Chapter 21
The next morning Dafne came downstairs to find Basta sitting at the table drinking a glass of milk.
"Morning little mouse. How did you sleep?"
"Well thank you," Dafne said which was true. It had been most restive sleep she had had since coming to the village.
"That's good to hear."
Basta craned his neck to one side, grimacing.
"Are you stiff?" she said a little apologetically since she was the reason he had slept in the armchair.
Basta straightened and shrugged indifferently.
"I'm fine."
Dafne looked around for Silvio but the boy was nowhere to be seen.
"He was gone when I woke up," Basta said when she asked. "He does that. He's like a damn stray."
Dafne smiled, "I've noticed that."
"Do you want to go to breakfast?" Basta asked.
Dafne wondered if Basta had been waiting for to wake up so they could go together. Still, the thought of having to go into the church again and sit amongst those... cretins, was unappealing. Basta must have seen the lack of enthusiasm on her face.
"It's just I don't have much food here," he said by way of explanation.
"Do you have any more milk?" Dafne asked.
"Yes. In the refrigerator."
"Just some milk will be fine, if that's okay."
Basta looked at her unconvinced,
"Are you sure? I don't want to come back and find you fainted from starvation."
"You're going somewhere?" Dafne asked.
"Out of the village. There are things that need to be done," he said cryptically.
She was about to ask what that something was but then stopped herself. Considering that coercion, theft and kidnapping were all possibilities, it was probably better not to know.
"When will you be back?" she asked instead, hating that she sounded like a child asking the same thing of their parent.
It seemed to amuse Basta.
"I should be back around midday, don't you fret little mouse."
Dafne frowned slightly,
"What I am supposed to do? Your house doesn't need cleaning," she said, spreading her arms to indicate its overall spotlessness.
"You can do what you like, little mouse," Basta replied breezily, "Just don't make a mess."
Dafne folded her arms, biting her lip. She had been expecting an answer a little less vague. She had become so accustomed to having the course of her day dictated to her.
"Am I confined here?" she asked, "Can I leave the house?"
Basta looked at her somewhat apologetically,
"I'd prefer it if you didn't wander outside by yourself. The men know you're my maid now but there are idiots, like Cockerell, who..." he trailed off, not needing to finish, "I'll arrange for one of the men to escort you to Capricorn's for your lesson today. I was going to ask Silvio but he had already taken off."
Dafne nodded, sliding into a chair, everything he was saying sounded reasonable.
Basta downed the rest of his milk. He got up, glass in hand and went over to the sink. Turning on the water, he rinsed and scrubbed it clean. He held it up, inspecting it and not entirely satisfied, he scrubbed at it again. Then taking a towel, he began to dry it just as thoroughly. Dafne watched him, strangely fixated at the conscientious effort. No wonder his house was so clean. He turned around and she quickly looked away, feeling embarrassed for starring.
Basta placed the freshly washed glass in front of her,
"Here."
"Oh thank you," she said, feeling compelled to add, "I could have washed that for you."
Basta shrugged,
"Force of habit. If it makes you feel better, you can get the milk out all by yourself."
Dafne smiled, hopping up and floating over to the refrigerator.
"I should get going," Basta announced as she was pouring milk into the glass.
"Oh?" Dafne said, surprised that she sounded surprised. She already knew he would be leaving, she just hadn't anticipated so suddenly.
Clutching her milk halfway to her lips, she watched him walk to the door. As he went, his hand reached into his pocket and she heard the jingle of keys.
The door swung open, sunlight streamed in, enveloping him, his shirt blindingly white.
Basta turned back,
"Try not to get into any trouble while I'm gone," he said in a mock serious tone followed by a wink.
Then he was gone.
She was alone.
Dafne took a gulp of milk, a burst of coldness, starting her more into wakefulness.
The house was still. She could hear noises from outside but in this bubble of immediate space, it was deafeningly quiet. She padded around the room, milk still in hand, sipping it, listening to the sound of her footfalls. So this was what it was like to be alone. She had forgotten what it felt like. The last time she had been alone, completely by herself, was the ill-fated day she had opened Signor Orazio's front door to three men.
Before they had kidnapped her, she had been content in her own company. Yet now, to be alone again, it felt somehow disquieting. Since being brought to Capricorn's village, there had always been someone else around. Going so long without solitude, to experience it now felt unnatural. She didn't know what do with this new autonomy, so used to spending her days being ordered to do this and that.
