The Man With Sapphire Eyes by Larry Mellman

Author:Larry Mellman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: historical/14th century Venice, lit/genre fiction, gay, new adult, interracial, political rulers, political intrigue and plotting, wartime action and adventure, gore, family drama, betrayal
Publisher: NineStar Press, LLC
Published: 2023-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

War

SERENISSIMO, GAUNT AND shaken, shatters protocol and clasps me to his chest. He sprinkles me with tears and kisses me gently on the forehead. “Thank our ever-beneficent Lord in heaven on high for your safety,” he says. “Since that maniac kidnapped you, I’ve been kicking myself in the ass for stupidly thrusting you in harm’s way.”

“You couldn’t have imagined such an outrage, Exalted Serenity. No one could have. What about Donato? And General Giustinian?”

“They’re both safe in Treviso by the grace of our loving God.”

“Do they know I’m back?”

“I dispatched a messenger as soon as I found out.”

He quickly composes himself and herds me into his study where Marino waits impatiently. “Now tell me everything,” Serenissimo says. “And I mean, everything.”

I hit the highlights up to and including our imprisonment in Padua and my escape, only leaving out my detour to rescue Alex, now safely in Abdul’s care.

“You look like you were run over by rampaging bulls,” Serenissimo says, angry and pained at my suffering.

“I jumped forty feet from the parapet of Ezzelino’s tower into the river, and I didn’t go in headfirst.”

“A few bruises, no broken bones…” He crosses himself. “The price of heroism.”

“What did Carrara do to Morosini?”

“Nothing.”

“He didn’t torture him?”

“No, but he certainly rattled his cage. Your escape expedited Morosini’s return. Carrara was shitting himself that he’d have to answer to the pope for your untimely death, so he tossed the other hot potato back in our laps. Morosini recovers at home, though much the worse for wear. They say he looks like a ghost.”

“Speaking of the devil,” Marino says, “he awaits us along with the rest of our nobles.”

We proceed to the Great Council chamber, where I do what I always do for important votes: Keep the nobles honest and tally the results. Of the nobles, 956 show up, with 37 no-shows, duly noted, to be accounted for later.

Giustinian delivers the official account of the outrage in Padua, igniting a shouting match between the warriors and diplomats of the Great Council. Pantaleone Barbo stands to quiet the noise and addresses the nobles.

“A great many speeches have been given here of late,” Barbo says. “Speeches concerning the crimes Lord Francesco Carrara commits daily in his undeclared war and how we should respond. We are Venetian nobles, schooled in the art of government and the practice of diplomacy. So tell me, gentlemen, how is it that even if we had set out to fail, we could not have befouled ourselves so completely? Carrara’s murderers rampage freely on terrafirma because we egregiously neglect our duty. I say to every noble in this room without exception, if you want to end the terror of Francesco Carrara, fill your empty words with noble deeds. We must secure our territory and defend our people, our homes, our sacred churches, our family tables.”

“And our salt,” a second-tier senator shouts, his family major salt dealers. The ensuing laughter breaks the tension of Barbo’s withering condemnation.

“Here’s something worse than stealing our salt,” Barbo says.

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