presents...
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The Feeling Is Mutual
"Donna Pietra is resting, Donna Anna."
Anna cocked her head at the guardsman standing watch at Pietra's door. "Now, that's an odd thing to say, because I heard her voice when Father Donati left just a moment ago."
The guard shifted his weight. "Well, she is to be resting and not disturbed. On her father's orders."
Not to be disturbed by Cristoforo or me, anyway. Anna stood perfectly still for another moment, then suddenly reached out an arm to rap upon the door. "Donna Pietra? Can we speak?" she called.
The guard protested. "Father Donati clearly said - "
Pietra's voice was muffled by the door. "Would you open the door please?"
He hesitated. Anna deliberately turned her head, slowly, until she was looking right at him from behind her veil. "Giacomo, isn't it?" She'd gotten to know most of the family guards while Tigran had been here. "She asked you to open the door."
The guard licked his lips but swung the door open. Anna took a step forward, but Pietra's voice interrupted. "A moment, aunt." The girl was propped up on pillows in bed, twisting to get a better view of Anna in the doorway. The guard, also peering in, whipped back around when he saw that the younger strega was unveiled. She was in her sickbed, after all.
Anna could tell she was doing Sorte; without the veil, the unfocused look in the eyes was obvious. She let her own vision slide and picked out her strand to Pietra. The sparking red seven of Swords was unchanged. Pietra glanced up at her. "I'd like to talk to you, too, but Father will be cross so we'd best be as quick as we can. Please, come in and close the door."
Anna did so. "I thought you did everything Angelo told you to do."
"That would be silly, wouldn't it?" Pietra asked mildly. "I love my father very much, but he's not Theus."
"He's not your father." Anna didn't even know why she said it.
Pietra's eyes narrowed slightly, and Anna felt a shiver as she briefly saw the Imperator card flash over the girl's head. "He's as close as I get to have, since your sister tried to kill me and then had me abandoned in an orphanage."
Anna blinked. "What?"
"Donna Anna, you really need to start paying attention to the details. Also, you need to grow up."
"What!" Anna tossed her own veil back and pointed a finger at Pietra. "Listen, little girl, you - "
The pale, lacerated figure in the bed leaned forward suddenly. Loose strands of dark hair floated around her pretty ruined face, and her eyes were as intense as the Imperator's. "No, you listen. First, Sorte doesn't do you a lick of good if you can't see what you See. Tigran Mondavi is a ruthless monster and whatever passion he felt for you is gone. It's right there in front of you. So stop blaming me for 'ruining' your chances and thank me instead. Actually, don't." She tapped a finger on her comforter. "Becase, second, none of this marriage garbage is my doing. I didn't ask to get betrothed to Oreste Mondavi. I didn't ask to dissolve your engagement to Tigran - that would have been, hmmm, yes, Don Salvador. I think we both came out in good places, though. And third, no, the world doesn't revolve around Anna Donati, but guess what? It never will. Also, it never really revolved around Angela Donati, either. You just thought it did because your mother revolved around her. And fourth, you think Angela did you wrong?" She sank back into the pillows of her bed and just stared at Anna. Slowly, she pointed to the scar across her face. "Did you know I did this myself? So they wouldn't sell me for a whore. You have no idea."
Anna stared back, angry, frightened and confused. She grabbed onto the one grievance she knew she had. "You killed my mother."
"No. She killed herself, trying to do Sorte that was beyond her. I took my lashes, she took hers; I was just stronger."
"She was only doing Sorte to defend herself from you."
"And I was only doing Sorte to defend myself from her. That Knot was going to kill one of us. I can understand that you'd rather it was me than Teodora, but you can surely understand I was of a different opinion." Pietra dropped her eyes for the first time since Anna had come in. "I am sorry. She... she really tried her best to help me, and guarded me from Angela. But the Knot was going to close, and... I just couldn't stand by and pretend that it wasn't."
Anna paused. "The Knot..."
Pietra looked up and nodded. "Angela."
Anna, growing tired of standing near the door, sank into a chair. "So all of this..."
"Her fault."
Her sister had bound her own mother and daughter together with murder? As Teodora's daughter, she still resented her loss, but as a strega... Pietra had a point. "But... but you..."
"What about me?"
Angela's legacy wasn't quite gone yet. "Her daughter. Her power. What are you going to do with it?"
"Nothing that'll affect you, I think. Anna... look. I'm not competing with you. I know what I want, and I'm going to go and get it. You don't know what you want, because you always wanted what Teodora wanted you to want. Go figure out what you want. I bet it's not Oreste Mondavi, so we have no quarrel."
This was like trying to argue with Angelo; her head was spinning a bit. She knew she had a quarrel with Pietra. "But my mother..."
"Angela's fault. I only did what I did because of the Knot she tied."
"Wait. The Knot was supposed to kill you. If you had both died, it would have still be closed. But you didn't die." She narrowed her own eyes as she thought about that. "How's that work?"
"I almost did. If Father wasn't such a good doctor, and Unbound, I might have. A regular doctor, the Knot might have stopped from attending me. That's probably what was supposed to happen."
A ghost of an unpleasant smile flitted across Anna's mouth. "Angela's intentions were undone by Angelo?"
"I think so."
They lapsed into silence for a moment. Anna felt like she should continue the conversation - Pietra's earlier bruque litany was disrespectful, she thought, and she ought to say something about it, but it seemed awkward to bring up now. Besides, the Imperator was still glaring at her from over Pietra's head, which was really more intimidating than it ought to be.
Pietra spoke first. "You should probably go. Father isn't a strega, but he knows that you and Cristoforo are upset with me, and he takes his meals quickly so he can be with me more. He'll be back soon, and we'll all get in trouble if you're still here."
"Very well." Anna rose, turned her veil back down over her face, and smoothed her skirts. "I will think about what you've said."
"I'm glad."
She opened the door and glided past the guard, who stopped pretending not to be listening and took a quick peek inside to assure himself that all was well. Anna glanced back as well, picking out the Swords strand again.
Donna Anna, you really need to start paying attention to the details.
The strand was only a five of Swords now.
Anna recalled Lady Donati's voice: I'm pretty sure she's a Lachesis now and she's only been training one month!
But she hadn't noticed Pietra's hands twitching. Maybe it was natural. Maybe it wasn't. But she'd pay attention to it from now on.
Back to Game 23 log.
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