The Stargazer Read Online Free PDF Page B

we thought your blood needed a little excitement. It has definitely been thinning these many hours.” Nodding, he reached out to feel Bianca’s wrist. “You see, you see, Roberto, I told you it would do the trick. Feel it now, pumping away like a blacksmith’s apprentice!” Bianca’s arm was pulled farther from the bed toward the other, more serious man.
    “Yes, it does seem to have worked, Francesco, but I think a dose of Ian’s fine brandy would have been less troublesome to the system. Look at her—he keeps complaining that she won’t stay quiet, and yet here she hasn’t even uttered a word. You’ve overdone it again, I am afraid.”
    Bianca turned from one to the other of them, trying to make sense of the scene. This had to be Francesco and Roberto the chaperons, but instead of ogres, Ian seemed to have left her in the hands of doctors. And not just any doctors but famous ones: her father had often spoken with admiration of Francesco di Rimini and Roberto Collona, and she recognized their faces from the portraits on the title page of their herbal which she had used when she was studying medicines. For a few moments, confusion at finding herself with these two renowned men made her overlook Ian’s comment about her verbosity, but soon pride got the better of chaos. Before she had time to repudiate Ian’s reported slander, however, she found herself shoved back into the bed, the covers pulled over her head.
    She heard Ian’s voice muffled through the blankets. “Is she up yet? I thought I heard her voice. Is it normal for her to sleep so long?” His questions toppled out one after the other in rapid succession.
    “Just a nightmare, dear nephew, just a bad dream,” Francesco assured him, letting the carnival mask fall discreetly to the floor by the bed. “Nothing to worry about. The sleep will do her good. She’ll be fine once she awakes, but we must let nature take its course. Don’t you agree, Roberto? Best to let her keep sleeping?”
    “Certainly, certainly, quite right, Francesco. We’ll get you from your meeting at the first sign of wakefulness, of course, Ian.”
    “Ah yes, before she has all her wits about her, always the best time for an interrogation,” Francesco added, eyeing his nephew keenly. “Just as a matter of curiosity, are you planning to use the dungeon for your work? Screws, nails, whips? Remember how well they worked on the last one…”
    “What the devil are you…?” Ian’s question was drowned out by Francesco’s voice as Roberto leaned across the bed, trying to still the squirming Bianca.
    “Quite right, not our business,” Francesco continued, moving Ian toward the door. “Wouldn’t want anyone to interfere with the interrogation, you said it yourself last night.” Ian thought he detected a note of mockery in his uncle’s voice. “Now get back to your job, which is to make enough money so we all continue living like princes, and let us do the work of ogres. Doesn’t suit you at all.” Aided by Francesco’s insistent arm over his shoulders, Ian had almost stepped over the threshold when Roberto lost his hold on the wriggling lump of blankets.
    Bianca exploded from under the covers, shouting. “Whips? You would use whips on me?”
    The three men stared at her in astonishment. Her eyes were a mesmerizing deep brown and her lip trembled with fury. She threw her head back and raised her chin in challenge.
    “Go ahead. Humiliate me. Torture me. Even whip me. But by the breast of Santa Agata I promise you, if you treat me like an animal, I will be silent like an animal. I would rather be left in a slimy dank dungeon somewhere to be eaten by rats with dull teeth than tell you what I know.” She crossed her arms over her breasts and glared at Ian.
    “You charming girl, you have solved the mystery!” a male voice rang out from behind Ian. Bianca looked up to see a contingent of tall men who she knew must be the other Arboretti enter her room. One of them, a blond