Chapter 56
Author's Note: Yay the rest of the reposted chapters plus a new one (chapter 61 is new)! Thank you to all my reviewers. Thank you to Ziliverina who has reviewed ALL the chapters so far. Thank you to sissy Sky for starting the arduous task of reviewing them all too (I'm sorry there's so many!) Yay day brightened by hilarity! Thank you guys!
"... And then Pietro showed up and took him home," Dafne concluded her tale to Marietta and Giosetta as they were preparing lunch the next day.
"I can't believe he tried to have it off with you outside the church," Marietta said. Both she and Giosetta had been very amused when Dafne had admitted this part to them.
"Well he didn't succeed," Dafne said, blushing a bit as she reflected on the things he had been saying to her.
Marietta exchanged a sly glance with Giosetta,
"Maybe you would have been more keen if he had started speaking French earlier," she said.
"Was it sexy?" Giosetta chimed in before Dafne could respond, "Him speaking to you in other languages?"
"Kind of," Dafne admitted, "It would have been more sexy if he had been sober and warned me first."
"I wish Massimo could speak another language," Giosetta sighed when she and Marietta had finished laughing.
"I'm glad Nero can't," Marietta said, "He insults me enough in Italian. At least in Italian I know what he's saying."
"So how did your night go?" Dafne asked, "How was the movie?"
Both women made a face,
"The movie was pretty lame," Marietta said.
"Yeah we only really picked it to annoy the guys," Giosetta said.
"We left halfway through," Marietta said, "I think our fellow moviegoers were glad we did. Nero and Massimo were pegging popcorn at everyone."
She rolled her eyes but she was smiling.
"They were doing it so we'd get fed up and want to leave," Giosetta told Dafne, "Not that their little act would have worked if the movie had been any good. We would have stuck with it."
"But it wasn't so we left," Marietta said, "And the boys were over the moon because they were going to see the monster. Nero sped the whole way back, the idiot."
"Too bad for them Monster Night ended up being a complete letdown," Giosetta said.
"Why was it a letdown?" Dafne asked.
She hadn't heard any news because she had spent the morning trapped in Mortola's room teaching her to read. She had also missed out on serving breakfast at the church. This had irritated her until she learned through Marietta that Basta hadn't shown up either. Basta had been the only reason Dafne had wanted to go. She hoped he wouldn't be absent for lunch too. She really needed to see him.
But right now her attention was focused on Marietta as she filled her in.
"It was a letdown because Darius stuffed up. Apparently he was supposed to read out a giant squid but all the came out of the book was a ton of seawater which turned the arena into a swimming pool."
Giosetta grinned,
"The boys came back to Nero's place absolutely drenched. They were livid."
"Weren't they just?" Marietta said, "I bet all the men were dying to get their hands on Darius. Not only did he fail to come up with the goods, he extinguished their bonfires and made them all go for a swim."
"He did them a favour. Most of them probably needed a bath," Giosetta said.
Poor Darius, Dafne thought worriedly as her companions giggled.
"What happened to Darius afterwards?" she asked.
"He got brought back here and locked in his room," Marietta said, "He'll be going without food for a while but that's not such a bad punishment considering what fates could have befallen him."
The women nodded in solemn consensus. Dafne was relieved. Darius had at least escaped his blunder with his life. She supposed that was only because Capricorn had no other reader to fall back on, for the time being.
"I've been meaning to ask you Dafne," Marietta said, nodding her head towards a particular person across the room, "Why has our little friend defected over to the dark side?"
"It's not the dark side to her," Dafne said sadly as she watched Claudia working alongside Agnese and Marianna, "I'm the dark side. I'm the one dating the scary knife man who brought her and Tonio here. They didn't find that out until Basta turned up at church and started showering me with drunken affection," she sighed, "I suppose I should have broken the news to them sooner but they would have reacted the same way. By the time I went back into the church Agnese was with them. It was pretty clear that they wanted to hang out with her than listen to what I had to say. Agnese didn't help matters. She got up me for abandoning them to quote 'fool around' with Basta."
"She did?" Marietta shot a glare at Agnese, "What a bitch. She should have kept her big nose out of it."
Dafne shrugged,
"I'm sort of glad she didn't. Those two needed someone looking after them and I didn't do such a good job of it. I can't blame her for taking over. I know she didn't do it just to spite me. She would have genuinely wanted to keep them safe. Agnese's a kind person even though she's not very nice to me. That's only because she hates Basta. Before I started dating him we were friends."
Dafne suddenly found herself embraced by Marietta,
"Well me and Giosetta are your friends now," she said, "We don't care that you're dating Basta."
Dafne smiled,
"I'm glad you don't. A lot of people do."
