Chapter 9: A Message from Home

Marco stood halfway down the corridor gripping the shirt front of a man I didn't recognize. Several guards had weapons trained on the stranger as well. Marco looked up grimly as I approached.

"This rat was caught sneaking around the south garden wall, miss. Claims to have a message for you." Marco gave the man a gaze. "More like sent by that snake Luca if you ask me."

My breath caught even as the guards forced the cowering man to his knees before me. He was filthy and thinnish, clearly no threat. Just a hapless pawn by the look of him.

"It's true!" he insisted, blinking at me from under a battered cap. "I were paid a purse to bring this to the new miss. That's all I know, I swear it!"

He fumbled in his grimy coat, making the guards tense until he produced a folded square of paper. I took it warily, noting it was sealed by a familiar wax crest - the seal of my family. Shock rooted me in place. After so many weeks with no contact, now a message arrived by this strange courier? Why?

The Don himself soon arrived, demanding an explanation for the disruption. As the guards related capturing the man seemingly trespassing, I stood numbly staring down at the mysterious letter. What did my family have to tell me now, after so many months of silence?

With a nod from the Don, I cautiously broke the seal and unfolded the short missive within. My knees nearly buckled to see my sister Amy's childish scrawl covering the page.

Dearest Lily, it began sweetly enough. My heart wrenched, remembering her dimpled smile. How I missed that sweet, trusting face. Focusing intently, I continued reading, joy fading with every line into icy fear.

By the time I reached the end, the page quivered in my clenched fists. I scarcely felt the tears tracing down my cheeks. Only the rising roar of panic and blistering rage filling my ears.

A gentle hand closed on my shoulder, startling me back. I blinked up dazedly into the Don's flinty yet concerned gaze. The stranger who delivered the disastrous news still knelt ashen-faced nearby.

"What is it, child?" Don Bianchi asked quietly. "What word from your family?" Behind him, Marco and the ring of guards watched me warily.

I opened my mouth but found only a strangled noise escaped. Wordlessly, I held the letter out to him, visions of Amy's sweet face still swimming before me.

The Don read swiftly, scarred brow lowering further with each line. "Your sister is clearly under great strain...but we cannot fully trust this source either. Luca may seek to spread lies and dissent." Yet I heard the doubt in his voice.

The letter fluttered from his fingers as he stepped back, raking one hand down his bearded jaw. When he turned his hooded gaze my way again, I saw none of the usual paternal warmth. Once more his stare cut through me like broken glass.

"What do you know of this?" he demanded coldly, though not outright accusing...yet. Behind him, Marco shifted uneasily, refusing to meet my pleading gaze.

On quaking legs I rose, squaring my shoulders. "I know only that my sister believes what she has written. But I cannot speak for her...stability of late." I spat the last acidic words like poison seeds.

The Don considered me in stony silence. In the background, the hapless messenger still knelt confused and cowed between guards. Finally the Don snapped his fingers, spurring them to haul the man to his feet.

"Get this one off my grounds. Ensure he never returns." The man squawked indignantly but could not resist as they forcibly marched him off. I almost pitied the poor fool, a bit player caught up in our twisted family drama.

Then we were alone, the Don and I eyeing one another warily across the generational divide. When he spoke, his voice held no hint of compassion, only cold command.

"Speak true, daughter. What madness has infiltrated your family line? Clearly the blood runs tainted to birth such vile rumors." He stabbed one blunt finger toward Amy's letter, its contents burned behind my eyes. "This cannot stand unchallenged."

I squared my shoulders, refusing to shrink away. "Then we ride for home. Tonight."

The Don's scarred face registered surprise, then grudging approval. He dipped his head once. "Just so. Call it a test of loyalty. Time you learned the weight of my name beyond these sheltered walls. Ready the coach and your guard." His eyes narrowed. "We leave within the hour."

I turned immediately to carry out his orders, pulse racing. Marco shadowed my heels the entire way. By the time I had changed into traveling clothes, he could remain silent no longer.

"Miss, is it wise?" he rumbled as he hefted my luggage down the grand stairwell. "We only just left that viper's nest..."

I silenced him with an upraised hand. "I appreciate your concern, Marco. But it is not your place to question. Please, stand ready to depart."

He frowned thunderously but bowed acquiescence. I kept my spine rigid, fighting back tears, as I made my way out to the idling coach. Amy's stricken face still haunted my steps. I prayed we would not be too late.

We rode hard through the night, a small fleet of the Don's swiftest riders escorting our coach. None troubled us further after the opening miles so my thoughts soon turned inward. What had driven my youngest sister to reach out by such risky means after so many silent months apart? And what madness now seemed to grip my eldest in our absence?

I mentally replayed Amy's letter over and over, recalling her girlish script relaying such troubling words:

Dearest sister,

Much chaos since your absence. Sarah scorns us all, claiming your vile betrayal and seductive wiles entrapped her best friend Rose then abandoned us to the wolves. Mother can scarcely make her eat or quit her bed; Father locks himself away haunted by ghosts and drink.

Even gentle Aunt Eva fled after Sarah struck her in a demented fit, accusing her too of enabling your sudden rise to power over rightful family. All is not well in this house without its daughter and heart.

Return swiftly if you yet live. I fear Sarah unravels more each day, muttering of vengeance owed for her loss. She knows things outsiders do not about Rose. We all walk on shattered glass in our own home now. Please, Lily...

The letter ended abruptly there mid-plea, the last lines smudged by what I feared were Amy's tears. Her pain lanced through me, leaving outrage roiling in its wake. How dare Sarah continue persecuting her own blood kin! I should have known even my absence would not grant escape from her delusions. Wolves indeed prowled the sheepfold of my childhood home.

I must have drifted into restless sleep, for seemingly the next instant Marco was gently shaking my shoulder. "We've arrived, miss," he murmured. I jerked fully awake, heart in my throat as I took in the blessedly familiar sight of my family's little cottage framed in the lightening dawn.

No lamps glowed in welcome through its cheery windows. The very stillness screamed caution. As our coach rumbled to a halt, the Don's outriders fanned out securing the perimeter. But nothing moved in the quiet lanes.

Apprehension swirled thicker than the mist off the moors as Marco handed me down. But I swiftly mastered my rioting nerves. This was my battlefield now, and innocent lives depended on my victory against the madness infecting one of our own.

As the Don approached, I inclined my head respectfully to him. "Let me enter first, my lord. It is best I assess the situation within and try to pacify my sister before introducing your...forceful presence." I raised beseeching eyes to his. "Please. Allow me a chance. For my family's sake."

His own eyes remained implacable as granite, but he gave a curt nod. "As you will. I leave this in your hands for now, daughter. But at the first sign of trouble..." His hand shifted meaningfully to the ornate pistol at his belt.

Squaring my shoulders, I turned toward the strangely imposing structure I had always considered home. But approaching alone up the front path, I was struck by how very small and vulnerable it appeared. A strong wind might knock its stones asunder. Much like my fractured family sheltered within.

I reached the door. Then, marrow freezing, I heard it at last. The sound that had hovered like a grim spectre over Amy's words. The high, wavering keen of a mind coming undone by anguish. Sarah's tormented sobs beyond the threshold promised I was far too late. Danger lived here now wearing my sister's face.

Throat tightening, I knocked sharply three times. The sobs broke off with a choked gasp.