Candle in the Attic Window(56)
The Magus
What a fortuitous fashion in which to begin one’s morning! To comfort my niece, I had feigned great distress at Parisina’s behaviour. Alicia did not know that I was only-too-aware of her stupid passion for young Ugo. As if the heir to the throne of Ferrara would ever use a servant girl for more than a moment’s distraction. I feigned shock and dismay at learning of my mistress’s infidelity – and with her stepson, no less. I cautioned Alicia to say nothing to anyone, lest the guilty couple learn of our intentions to expose their secret. At last, her rage assuaged, my silly niece walked away, head bowed, but no longer weeping.
My heart leapt into flight, like a butterfly exiting its chrysalis. Could this be the tool I needed to extract the miraculous tarocchi from the clutches of its undeserving owner and punish her for her selfishness? Yes! I would make it so.
From that moment on, I began to observe their actions. To my great delight, I was soon able to prove the veracity of my niece’s accusations beyond all doubt.
Despite knowing the need for caution, the lovers were unable to control their illicit passion. I overheard them fix times and places of assignations – assignations that I watched from the shadows. How beautiful they were, these young lovers in passionate embrace, their hands and limbs entwined in desire, bodies like white marble in the candlelight. The aesthete in me was saddened to think that this beauty would be defiled – but it must be so. I would defile the Virgin herself to recover my beautiful tarocchi.
Perhaps I have misled you – allowed you to believe, that my actions were solely motivated by my desire to possess the unique deck I had procured for Parisina? I cannot deny that, from the first moment these cards snuggled into the palm of my hand – as if they had been created to sit – just there, I became determined to make them my own. But what is a courtier to do? My task was to protect and defend the interests and well-being of my Lord and Master. My duty was clear. I must inform Niccolò of his wife’s treachery. First, I would need a way to demonstrate their perfidy beyond all possibility of denial. Their passion, boiling out of control, soon made this possible.
I learned that on those nights when she was not called upon to be with the Marquis, My Lady had become accustomed to spend the hours of darkness with her beloved in her chamber. What bliss they experienced in those hours together.
What terrible frustration the boy suffered on those other nights when his mistress was required to lie in the arms of his rival – her lawful husband – his father. During those times, I watched him pacing the ramparts in turmoil. How I longed to take him into my trustworthy arms and calm his frenzy, to save him from the dreadful fate approaching. Alas, now that I was certain of the terrible truth, there was no alternative but to tell the Marquis.
“What is this evil spewing from your mouth? Are you mad?”
“My Lord.” I was on my knees before a raging Marquis.
“I would that I was. I would gladly take upon myself the agony of madness if it would preserve thee from this terrible betrayal.”
“You are telling me that Parisina – my wife Parisina, mother of my children, is enjoined in incestuous union with that ... with my bastard Ugo!”
“My Lord, I am deeply saddened, but it is so.”
“But she is my wife. How could any woman I have honoured with my favours, especially my wife, entertain thoughts of taking another into her bed?”
“I have no idea, My Lord.” In my mind, I compared his blotched, heavy-jowled face with Ugo’s fine skin and lustrous black eyes. “But she is young, as is he. I believe the affair began when they were thrown together in exile last summer in Codigoro.”
“Don’t tell me these things. I will not entertain such foulness in my home.”
I shrugged my shoulders. Lecherous, greedy pig he may have been, but he was my master and he was mortally wounded by these accusations.
“I don’t want to believe this atrocity. Have you proof?”
Nodding my head sadly, I said, “The proof of my own observations. I have seen them in unholy congress.”
“I would also have this proof. Arrange it.”
“As you will, My Lord.” I backed out of the audience chamber.
To this end, I secreted my master and myself in a carved, wooden garderobe in Parisina’s bedchamber. The Marquis had earlier sent word to his wife that he would be away for the evening. I had every confidence that the lovers, believing themselves free for the night, would soon unite before us.
My unhappy confidence was not misplaced. The Marquis, seeing his wife in the arms of his son, burst out of his hiding place. “You whore! Defiler of marriage beds and the good names of good woman. I am sickened by you both.”
Surprised at the moment of coitus, Parisina and Ugo struggled to find blankets and sheets to cover their nakedness.
Turning his attention to Ugo, the Marquis grew more incensed, “You viper in my bosom. You are my son. You would be heir to my kingdom. I loved you!”
“My Lord, Father …,” Ugo tried to say.
“Shut your lying mouth. I will hear no more words from those deceitful lips.” Niccolò turned away from his son. “Guard. Take this bastard to the dungeon. When I have finished with this whore, I shall observe his beheading.”
“Father!” Ugo screamed as he was dragged away.