“Not even as they worship another god?” Les asked.
Brand shrugged. “He would take a stand against that. I think many of the Families would, especially if it meant destroying the Da Vias once and for all. And certainly the Sapienzas would order us to if they discovered the truth about them. But no one, including my own Family, will take a step against the Da Vias without hard proof. Not with the power they wield. Your word is not enough, cousin.”
My hopes deflated. He was right. Even Costanzo Sapienza, the king, for all that he loved my father, wouldn’t take a stand against the Da Vias unless he had proof before him that they were traitors to our way of life.
What they’d done was so dangerous and stupid. All those people the Da Vias had clipped, supposedly in the name of Safraella, had been during their secret worship of Daedara. Many now probably wandered the dead plains as ghosts. And since the Da Vias had been hiding such treachery, it would be easy for the common to believe it of the rest of the Families. Or the king. The common would turn on us, believing us to be indiscriminate killers. It would create pandemonium.
The Da Vias played with fire and didn’t seem to care if the whole country burned for it.
“If you could get the Bartolomeos and Accursos to agree to an attack,” Brand said, “I could probably convince my father then.”
“There’s no time to speak to anyone else,” I said, “even if they agreed to meet with me. The Saldanas don’t share blood with them.”
“My father won’t agree to just us, the fourth Family, alone.”
“Fifth Family,” I corrected.
Brand smiled sadly. “Fourth, cousin. We both know the Saldanas will never be the first Family again. At least, not in our lifetimes.”
He was right, of course. But to be confronted so firmly with the loss of our status was to feel the pain of the loss of my Family again. Everything my Family had worked toward for generations, all the death and war faced by my father to put Costanzo Sapienza on the throne, ruined by the Da Vias.
“Maybe . . .” Brand hesitated. “Maybe you should let your Family go. You could join another Family. You could marry into the Caffarellis. We would be happy to have you. I would still be happy to have you.”
Beside me, Les bent closer. He stared at Brand with hard eyes.
Brand leaned away, hands held before him. “I meant no disrespect. I didn’t realize you had claims on each other. Adoption, then. My father would take both of you.”
It would be so easy, to give it all up, to join Brand and his Family knowing that, truthfully, they were my blood family as well. To not have to be in charge, be the head of a Family, even though there were only two of us. Three if we saved Marcello.
But I’d stood before Safraella, felt the divine pain when She’d kissed me back to life. Whoever said death wouldn’t hurt? She’d asked me. And truly, whoever said life was supposed to be free of suffering?
If I gave up now, it would be to turn my back on Her gift of resurrection. To turn my back on Her. I would be no better than the Da Vias.
I shook my head. “No. I’m sorry. The offer is gracious, but we cannot accept. We must do this thing.”
From a dark alley, a Caffarelli clipper appeared. He leaned over and mumbled something to Brand before disappearing into the busy streets once more.
Brand stood. “My father says you are welcome to board your horses and to seek shelter in our territory through the end of Susten Day, tomorrow night. After that, he wants you gone.”
Les scowled, but I nodded. We didn’t need more time.
We’d make our move against the Da Vias tomorrow.
thirty-nine
BRAND SHOWED US TO AN INN LOYAL TO THE CAFFARELLIS that would let us stay for free.
The simple room had two small beds, a wash table, and a desk. We hadn’t rested since the fight with the Da Vias, and until I saw the beds, it hadn’t occurred to me I should be tired.
“We’ve been going without stop for over a full day.” Les dropped his pack to the floor. “And I just now realized I’m exhausted.”
“I think it was like with the food.” I set my mask aside and unbuckled my leathers. They stank. I could clean them before we confronted the Da Vias. No. It didn’t matter if my leathers were soaked in blood and sweat. There was more to come.
“It was as though, for a moment, we were brand-new.” Les sat on his bed to pull off his boots and remove his own leathers, stripping down to his linen pants. “I’m kind of sad it’s gone.”
“Nothing lasts forever,” I murmured, then dimmed the oil lamp on the table. The sun would be up in an hour or two, and I wanted some sleep before we left for Ravenna to find the Da Vias.