at all. I did try to send Niccolò off to sea first and marry you by proxy, but he would not concede. At least he is not completely blind. The best I could do was to ship him off the following day. I’m sorry, love, but there is no way around it.”

“Then you best get me very drunk too.”

He kissed her on the forehead. “Do you not think that this kills me? I am brokering the marriage of the woman I love to another man. I would rather rip out my own teeth. It is perhaps the most heinous task I have ever carried out, but it must be done, for both of us. We should be grateful that God gave us this option, put the one man in our path who would both please your family and get out of the way, all in one package. And he is not a hunchback or a villain, merely a braggart. And some of the women envy you, I am told. They believe he is quite handsome and dashing.”

“The women of Florence do not envy me over Niccolò Ardinghelli.” Lucrezia ran a finger over his flattened nose before leaning up to kiss it. “They envy me over you.”

“Nonsense. I will never be as pretty as Niccolò, with his perfect nose.”

“Stop it. You can’t possibly be jealous of him. Besides, you are the most beautiful man in the world.”

“As long as you think so, I don’t care about anyone else.”

Lorenzo paused for a moment before asking her, with sincere curiosity, “Does everyone know, then? About us? Really?”

Lucrezia gasped at him, incredulous. “Lorenzo, please. For such a brilliant man you sometimes miss the most obvious things. The whole city knows about us. Except perhaps for poor Niccolò!”

They both laughed at this, but Lorenzo’s mind was on to something else.

“That could be a good thing, Colombina.”

“Why?”

It was his turn to tease her. “For such a brilliant woman, you sometimes miss the most obvious things!”

He grew serious as he looked out the window again, this time pointedly in the direction of Santa Trinità.

“Because if people think you and I meet secretly only because we are lovers, they will not be looking at our more dangerous endeavors together.”

Antica Torre, Florence
present day

“W
HY ARE YOU DOING THIS
?” Petra Gianfigliazza, known for her cool patience, was trying not to lose her temper with the arrogant beauty who confronted her. “What is it you want, Vittoria?”

“I want Bérenger,” Vittoria replied. “I always have. He is my soul mate and I have loved him since I was a girl. You know that.”

“No, I don’t.” Petra shook her head. “I don’t believe it for a second. I have known you too long and too well. You are not in love with him. You are not in love with anything except your career and your power. That’s why Destino stopped teaching you.”

Vittoria spat at her. “I am the one who brought Bérenger to Destino’s attention, the reason he discovered his precious Poet Prince and that wretched redhead in the first place. And this is how he thanks me.”

“What is it you are really after, Vittoria? You will save us both time and trouble by being honest with me.”

“Dante is Bérenger’s son and he is a Poet Prince,” she hissed. “I want my son to have his father’s name, legitimately. He is the Second Prince, Petra.
The Second Prince.
Do you understand what that means? For all of us? For the world?”

Petra nodded, taking it all in. “I understand that you want Bérenger to marry you.”

“It is his duty as Dante’s father and as the heir to the prophecy. And I want my son to be recognized for who and what he is by Destino.”

“Why do you care about whether or not Destino recognizes him?”

“Because Dante is the true heir to the power of the Order. The artifacts should be his when Destino dies.”

The artifacts. So that was the real prize that Vittoria was after.

Petra asked the next question without even attempting to keep the incredulous tone out of her voice. “You think Destino will give
you
the Libro Rosso?”

“It belongs in the hands of the reigning Poet Prince,” Vittoria replied. “It is the law of the Order.”

Petra considered this for a moment. Vittoria may have been delusional, but she wasn’t stupid. She countered, “The law of the Order is that Destino makes the law of the Order. That said, Bérenger is the reigning Poet Prince. By your logic, he should have the Libro
Rosso.”

“But Dante will be his legitimate heir. Everything should go to Dante as both Bérenger’s son and as the first child in two thousand years to fulfill the prophecy completely. Perfectly.”

“Why? Why do you want this so badly that you are willing to risk so much to attain it?”

“Why?” Vittoria was the one who was now incredulous. “Have you lost your wits, Petra? Dante will then be the highest-ranking blood prince in Europe.”

“So what? It’s the twenty-first century. There is no monarchy in Europe anymore.”