By all means, she should have been happy to see the back of Basta yet she found herself wishing that he had stayed. Even if it was Basta, having him here would have taken her mind off how lost she felt.
Snap out of it, she told herself, being a slave for so long has warped your mind. Don't you get it? You can do what you want, dance, scream, anything.
Dafne drank the rest of her milk greedily and licked her lips with a sigh of satisfaction.
She set the glass down on the table determinedly.
I know what I what. A bath!
Dafne raced upstairs to the bathroom which was in the same state as the rest of the house. She was right in thinking there would be a bathtub. In older houses like this one, bathtubs were more prevalent than showers. To her delight, the hot water worked. In her exuberance, she let filled almost to the brim. Tearing off her clothes, she slid in, water sloshing at the sides as it welcomed her into its embrace.
She had let it run too hot and sweat formed on her forehead but Dafne didn't care. It felt good, so good. She lay back and closed her eyes.
By the time she got out, the water had cooled. Her fingertips were wrinkly but she felt unbelievably clean, all traces of servitude washed away. There was only one towel so she had to use it. The contents of Basta's house seemed equipped for only one tenant. She redressed in the same clothes, loath as she was put them back on, she had nothing else to wear.
Dafne headed back downstairs where the soiled milk glass drew her attention. It looked out of place which the rest of the house so clean. So she washed it, as diligently as she could, hoping it would meet Basta's standards. With that task accomplished, she set herself to another, writing Resa an explanation note.
She still had a piece of paper and a nub of a pencil in her dress pocket. It was unlikely she would get a chance to see Resa in person. Mortola would make sure of that. But if she could slip the message to one of the other maids, someone she trusted like Agnese, they could pass it onto Resa.
She sat down at the table and began scribbling, trying to be as succinct as possible:
I know you're confused. I did it for a lot of reasons. Silvio for 1. More freedom. To get away from Mortola. Basta isn't so bad. I am only his maid, nothing else. Please don't worry about me. Please don't hate me. You're my best friend. I'm only doing what I think is best. Dafne.
Finished, Dafne scanned it critically. Her eyes kept hovering over the line Basta isn't so bad, marvelling that she would ever admit such a thing. In spite of this, she did feel the need to underline nothing else, to stress the emphasis on that point.
As satisfied with it as she could be, she folded the note and stowed it in her pocket. Now all she had to do was wait for her escort to Capricorn's house.
Her escort didn't turn out to be Silvio. Basta must not have been able to locate him. In his place was a tall man, wide-shouldered with a thick beard. He reminded her of a bear. It was rather intimidating how he filled up the doorway.
"Hello," she said meekly.
The man only nodded indifferently. As it turned out, he wasn't much of a talker at all. They headed to Capricorn's house in silence. She wondered if Basta had told him not to talk to her.
"I'm Dafne by the way," she said, finding the silence too uncomfortable, "And you are?"
The man's thick eyebrows furrowed.
"Giulio," he said. His voice was deep and rumbling, very much a bear kind of voice, "I already know who you are."
"I suspected that," Dafne said, "But it's polite to introduce yourself."
The man grunted.
"There's no reason for you and I to get acquainted."
Dafne was taken aback by this. Whatever instructions Basta had given him, the man himself seemed to be genuinely uninterested in her. She was just a job to be done. If he felt that way, there no use trying to rouse conversation out of him so Dafne fell silent.
That was until she caught the flash as he went to stroke his beard, the sunlight glinting on the single ring on his hand.
"Are you married?" she asked.
He looked at her sharply in annoyance.
"The ring on your finger," Dafne persisted, pointing at it.
Giulio glanced down at his hand, frowning.
"Yes, I'm married," he answered in spite of his irritation.
Dafne was encouraged by his answer. He could have told her it was none of her business.
"Does she live here in the village?"
The man made a grumbling noise in his throat,
"Of course she does. She is my wife so she lives with me."
He twisted the ring on his finger. There was a smile tugging at his lips. Dafne tried to imagine what his wife must look like but could only think of two bears.
"I married Isolda before we came here," he went on, a momentary softness entering voice.
But then he looked back up at her, eyes narrowed, "Why all these questions?"
"Sorry," said Dafne, starting to feel a little guilty for prying, "I just didn't think many of Capricorn's men were married."
"Because they aren't," Giulio replied and Dafne couldn't help but notice the distaste in his voice, "They don't think much of marriage around here."
