He rambled to a halt, and looked at her shyly. “Hey, I’m sorry.”
That made her laugh. “You are always apologizing. What are you sorry for now?”
“Because I’m boring you. I’m a seventeen-year-old bore. My brother says this is why I’ll never get a girl. I always lecture them. I’m full of bullshit.” He used the English word. “But it’s just that I think about this stuff so hard. It just comes out … You know, you’re beautiful when you laugh. And you’re also beautiful when you are serious. It’s true. I think we should always say what’s true, don’t you? That’s what I noticed about you in the Pantheon. Your skin is pale, but there is a kind of translucence about it …”
She could feel her cheeks burn, something warm move inside her. “I like your seriousness. We should be serious about the world.”
“So we should.” He was watching her. The light was fading a little now, and his face seemed to float in the glow of the lights from the cafй ’s interior. “But not serious all the time. Something’s troubling you, isn’t it?”
She looked away sharply. “I can’t say.”
“Okay. But it’s something to do with your sister, and your aunt … Your mysterious family.”
She folded and unfolded her fingers. “It’s a matter of duty.”
“Are they trying to get you to do something you don’t want to do? What — an arranged marriage of some kind? I’ve heard of that in southern Italian families.” He was fishing.
“I can’t say anything.” She didn’t even know herself.
Suddenly he covered her hand with his. “Don’t be upset.”
His skin was hot, his grip firm; she felt the touch of his palm on the back of her fingers. “I’m not upset.”
“I don’t know what to say to you.” He withdrew his hand; the air felt cold. “Look, you may or may not believe it, but I’ve no designs on you. You’re a beautiful girl,” he said hastily. “I don’t mean that. Anybody would find you beautiful. But — there’s something about you that draws me in. That’s all. And now I’m a little closer to you, I can see there’s something hurting in there. I want to help you.”
Suddenly the intensity of the moment overwhelmed her. “You can’t.” She stood up.
“Where are you going?”
“To the bathroom.”
He was crestfallen. “You won’t come back.”
“I will.” But, she found, she wasn’t sure if she would.
“Here.” He produced a business card from a pocket. “This is my cell number. Call me if you need anything, anything at all.”
She held the card between thumb and forefinger. “I’m only going to the bathroom.”
He smiled weakly. “Well, in case you get lost on the way. Put it in your bag. Please.”
She smiled, slipped it into her bag, and moved into the shop. When she glanced back she could see his face, his blue eyes following her.
In the event, she didn’t even make it as far as the bathroom.
They converged on her, Pina on one side, Rosa on the other. They grabbed her arms. Rosa’s face was set and furious, but Pina seemed more regretful. They immediately began to march her out toward an open door at the back of the shop. There was absolutely nothing Lucia could do about it.
Lucia said to Pina, “You promised you wouldn’t tell.”
“I didn’t promise anything. You made me think you were over this stupid crush.”
“You followed me.”
“Yes, I followed you.”
They passed into the street, and Lucia found herself bundled into a car. Lucia couldn’t even see if Daniel was still watching. She would never know, she thought, if she would have gone back to him.
“Pina was right to call me,” Rosa said. “I’m glad somebody has some sense.”
Lucia shouted, “Can’t you leave me alone?”
“No,” Rosa said simply.
“I just wanted to see him. I was curious.”
“Really? Curious about what, Lucia? Where did you think this little liaison would lead? Do you really have a crush on this boy, this Daniel? But you’ve only just met him. Do you want to fall in love? Do you want romance so badly that you’ll approach a perfect stranger—”
“Stop it,” Lucia said. She tried to hide her face in her hands.
But Rosa wouldn’t let up. “Listen to me. You are part of the Order. In the Order, there is no room for love or romance. In the Order, efficiency is everything.”
Lucia, forced to look at her, tried to understand what she was saying. “Efficiency in what?”
“In relationships. In reproduction. I’m talking about the demands of survival, Lucia. Do you think the Order would have lasted so long if it had allowed its members to follow the random dictates of love ?”
Lucia didn’t understand any of this, but she felt a deep horror creep over her.
Pina, too, looked shocked. “You shouldn’t be saying this, Rosa,” she said in a small voice.
Rosa sat back. “It’s the last time I will allow you out of the Crypt. The last time, do you hear? If I have to bell you like a cat …”
Lucia, released, turned away.
If she tried hard she could imagine the warmth of his hand on hers. When she thought about that she could feel heat in her lips and eyes, and a hot tautness across her breasts, and her skin tingled under her clothes, and there was a deep burning at the pit of her belly. In the dismal, silent interior of this car, despite the cold severity of Rosa beside her, she had never felt more alive. Rosa hadn’t won.
And she still had Daniel’s card in her bag.
Chapter 24
As their long sea journey drew to a close, despite the tension between them, Regina and Brica crowded together at the prow of the small ship, hungry for their first glimpse of Italy.
The early-morning air was already hot and dense, and the salt smell of the sea was exotic. The crew called coarsely to each other as they pursued their bewildering tasks, adjusting the ship’s green sails as it approached the shore. This was just a small cargo craft dedicated to transporting jewelry, fine pottery, and other expensive and low-bulk wares, and the ship creaked as it rolled. But to the women, now veterans of an ocean crossing from Britain, the tideless rolling of the Mediterranean was as nothing.
It was Brica who saw the lighthouse first. “Ah, look …” It loomed over the horizon long before the land itself was visible, a fist of concrete and masonry thrusting defiantly into the misty air. Soon afterward a great concrete barrier came into view, cutting across the horizon. This was the wall of the harbor, one of two huge jutting moles. The ship was steered easily toward the break between the moles, and sailed past the lighthouse.
The lighthouse was centuries old. It had been constructed, like the port itself, by the Emperor Claudius, who had conquered Britain. But though its concrete fascia was weathered and cracked, it surely stood as solid and intimidating as the day it was constructed. As she passed, Regina could see how it was founded on a sunken ship, whose outlines were dimly visible through the murky, litter-strewn water. The story was that this great vessel had been built to transport an obelisk from Egypt, and then filled with concrete and deliberately sunk. The huge old lighthouse loomed over the ship, utterly dwarfing it. But the crew seemed oblivious to its presence, and Regina tried not to cower.
Inside the harbor, the water was a little calmer — but this harbor was so vast it was itself like an enclosed sea. Ships of all sizes cut across its surface. Most of them were wallowing cargo ships, decorated with the dark green of the imperial navy: grain transporters, scores arriving here every day from Italy and Africa. The seamanship required to maneuver these huge ships in such cramped and crowded conditions impressed Regina, and there was much mocking rivalry between the crews as they hailed each other across the narrow strips of water between their vessels.