City of Flowers (16 page)

Sky moved into the little boxroom he always slept in at his grandmother's. It looked smaller than ever this time.

‘Good heavens!' said his grandmother, looking in on him. ‘You'll be bursting at the seams. I had no idea you had grown so tall!'

‘Growth spurt, Nana,' said Sky. ‘Don't worry – I'll be fine.'

‘Next time, I'll put you in the back bedroom and let Rosalind sleep in here,' said Mrs Meadows. ‘We can't have you cramping your young limbs. Are you sure you can fit in that bed? It's not even a full-size single.'

It was nice to be fussed over for a while but Sky was itching to get to see Alice. Next morning, after breakfast, he got Rosalind to drive him over to Ivy Court in Laura's car. Laura's parents lived within walking distance of Nana Meadows and Rosalind was quite happy to drive short distances on roads she knew well.

It was a fine spring day and the scent of flowers was in the air. It reminded Sky of Giglia. Particularly when they turned into the drive of Ivy Court and he caught the unmistakable scent of pine trees.

‘Crikey,' said Rosalind. ‘Your girlfriend must be loaded!'

Sky scarcely noticed that she had called Alice his girlfriend for the first time. His heart had sunk. Ivy Court was a red-brick Elizabethan farmhouse with imposing chimneys and a circular gravel drive. There seemed to be a lot of outbuildings as well. Nicholas had said that Alice had plenty of space but he had been very casual about it. Now Sky thought that it was all very well for Nicholas, who had been a prince in another life.

But it was Georgia who came round the corner; she was flushed and rather pretty – something Sky had never thought before.

‘Oh, hi,' she said, smiling. ‘Hello, Rosalind. We've just been for an early ride.'

‘You obviously enjoyed it,' said Rosalind.

‘Yes, it was great. There's something about the air down here. Come in and meet Alice's dad. I'll make us some coffee. Alice and Nick are still rubbing down the horses.'

Horses?
thought Sky. She has more than one? He moved into the house like a zombie.

Paul Greaves was sitting in the kitchen, reading the paper. He was relaxed and friendly and immediately started chatting to Rosalind while Georgia filled an enormous kettle and put it on the hotplate of a cream Aga. It was a comfortable, untidy room but Sky knew that it meant money. He thought of their kitchen at the flat, where they ate their meals. There was a wooden table and chairs in here too, but he was pretty sure that this house would have a proper dining room as well.

Georgia made six full mugs of real coffee and set out hot cross buns, and, by the time she was done, Alice and Nicholas had come in, smelling slightly of horse and with their hair ruffled and their faces glowing. Sky couldn't have felt less at home. But Alice gave him a beaming smile and he thought again how lovely she was and how lucky he was that she liked him.

‘Did you bring the foils?' asked Nicholas, under his breath.

‘They're still in the car,' said Sky, feeling glad that at least they had turned up in the new Rover and not his granddad's old Fiesta.

‘Good,' said Nicholas. ‘We'll start after coffee.'

‘Start what?' asked Alice. ‘Don't tell me you two are going to spend the holiday fencing?'

‘Fencing?' said Paul. ‘Are you another swordsman, Sky?'

‘Not as good as Nick,' said Sky. ‘But I'm learning.'

‘He's obsessed,' said Rosalind. ‘Every spare moment.'

‘It's a good sport,' said Paul. ‘I wish I could do it. It always looks so glamorous and dashing.'

Alice laughed. ‘You want to be dashing, Dad?'

Now it was Paul's turn to blush a little, and Sky saw where Alice got her looks from. He also noticed his mother looking appreciative, which alarmed him a bit.

‘You know what an old romantic I am,' said Paul, putting his arm round Alice. ‘It comes of being a country solicitor, who lives in the house he was born in,' he explained. ‘I often think how unadventurous my life must seem from the outside, though I do like my job.'

‘And it's a wonderful house,' said Rosalind.

‘Alice tells me you were born round here too,' said Paul, and then the two adults were off on one of those ‘Where-did-you-go-to-school and did-you-know-so-and-so?' conversations that meant the others could escape.

‘You're not really going to start fencing, are you?' asked Alice. She was longing to be alone with Sky.

He felt torn in two. Insecure and lacking in self-confidence all over again, he would have liked to be on his own with Alice, too. But he also needed to talk to Nicholas and Georgia, who were obviously keen to quiz him about what was going on in Giglia.

‘Come on, Nick,' said Georgia, coming to his rescue. ‘Let's give them some space. I'm sure Alice would like to show Sky round.'

‘We do need to get more Stravaganti here,' said Rodolfo, agreeing with Giuditta.

