Gianna sighed. "If that's how you want it, I can't help you." She shot Nana Agata a look. The old woman's fingers released the rosary. She lunged forward and struck me hard across the face.

"Forgive me, my lady. This old servant is petty by nature. You don't beat the dog without checking who its master is. Since you hit me first, it's only fair I return the favor."

Gianna nodded. "Nana raised me from infancy. She is like a mother to me. For your lady to strike her is the same as insulting my elder." She placed one hand over her swollen belly, the gesture automatic, possessive. "She took a slap from your mistress, so now they're even. When the heir returns, we'll call the matter settled."

Nana Agata spat on the ground. The rosary beads around her neck clicked once as her fingers released them. "You were so pleased with yourself a moment ago, weren't you? Humiliating my lady like that. Now you'll kneel and pay your respects, and welcome her into the compound with the honor she's owed. From now on, you'll be sisters, nothing more."

Rosa snarled. "You? You're nothing. How dare you demand our lady kneel to anyone."

A soldier was already moving. His boot caught Rosa square in the chest and sent her sprawling across the pavement. Then he seized my wrist, dragged me in front of Gianna, and shoved me down. "Kneel."

I looked up at him, cold and unblinking. "You forget yourself. What gives you the right to lay a hand on me?"

The words had barely left my mouth when something slammed into the backs of my knees. They buckled, and I crashed onto the stone with a crack that shot white-hot pain through every bone in my body.

The soldier pressed the flat of his weapon against my spine. "Apologize to the lady."

Gianna stood before me. Her shoes were exquisite, Italian leather, each stitch immaculate. They might as well have been a taunt.

Rosa clutched her injured chest and tried to lunge forward, but Gianna's people pinned her down. "Shut your mouth. A servant has no business running it in front of our lady."

Gianna's voice drifted down from above me, soft as silk. "My lady, all you need to do is apologize. I won't hold it against you."

"Or is it that you look down on me? That you think I'm some shameful kept woman not fit to be seen?"

The soldier roared. "I'll count to three. If you haven't put your face to the ground by then, I won't be gentle about it."