This is not me, thought Betta as she looked down at her body clad in the sheer pink gown of a Maenad. The mirror Lady Lucrezia held up showed a lovely face layered with paint, framed by the long red locks of the wig that completed her costume. Her dark eyes were rendered mysterious and dazzling by the dark powder that circled them.

"Why Betta, you look quite beautiful!" Lucrezia's hand stroked down her arm and for a second Betta felt Lucrezia's warm breathe on her shoulder. Betta's startled eyes met her Lady's for an instant and something passed between them. A warm and liquid feeling blossomed in Betta's stomach but just as quickly Lady Lucrezia stepped back and busied herself arranging the voluminous folds of her dress. "Are you sure that you wish to do this? I could just as easily have one of the others.."

"I would not trust this to anyone else, my Lady."

Lady Lucrezia began pacing back and forth in the richly appointed chamber that had been her jail cell for the past couple of weeks. "Why do you serve me thus, so loyally even when it could cost you your life? If something goes wrong they could hang you!" Lucrezia was on the verge of tears, the stress of the past weeks and the fruition of their plans pushing her to a point where she seemed as fragile as glass. Betta was reminded that for all of her sophistication and beauty the lady had not yet reached her 22nd year.

The Betta who was not Betta for this night dared to enfolded her mistress in a hug. There were so many things that she could have told her mistress about why she was willing to risk her life to free them from this prison. How Lucrezia had granted her the greatest gift that she could imagine and seen her sister safely married. How she had found shelter from her father's unnatural attentions while she had served the family and what had begun as service had become love for Lucrezia and her son as Betta had tied her destiny to theirs. That the only good things in her life had come from being with them. "I know this will work, my lady. " Betta smiled and cocked her hip like the whores who waited to serve at the feast and pursed lips that were painted crimson "Let's teach this king a lesson."

Betta felt like she had been possessed for this night. Her walk was no longer the purposeful stride that had carried her through the palace halls. Instead her hips rolled and her unbound breasts swayed gently and she could feel the eyes of men on her as she floated into the banquet. She flirted with the guests and when she felt hands slipping into her robes she did not slap them away. Instead she laughed and smoldered and pouted. One of the whores came up to her and pressed their bodies and then their lips together to the delight of the men who encircled them, clamoring for wine. She had drugged the barrel with a vial she had hidden in her hair. "Don't put it between your tits. The way you look men will be fondling you before the night is out." The witch has cautioned her. Tubby little Bacchus had certainly sweated when he looked at her and Betta felt the rush of power at the hold she had over these men. This is what my lady has, she thought, the power to entrance men to doing her will not because they fear her but because they desired her. She filled glass after glass, teasing the guards who initially refrained from drinking until they toasted with the rest. Betta and her sisters of the night shared conspiratorial smiles as the guests began to drop off to sleep in their seats.

When the last of the guests finally rested in the arms of Morpheus the Maenads gathered and began to systematically remove any valuables that would not be missed. Betta ran to her lady's chamber and changed her gown as Nanny gathered up Giovanni and the other things they would need for the journey. Bernardino waited outside with the carriage and Betta smiled as she climbed up next to him and they sped away into the night. Bernardino had followed her around for days after she was attacked, begging for her forgiveness and at Lucrezia's suggestion she had offered him a place in their household if he would help them escape. Bernardino has no family left alive in the city and he had jumped at the chance to be away from the unhealthy atmosphere that had claimed so many of late. The guards stationed at the outer wall had been drugged courtesy of her friends among the poor in the city and her little spies reported that the way was clear to leave. The children smiled at the departing carriage with mouths that had been stuffed with sweets.

After the stifling confines of the palace Betta enjoyed the feeling of cool air on her face. Bernardino whipped the horses, seeking to put as much distance as possible between them and Naples before this night was out and when they heard the sound of men on the road ahead he pushed the horses still harder for they had no defense should they be pursued. It was a small company that they passed, moving fast, and there was something very familiar about the tall figure who effortlessly controlled the black stallion he was seated upon.

Lady Lucrezia screamed at them to stop and Betta turned to see her mistress jump out of the carriage and run back towards Lord Cesare, who hurtled towards her. When they met in the road Lord Cesare gathered Lucrezia in his arms and kissed her so hungrily that Betta felt that warmth she had experienced for the first time only this night flare to life in the pit of her stomach. And they did not break apart after that first passionate kiss. Instead it went on and on as the lovers seemed unaware that they were observed in an embrace that showed clearly to everyone what they truly were to one another. Betta's breathe caught and the pooling sensations between her thighs intensified.

Bernardino leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Isn't that.."

"Yes."

The former palace guard chuckled. "The prince does not look so happy to see his brother in law."

Lord Cesare would not release Lucrezia even to the safety of the carriage. After barking orders to the group of soldiers with him he lifted her up into the saddle of his enormous horse and then swung up behind her. Betta could not stop herself from glancing back at them even as she took Lucrezia's spot in the carriage. Lord Cesare's hand was startlingly white on Lucrezia's stomach in the blackness where he pressed her so firmly into him that they were molded into one from neck to knee. Betta could recognize the look on her lady's face now. She was beyond the point of caring who watched them and Betta forced herself to look away when Lucrezia gathered the folds of her cloak around her and she could no longer see the path that Lord Cesare's hand took.

The party arrived in Rome just as dawn was heralded by crowing roosters scattered through the city. Cesare lifted his sister down and together they disappeared into the shadowy halls of the Vatican. Betta thought that perhaps they found a secluded room in the Vatican to continue their reunion before the Holy Father, who was notoriously difficult to approach in the morning, was roused from slumber.

The end of the day saw the party settled in their new dwelling, a heavily fortified house that had been prepared against their arrival. Lucrezia summoned Betta to speak with Lord Cesare, who sat next to her loosely holding her hand.

'"Elizabetta." Lord Cesare smiled at her and Betta's heart stuttered momentarily as the force of his magnetic personality washed over her. "You served at my mother's home, did you not?"

"Yes my Lord."

"And then you came with us to the Vatican. You have proven yourself to my family and I owe you my thanks."

Betta could not help the blush that stained her cheeks a dark crimson and Lucrezia snickered slightly at her reaction. Cesare began playing with his sister's fingers, stroking the white digits with hands that had become calloused and rough from holding a sword but retained a similar elegant bone structure.

"My sister says that you were close to Micheletto while he was with you in Naples. And that you can be trusted."

Betta nodded and Lord Cesare told her the story of Micheletto and how he had been betrayed by his lover. "He killed the boy on my orders and then disappeared. Would you know of anywhere he might be found?"

Betta thought of the assassin, who had been her friend and protector.

"I might know where to begin looking for him. My lord, give me leave to search and if it is in my power I will bring him back to you."