The Bocino was cool in the ombra of the night as Milla stood on the wooden planks, surrounded by water, a salty smell swirled around her. She looked up into the vast night sky with its thousands of scintillio diamonds and the Saggio face of the moon. The night is the time Milla truly came alive, the night gave her cover to escape her home and sit at the docks and just be herself. Not have to worry about such meaningless things as finding a husband or being perfect and ladylike. Of course, she had already left those things behind…she had a husband…well…they were not married yet. He saw Milla as perfect and as much of a lady as she could pretend to be. His name was Ezio.
She did not love Ezio and tonight, that curt little thought made the skin on her exposed forearms prickle and tighten, going rough with goose flesh. Milla had this thought a million times before, starting with her father accepting the Proprosta for her. The Amore Storia did not even have mutual love; it started with a terrified scream through the marketplace. A plague doctor had jumped from the roof and tackled her, knocking her to the ground, making the people run away. The doctor showed Milla a rather large syringe with a green liquid locked inside the glass chamber. He pressed the hollow tube to her neck when Ezio barked, "Malfatto!"
Malfatto took off, dodging Ezio's throwing knives. He helped Milla up but would not let her go, just held her, gazing into her eyes. Her mother and father came running when Ezio dropped to one knee to ask her to marry him. Milla did not know this Uomo! But since he looked to be doing all right for himself and her father being the greedy man he was, her father accepted the Proprosta for her. Now, Milla wished Malfatto had killed her, that Ezio had not have saved her. She took off her boots and sat down on the dock, allowing her little feet to dip into the inky water. Milla felt shivery and her stomach ached. Someone was behind her. Someone Milla did not want to meet.
She whipped her head around to scold her soon to be husband bout sneaking up on women during private times, but instead, she let out a shriek of terror and stumbled to her feet. Malfatto stood, looming over Milla. His eyes, from behind the glass domes of his beaked Maschera, were strange and haunted eyes. "You come back to finish the job?" she asked, in a cold voice, a voice that told Malfatto to kill her quick. Milla was trembling as she gulped down her horror, exposing her neck and chest for his needle. He stepped closer to her, needle not yet drawn, as they stood, Peto Contro Peto on the Bocino, feeling one another's body heat.
Milla's fear evaporated like water being split onto the Italian streets during summer, she actually felt safe, this felt right, but what was she thinking? She felt safe and right with the man who tried to kill her? But, he was much better than Ezio, he came back to Milla. Ezio, sometimes, he'd fall of the face of the Earth for weeks at a time. At least she understood why Malfatto had to disappear, he was a murderer. Ezio only told Milla she would not want to marry him if she knew why he had to go. She reached up on her tiptoes and tilted his Maschera up, and pulled his hood down, just to expose his lips. His body slowly tightened in a menacing way. She leaned in to Bacio him but stopped. No matter how much she hated Ezio, it still was not right to Bacio Malfatto.
Milla shrugged off the thought of her marriage to Ezio and leaned in once more, but Malfatto was quicker, he pressed his exposed lips to hers. He staggered back, pulled the hood up, and pulled his Maschera down as she gave him a smile. Malfatto ran off, jumping up a wall, onto the rooftop of a home and disappeared.