‘Then send messages to Remora, Bellona and all the other city-states,' she said. ‘The brothers in Fortezza, Moresco and Volana could get here quickly too.'

‘There is another way,' said Rodolfo. ‘And one that wouldn't leave all the other cities vulnerable. It is bad enough that Bellezza is undefended.'

‘Wee have been essaying to altir the nature of the talismannes,' said William Dethridge.

‘How?' asked Sulien.

‘You know how they bring Stravaganti from my old world always to one city?' said Luciano. ‘It's a restriction we've been trying to overcome.'

‘So that Celestino could travel to Bellezza, for instance?' asked the friar.

‘Yes, though it's here he'll be needed,' said Rodolfo. ‘But there are two others we could bring here.'

‘Then you have succeeded?' said Giuditta.

‘No,' said Rodolfo. ‘Not yet.' He walked over to the window. He and Luciano had moved into the Embassy, to be closer to Arianna, and he was holding his conference of Stravaganti in one of its elegant reception rooms.

Luciano wondered if his old master had told Arianna about the Grand Duke's marriage plans. He hadn't been able to bring himself to ask; Rodolfo seemed so preoccupied with the safety of his daughter at the weddings.

‘You sense the tensions in the city?' Rodolfo was asking Sulien and Giuditta. ‘I don't think we can depend on the success of our experiments. I think you will have to take two new talismans yourselves.'

Rosalind stayed to lunch at Ivy Court. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she had liked someone as much as she did Paul. And it wasn't just because he was an attractive man. He was warm and friendly and willing to be interested in her and eager to show her round the house and grounds, not because he was showing off but because he loved them.

Lunch turned out to be a scrappy affair of things dug out of the freezer and larder. Sky was the best cook among them, which was not saying much, but they ended up eating a surprisingly satisfying concoction of rice and peas with what Sky said was chilli con carne. It was quite hot and Paul brought up cold beer from the cellar – it was the kind of house that would have a cellar. And his freezer was well-stocked with large tubs of ice cream – apparently a stipulation of Alice's when she was coming to stay.

‘You'll need to get more with four teenagers in the house,' said Alice.

‘I shall order a daily cartload,' said Paul grandly, and Sky felt pleased that he had been so easily accepted as just another friend of Alice's who was going to be around. But he was still reeling from his tour of the house and grounds. OK, it wasn't like a di Chimici residence, but it was still the grandest home he had been in outside Talia.

After lunch, Rosalind reluctantly said she must be getting back to her mother's. ‘What time shall I collect him?' she asked Paul.

‘Oh, don't worry,' said Paul. ‘I'll drop him back whenever you want him.'

‘Thanks. It'll be easier when Sky can drive,' said Rosalind. ‘He's supposed to be having some lessons this holiday, so you mustn't let him spend all his time here.'

‘I could give you some lessons, Sky,' said Paul. ‘There's space for you to pick up the basics in the grounds, without going out on the road. It's an awkward stage, isn't it?' he said to Rosalind. ‘Before they're quite old enough to drive but they're old enough to go out on their own and you end up ferrying them everywhere.'

Rosalind didn't feel quite comfortable agreeing; she knew that made it sound as if she was always doing things for her son, when it was usually the other way round.

‘Now,' said Nicholas to Sky and Alice. ‘If you love-birds are willing to be unstuck, Sky and I could do some fencing.'

Georgia nobly left them to it while she went off to talk to Alice and the two boys were able at last to talk about Giglia.

‘I didn't go last night,' said Sky. ‘And I'm hoping it will work OK stravagating from my nana's. I'll try tonight.'

‘Georgia was able to get to Remora from here,' said Nicholas. ‘What happened the last time you went?'

‘Not a lot,' said Sky. ‘I saw the new Nucci palace. It's huge.'

‘The Nucci?' said Nicholas. ‘They have a place up by Saint-Mary-among-the-Vines, don't they? The one with the tower?'

‘They do. But they're moving to this swanky new one on the other side of the river. I don't think the Duke's too pleased about it.'

‘I bet,' said Nicholas. ‘He thinks swank is his prerogative.'

He was still holding a foil but not making any attempt to fence. He was too thoughtful.

‘How am I going to get there?' he asked. ‘I must be able to see what's going on for myself.'

‘But wouldn't you be recognised?' asked Sky. ‘Even if something could be done about the talismans?'

‘I'll grow a beard!' said Nicholas.

They both laughed. ‘You'd better start now, then,' said Sky. ‘Do you even shave yet?'

‘Just for that, I'm going to whip your ass,' said Nicholas. ‘
En garde!
'