Dafne thought of Fiametta the prostitute and how the men would pay Orlanda to take maids out for the night. This man sounded like he disapproved of such behaviour. Maybe he disapproved her too. Perhaps he assumed that her being Basta's "maid" was a cover for a more illicit relationship.
Dafne decided it was best to end the conversation there. She didn't want to hear that opinion out loud. They walked the rest of the way in silence, what Giulio had wanted in the first place. He brought her to the front door instead of the back entrance. Mortola answered the door so quickly after Giulio knocked Dafne suspected she had been laying in wait.
"Hurry up," Mortola hissed as though they were late, grabbing Dafne to catapult her inside. She jabbed a finger at Giulio, "You wait outside."
The way she said it, she could have been addressing a dog she perceived to be stupid. But Giulio was unfazed, even when the old woman slammed the door in his face.
Dafne had come willingly yet Mortola still felt the need to push her through the house.
"Enjoying your freedom?" the old woman said spitefully as they went, "I don't how you can live with yourself," her voice was full of disgust, "Letting that one touch you. You'll come to a bad end with him, mark my words."
Dafne ignored her. She had been stung so many times by Mortola's venomous tongue that she seemed to have built up immunity to it.
Mortola no longer left a lasting effect on Dafne. Unfortunately, her master still had that power. Capricorn seemed pleased to see her which was troubling.
"So?" he said simply, after dismissing Mortola. She knew the expectant look on his face had nothing to do with their lesson.
"I thought today we could try sentences," Dafne said, hoping to evade the other matter.
But Capricorn held up his hand, "No, no, we'll get to that later. First I want to know, I was right, wasn't I?"
He meant about Basta of course. He wanted to gloat.
"He hasn't professed his undying love for me if that's what you mean," Dafne replied tartly.
Capricorn was undeterred.
"Not yet. But you can see it now, can't you?"
Dafne's shoulders slumped.
"So what if I see that he might," she said, "It doesn't change much."
Capricorn held up a finger,
"You don't believe that. You know he's not going to keep his feelings bottled up forever. Eventually he'll crack."
He pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance,
"Still, all this tedious prolonging, didn't I teach him to take what he wanted?" he said almost to himself, "If he wants you, he should just get it over and done with. But no, he wants to tip-toe around, trying to get you to like him. It was the same with Roxanne. All that time wasted on romantic gestures when he could have taken her by force."
Dafne starred at him incredulously, he was referring to rape.
"Maybe he's a better man than that," she found herself saying.
Capricorn smiled sardonically,
"Coming to his defence, are we? Maybe his approach is working."
Dafne willed herself to keep silent, everything she said was just more fuel to his fire.
"I hope so for your sake," Capricorn went on, unconcerned, "Otherwise you'll get to see how much of a better man he is when he's faced with rejection."
Don't listen, he's just trying to scare you, Dafne tried telling herself. The only problem was that she knew he was speaking the truth. She had seen Basta's reaction first hand when Resa had rebuffed him.
Capricorn clapped his hands, making her flinch.
"Anyway, enough of that," he said, satisfied that he had succeeded in rattling her, "It's lesson time."
The following lesson was a success though her pupil had left her in little mood to celebrate. Still, it was a mercy that Capricorn was able to pick up things quickly. It meant the lessons were shorter and Dafne was grateful. The sooner she was allowed to leave, the better.
Mortola hadn't lingered around either which was something else to be grateful for. Without her to bustle her out of the house, Dafne could use this opportunity to seek out a courier for her message. The kitchen was her best shot, hopefully Mortola was not there. Hopefully she was locked away in her room making her poisons.
Wherever she was, she wasn't in the kitchen. When Dafne arrived, she found it only occupied by a handful of maids. No doubt a majority were over in the church serving lunch. Those that remained were cleaning up the mess of preparing it. Yet out of the few present, there were two she knew well.
Resa and Agnese. They were huddled together, Agnese was speaking rapidly. Immediately, Dafne knew there was something wrong. There was concern on both their faces. Resa went to move away but Agnese grabbed her, shaking her head.
Dafne had initially tensed on seeing Resa, unprepared to encounter her in the flesh. But that was quickly forgotten and she hurried over to them,
"What's going on?" she asked.
They turned to her, each surprised by her sudden appearance.
Resa opened her mouth as though, in her distress, she might summon the power to speak. But it Agnese who answered,
"Dafne! Vanetta's run away."
To be continued...