"If they do screw 'em," Marietta declared, "Do you love Basta?"
"Yes."
Marietta squeezed her,
"Then love that foreign-speaking pervert and we'll stick by you right Giosetta?"
Giosetta grinned,
"Yep."
"Thank you," Dafne said with genuine gratitude.
"Marietta," Orlanda snapped from across the room, "Let go of Dafne and get back to work."
"Claudia got to see her mother though," Dafne said as they resumed work, "I forgot to tell you about that. Isolda was waiting outside the church when we left to come back here. I was pretty amazed to see her because she never leaves the house. But considering the circumstances how could she not. If Claudia and Tonio were my kids, I wouldn't stay at home if there was a chance to see them. Not that there was much time for a reunion thanks to Orlanda. She broke it up pretty quickly," she dropped her voice to mutter, "the ugly cow."
Her friends found this insult incredibly funny. Marietta started making cow noises and Dafne couldn't help giggling as well.
"That's enough you three!" Orlanda thankfully didn't demand an explanation for their laughter, "Marietta and Giosetta, move somewhere else. On opposite sides too, not together."
The three of them weren't separated for long though. They were reunited as they joined the group of maids heading over to the church to serve lunch. Claudia was amongst them too but she remained close to Agnese. Dafne had caught the girl staring at her several times that day but each time their eyes met Claudia would look away fearfully. It hurt to be shied away from like a kind of monster but Dafne endured it. If she could get Basta to take the girl to see her father it might change things between them. Even if it didn't she wanted to keep her promise.
To her relief, Basta was in the church. And not looking the best, though that didn't surprise her. It was more of a surprise that he was wearing sunglasses.
"It's too goddamn bright outside," he rasped when she asked about them, "It's too goddamn bright in here too."
Dafne smiled,
"Yes it is rather red. Where's Nico?"
"He's still asleep," Pietro said. He didn't look as bad as Basta did but he still looked a little peaky, "Those are his sunglasses Basta is wearing."
"Fool passed out on my couch with them still on his head," Basta said, "Didn't change out of his wet clothes either. The couch is going to stink of the sea now. Did you hear what happened?"
"Yes. Monster Night ended up being Monster-less Night."
"It was still impressive to watch an enormous wave suddenly appear out of nowhere," Pietro remarked.
"So you were there to see it then?" Dafne said.
"Yes. I headed over after tucking this one in," Pietro smiled at Basta.
"Shut up about that," Basta snapped, "Hand me the orange juice."
"Here you go pumpkin."
"Stop calling me that you moron!" Basta hissed, too distracted to notice his glass had started overflowing with juice.
"Who's the moron, you're getting juice everywhere," Pietro informed him cheerfully.
"Shit!" Basta stopped pouring, "That was your fault!"
"How is it my fault?" Pietro purred, "I'm not controlling your hand."
"But you're distracting me. Stop talking."
Pietro leaned back and closed his eyes,
"Fine, I don't want to converse with a grouch anyway. He's all yours Dafne."
Basta smiled,
"Yeah I'm all yours little mouse. Here take a seat," he turned to the man on the other side of him, "Fulvio, get the hell up and let my lady sit down!"
"Basta, don't shout at him. I'm fine standing."
"No it's alright," the man was already up, "My head is killin' me and I'd rather move someplace quieter."
Dafne couldn't blame him as she took his place.
But Basta was finished yelling. He leaned over and said in a low voice,
"Um, what happened between us last night?"
"Don't you remember?" Dafne said.
Basta shook his head,
"I remember being in the church with you and that's about it. Pietro said we were outside the church when he took me home. What were we doing out there?"
"We were just talking and er, kissing," Dafne said before whispering his ear, "You wanted to do something rather more intimate than that but I said no."
Basta swallowed nervously,
"Oh. I see. I wanted... but you said no."
Dafne nodded.
Basta drummed his fingers on the table contemplatively,
"Well it's probably a good thing you said no," he said finally, attempting humour, "Otherwise I wouldn't have remembered it."
"I kind of wish you did remember. You said some... um, pretty memorable things. Like the way you put it across. It was... like I said memorable."
Basta cringed,
"What did I say?"
Dafne leaned in to his ear again,
"I want you very badly right now, my little mouse."
It made her blush to repeat it but she wasn't blushing as badly as Basta.
"Really?" he groaned, "Did I say anything else?"
"Um, when I pointed out you were too drunk to stand properly you said..." she leaned in to whisper again, "Only one part of me has to stand up little mouse."
Basta's face looked pained,
"Seriously?"
Dafne nodded though she was trying not to smile now. In the light of day such a line seemed rather funny.
