The Wind Dancer by Iris Johansen Read Free Book Online Page B

long as I own you?"
    "Yes."
    A crooked smile touched his lips. "Seventy-five ducats. So that's the price for the
purchase of a soul these days."
    She was bewildered. "What?"
    "Never mind." He shifted his gaze from her face to the piazza a short distance away.
"You shall have your seventy-five ducats."
    Sanchia felt dizzy with relief. "Now?"
    "Why not?" He nodded at a slim, elegant man seated at table beneath the arcade. "I'm
sure my friend Lorenzo will be overjoyed to go with you to settle your flock in their new
havens. He has such a sweet nature."
    Sanchia's eyes widened. "You're jesting." She was sure there was nothing sweet about the
man sitting at the table gazing down at the open book on the table in front of him. Neither
a sweet temperament nor good looks, she thought as she stared at him. His dark brown
hair was frosted with silver at the temples, his nose was too long and his complexion
swarthy. The hollowed planes of his face and his deepset eyes reminded her vaguely of
Fra Savonarola, who had been burned in the Piazza della Signoria when she was a child.
Then he suddenly glanced up and Sanchia tensed. The man's gray eyes did not burn with
a fanatical fervor as had the monk's but were as remote from human emotion as the stars
on a winter night.
    He closed the book and, as they approached, his gaze ran over Sanchia in cool appraisal.
"She's younger than I thought. Will she be adequate?"
    "She'd better be." Lion grimaced. "She's becoming a very expensive acquisition. If we
don't get out of Florence soon, I may have to sell Mandara to pay for her."
    Lorenzo stood up and bowed mockingly. "Lorenzo Vasaro, at your service, Madonna
Sanchia."
    A hint of mischief crossed Lion's face. "As a matter of fact, there is a service you can do
her. How kind of you to offer."
    "There they are." Sanchia had spied Elizabet, Bartolomeo, and Piero across the piazza.
"I'll go get them and explain... " Her words trailed away as she started off at a run toward
the children.
    Lorenzo's gaze followed Sanchia across the wide piazza. She reached the children and
began speaking quickly and with great urgency. "You haven't, by any chance, bought
those other waifs, too?"
    "Not exactly. But it appears our Sanchia has a very motherly nature and wishes to get her
brood settled before she leaves the city. Go with her and spend what you need to make
sure the children are safe." He frowned. "And get her something to eat. She looks half
starved."
    "
Our
Sanchia?"
    Lion shrugged. "My Sanchia, then. It seems reasonable to set her mind at rest before
taking her to Solinari."
    "Very reasonable," Lorenzo said solemnly. "I can see that you'd never want your slave to
suffer the distresses of worry."
    "You find it amusing?" Lion asked. "Gold doesn't always buy what we want, and I need
her loyalty."
    "And you think settling these three children will purchase what you want from her?"
    Lion's gaze flew to Sanchia. She was kneeling on the flagstones beside the smallest child,
speaking persuasively, her features illuminated with such a loving radiance that Lion
found himself unable to look away from her. "Yes," he said slowly. "This will buy me
what I want."
     

Chapter Three.
    Where are you taking me?" Sanchia asked as she hurried to keep up with Lorenzo's long
strides.
    "The casaof Giulia Marzo," Lorenzo answered. "We're staying there while we're in
Florence."
    "I've heard of her. She's a famous courtesan and has many rich lovers. Is my lord Andreas
rich? I guess he must be or he wouldn't have been able to pay so much for me. He
mentioned a place called Mandara. Is that where we're going when we leave Florence?
I've never been away from Florence since we came here when I was three. That's when I
was sold to Giovanni and--"
    "Enough!" Lorenzo sighed. "Don't you ever stop talking? You've chattered unceasingly
since we left the baker's house."
    "I always talk when I'm frightened." Sanchia smiled tremulously. "And I'm very
frightened right now. I feel... strange."
    "You