“That’s because there has been no one worthy to restore the monarchy. Don’t you see? My Dante changes all of that. We can concentrate the power of all the noble bloodline families behind Dante: Hapsburg, Buondelmonti, Sinclair. With our unified fortunes and power combined within this one perfect child,
my
child, we can rule Europe.”

Petra was stunned. She had not expected this. For hundreds of years, secret societies had been breeding grounds for half-baked plots to restore monarchy in Europe. The strategy always involved proving that some heir of one of the bloodline families represented a “lost king” who would unify Europe as a superpower. But Vittoria’s scenario, while far-fetched, had some chilling possibilities. While Dante might not ever sit on a recognized throne, he could potentially unite billions of dollars and great power under one agenda, but what would that agenda be? And who would control it? And while she had not mentioned the messianic aspect of this master plan for her son, it was implied in her speech. Petra was chilled to the bone as she considered that Vittoria was likely not smart enough to have concocted this herself. How big was this conspiracy? How much wealth and power was behind this terrible idea?

“Vittoria . . .” Trying a new tactic, Petra modulated her voice to that of mentor. “Help me understand what it is you want to do here. The Order isn’t a political organization, it is a spiritual one. Temporal power is not our agenda.”

The light of fanaticism grew in Vittoria’s eyes as she reacted. “Destroying the Church is our agenda, and we can do that if we are unified. We can return the teachings of the Libro Rosso to the light, and to Europe once and for all. We can defeat the lies that have ruled in Rome for too long. It is a blessed mission,
sister
.” Vittoria addressed Petra intentionally using the sibling definitions of the Order. “We can all make this happen together—you and me, Bérenger and Destino, and Dante. Let us bring about this new era of rebirth. The time returns. Let’s finish what Lorenzo started.
That
is the mission.”

Petra shook her head sadly. How had Vittoria become so misguided? “Destroying the Church has never been our agenda. Living in peace with other belief systems is what we aspire to, and what we have always tried to achieve. That is the Way of Love.”

Vittoria growled her frustration. “You are the Mistress of the Hieros-Gamos, the leader of a dying tradition, possibly the most powerful tradition in human history. Are you going to sit back and let it die, Petra? Because I say we stand up for it and let it live. We restore the true teachings with all the power and money of Europe behind them. Bérenger and I rule together, with Dante as our heir, protecting the Order as our highest priority. If Dante is ultimately in possession of the Libro Rosso, as well as the—” Vittoria stopped herself before completing the sentence, but Petra, knowing her too well, understood.

“In possession of the Libro Rosso as well as the
what,
Vittoria? The spear?”

Vittoria was in too deep to deny anything now. She snapped. “Of course. The Spear of Destiny is the ultimate weapon of power on Earth. He who wields the true spear cannot be defeated. We need it to ensure our victory. Dante needs it.”

Petra took a deep breath and answered carefully. “The spear is not meant to be used as a weapon of war or pain ever again. To do so would
be a tremendous mistake and tragedy. Destino will never part with the authentic spear, at least not until the day he selects an heir who is worthy of its power.”

Petra’s words were falling on deaf ears. Vittoria turned to storm out of the apartment in frustration. She stopped at the door to make her final point. “Destino needs Dante. The Order needs Dante. He is that heir. You cannot deny his birth chart or what he is. The sooner you and Destino understand that, the easier this will be on everybody.”

Petra, for all her grace and diplomacy, had not become a leader in the Order through a lack of spine. She shot back, enunciating each word clearly and with authority. “Remember who I am, Vittoria, as you said it yourself. I am the Mistress of the Hieros-Gamos. It is my mission and my destiny to teach the power of love and to recognize twin souls. Bérenger and Maureen are twins. They belong together. And what God has put together, let no man separate. That is the law that rules above any other.”

Vittoria slammed the door in response; Petra considered the situation as she did so. Destino had ceased to teach Vittoria because she had always been fixated on power and never on love. She was the product of a family that had lost the true meaning of the Order along the tumultuous path of history. This perverted strategy she was presenting made that clear. Fanaticism on any level was a dangerous thing.

And yet there was the question of the child. Dante Buondelmonti Sinclair was, indeed, a Poet Prince, and as such his presence and destiny could not be ignored by anyone in the Order. Whether or not he was the legendary Second Prince was still to be confirmed.