But Basta didn't find any of it funny. Nico's sunglasses became askew as he buried his face in his arms on the table.
Pietro looked enquiringly at Dafne to explain Basta's sudden slump but she shook her head. He didn't need to know and she didn't want to tell him.
Basta lifted his head after a moment,
"I didn't mean to say those things, I was drunk and I didn't..."
"It's alright," Dafne reassured him, "You apologised last night and I accepted it."
"You did," Basta said gratefully, pulling her hand over to kiss it, "That's good."
"There is something you can do for me though," Dafne said.
"Name it dear heart," Basta said, fixing Nico's sunglasses on his face.
Dafne pointed at Claudia,
"I'd like you to take Giulio's daughter to visit Giulio in the cages," she said, "Isolda and Giulio's son too. All three of them."
Basta eyed her wearily,
"I should have expected such a bleeding heart request."
"Well you promised me you would do something nice for Giulio," Dafne said, "What better way than to bring his family to him."
"I suppose," Basta said unenthusiastically, "I suppose I could do it. As long as I only have to do it once."
"Once is fine," Dafne said.
Basta eyed her a moment before he caved with a long-suffering sigh,
"Alright I'll take them."
Dafne leaned in to kiss his cheek happily,
"Thank you."
Basta perked up, smiling at her indulgently before turning to Pietro,
"Pietro," he ordered, "Make yourself useful, go sweet-talk Orlanda into letting me take Giulio's brat to her father."
"Go sweet-talk her yourself," Pietro replied, "Why should I do it for you?"
"Because she likes you," Basta sounded annoyed at his refusal.
"All the reason for me not to go over there and encourage her," Pietro said, "Besides you called me a moron earlier. That hurt my feelings."
"Your feelings?" Basta sneered, "What are you, a woman?" he remembered Dafne and glanced at her sheepishly.
"Why don't you just say sorry to Pietro," Dafne said, "He might do it if you apologise."
Basta scowled,
"I am not apologising," he said stubbornly, "I only called him a moron because he keeps calling me that name," he eyed Pietro irritably, "You know the one I mean, he knows I don't like it."
"I don't know why you don't like it," Pietro said, "It's not an insult. It's a term of affection."
"I don't want you calling me a term of affection," Basta snapped, "I am not your wife!"
Basta flushed as several heads swivelled around to look at him.
"Stop gaping at me you idiots," he snarled, rising menacingly in his chair, "Get back to your own business."
"Sure thing..." Cockerell said cheerfully, "Pumpkin."
A look of horrified fury spread on Basta's face as laughter broke out amongst the men.
Uh oh, Dafne thought uneasily.
Basta slammed his hands down on the table fiercely,
"You better stay where you are Cockerell," he yelled at the cackling man, "Because I'm coming over there to kill you in a moment," he turned to Pietro to hiss, "See what you've done. This is your fault. Calling me pumpkin like we're... in love with each other or something. Did you think people wouldn't notice?"
"In love?" Pietro began laughing, "You and me?"
He kept laughing and Dafne pressed her lips together to not laugh herself. The idea was indeed funny but Basta looked so furious so she held back expressing amusement for his sake.
"Shut up! This isn't funny. I don't want the men thinking we're the next Carlo and Enzo. I have a girlfriend," he pointed at Dafne frantically, "I want to see her naked, not you!"
"Basta shut up," Dafne hissed embarrassedly, "No one thinks that about Pietro and you. Not seriously. You need to calm down."
"I will not calm down," Basta hissed back, nodded his head towards the men, "Everyone is having a laugh at my expense, all because of Pietro's stupid mouth."
Dafne looked over at Pietro, who was still chuckling, and gave him a pleading look to say please sort this out.
Thankfully Pietro obliged,
"I'm sorry amico mio," he said in a rather put-on repentant tone though, "I only meant it as a bit of fun. I won't call you it again."
Basta looked a little surprised by the apology but accepted it with a glare,
"You better not. Otherwise I'll cut your tongue out."
"If you cut my tongue out, how am I going to sweet-talk Orlanda for you?" Pietro said with a smile.
"You said you weren't going to do that anyway," Basta said.
Pietro regarded him rather slyly,
"I will if you apologise for calling me a moron."
Basta sneered at him,
"I'm not going to..."
"Basta, Pietro just apologised to you," Dafne cut in, "Do you want him to come off as the better man for doing that?"
Basta glowered at Pietro.
"No," he muttered resentfully.
"Then apologise," Dafne said.
Basta let out a seething breath,
"Sorry," he ground the word out through his teeth. It was barely audible and not at all heart-felt.
But Pietro looked pleased.
"See that wasn't so bad was it," he purred.
"So you'll go talk to Orlanda for us?" Dafne said hurriedly before Basta could retract his apology. He looked like he was about to do so quite vehemently.
Pietro nodded as he pushed his chair back to stand,
"Pietro to the rescue," he said with rather dramatic flair, "I'll see you at the entrance with the girl," he told Basta before heading off.
Basta scowled as he rose to leave too,
"I hope you appreciate what I do for you," he grumbled to Dafne, "Because I don't enjoy all this do-gooder saying I'm sorry business."
"I know you don't," Dafne said, "And I do appreciate it."
I'll show you shall I?
She sprang up from her chair, threw her arms around him and kissed him deeply. It took him a moment to recover from his surprise to kiss her back. But when he did, he did it very fiercely much to the delight of the crowd who started cheering them on.
"Woo go Basta!"
"Yeah kiss that maid!"
It was rather distracting and embarrassing. Dafne broke away from the kiss she had initiated, blushing self-consciously. The crowd let out a collective moan to have her end their entertainment.
"Kiss her again!"
Basta looked at Dafne expectantly but she shook her head. He shrugged, he didn't seem to mind. He looked rather satisfied.
"Why did you do that?" he asked.
"To show my appreciation," Dafne said.
"I like that form of appreciation," Basta purred, "I like it a lot little mouse."
His hands were caressing the curve of her hips. It felt nice, more than nice. She wished they were somewhere alone. She couldn't really enjoy his touch fully with so many people blatantly staring at them. She couldn't enjoy kissing him either and she really wanted to do that.
"I like it too," Dafne said, "So you better hurry and take Giulio's family to him because I want to appreciate you more... somewhere less public."
It embarrassed her to say this even though it was what she wanted. She hadn't had much experience in acting seductive.
Basta got the drift in any case and smirked,
"You do?" he said, "Then I'll get going straight away."
"Thank you," she said as Basta was stepping away from her.
He reached back to stroke her face,
"Thank me later little mouse," he said with a wink.
He headed off with a spring in his step. Dafne watched as he made his way towards the unsuspecting Claudia, making a slight detour at Cockerell.
The amusement fled from the other man's face as Basta approached him. Basta had threatened to kill him after all and he had his knife drawn. But it become apparent that Basta wasn't going to murder Cockerell, only make him sweat as he held his knife, tip pointing down, over his lap. Cockerell's eyes were huge and worried, staring down at the sensitive area under threat of being skewered if Basta let the knife drop. All the while Basta was talking to Cockerell and Dafne could only guess it was along the lines of: if you make fun of me again, I'll make sure you never have children.
Cockerell nodded quickly in agreement with what Basta was saying and sighed in relief as the other man drew the knife away from that particular area. Basta gave Cockerell a parting slap on the back of the head and carried on his way.
Dafne held her breath worriedly as he reached Claudia. The girl saw him coming like an animal on the lookout for predators at a watering hole. But she didn't run. She just seemed to freeze. That suited Basta because he simply took hold of the obviously frightened girl and started towing her away. Dafne cringed.
Don't just grab her, she groaned inwardly, explain where you're taking her.
He was talking to her though. Not that what he was saying was making the girl look any less fearful. Basta appeared rather annoyed by this. She saw him rolling his eyes at the girl. But Dafne supposed such a reaction from Claudia couldn't be helped. Basta was the scary knife man after all. He had had his knife out just a minute ago for the girl to see. At least Claudia allowed herself to be dragged away instead of putting up a fight. It would have made things worse if she had.
It didn't take long before two reached Pietro and Orlanda at the entrance. Pietro had obviously worked his magic on Orlanda because she barely acknowledged Basta and the girl as they passed her. She was too busy smiling adoringly at Pietro. But the subject of her affection quickly excused himself and took off after the other two, leaving Orlanda to resume her usual scowl.
Dafne began making her way over to rejoin Marietta and Giosetta and suddenly found herself confronted by Agnese,
"Where is he taking her?" she demanded.
"He's taking her to see her father," Dafne told her.
"Why?" Agnese said, looking suspicious.
"Because I asked him to," Dafne answered, "I promised Claudia she would get to see him."
"Oh," Agnese said, her anger fading to indecision, "You did?"
Dafne nodded, smiling tentatively.
See Agnese, I'm not so bad. Neither is Basta.
Agnese suddenly scowled,
"You had better be telling the truth," she said before striding away.
I am, Dafne thought, you'll see.
To be continued...
When Dafne said "No one thinks that about Pietro and you", I was thinking in my head "No one but me and several other readers cough Skyridge cough" lol.
Oh and I love how Basta uses Carlo and Enzo as his gay example LOL. He assumes there's something going on between them like everybody else.