Page 44 of The Unraveling of Julia

“Yes, stabbed to death.”

No!Julia flashed on Mike, falling to the sidewalk.

Gianluca paused, eyeing her. “What? Have I said the wrong thing?”

“No, it’s okay.” Julia was surprised he noticed, then decided to explain. “Well, my husband Mike was murdered. I was mugged, and he died protecting me.”

“My God.” Gianluca recoiled, grimacing. “I’m so sorry, I assumed it was natural causes. Please forgive me.”

“No apology’s necessary,” Julia rushed to say.

“That must’ve been horrifying.” Gianluca’s dark gaze searched her face, his expression undisguised empathy, which touched her.

“Thanks, but please, finish what you were saying about Caterina.” Julia didn’t want totrauma-dump, a term her therapist used, but she didn’t understand how that was different from confiding in someone.

“Okay.” Gianluca nodded, cautiously. “Caterina ruled alone after Riario’s death, and this castle was designed by her and built to herspecifications. She was truly ahead of her time. She once said, ‘If I must lose because I am a woman, I want to lose like a man.’” Gianluca paused. “But she was also a mother and had a domestic side that’s embodied in this castle. You’ll see what I mean when we get to the top. That vantage point lets you see the part of the castle that was the most special to her.”

“Let’s go,” Julia said, on impulse. “We can start there and work our way down.”

“Good idea.” Gianluca turned around in the dim room, but there was more than one exit. “I forget how to get to the top. You’d think they’d have signage.”

“I think it’s this way.” Julia followed a hunch and ended up leading Gianluca through an archway and down a cavernous hall.

“How do you know where you’re going?” Gianluca looked over, puzzled. “I’ve been here twice and couldn’t have told you which archway to take.”

“I’m guessing.” Julia didn’t understand it herself.

“You have an excellent sense of direction.”

“Maybe,” Julia said, but she didn’t. She led Gianluca down another hallway, then the route became obvious and they walked together from room to room. Each one was bare and dim, with tiny windows in thick walls and a brick floor. Their footsteps echoed on the hollow stone, and there were no other tourists at all.

They turned the corner, and Julia came face-to-face with a fresco of the Sforza coat of arms, which had the same blue vipers and black dragons as the one on the ceiling over Rossi’s bed. She shuddered. “You see this, the Sforza coat of arms? There’s one in my bedroom in the villa.”

Gianluca’s eyes rounded. “Are you serious?”

“Yep, a fresco of the Sforza family tree, starting with Caterina’s mother and her father. Rossi, who might be my grandmother, commissioned it.”

“So she really believed it. And if she’s your grandmother, you’re a Sforza, too.”

“Weird, huh?”

“No,awesome.” Gianluca grinned. “I love Italian history, and youareItalian history.”

Julia laughed, which she hadn’t in a long time.

“You know, Rossi could very well have been a Sforza.” Gianluca’s eyes flashed with interest behind his glasses. “Caterina was illegitimate and she also gave birth to illegitimate children, in secret.”

“She did?”

“Yes, after the death of her husband, she fell in love with Giacomo Feo. His brother Tomasso was the castellan here, which is like the manager.” Gianluca warmed to his topic as they resumed walking down the hall. “Caterina and Giacomo had children together and eventually married, declaring their children legitimate much later. Caterina hid her pregnancies from the Forlivese because she would have lost her right to rule. She eventually found true love with a Medici, who was her soul mate. He loved books as much as she did.” Gianluca smiled. “Obviously, her love of books speaks to me.”

Me, too.“So Rossi’s claim that she was a Sforza could be true?”

“Yes, for sure. Children born outside of a marriage couldn’t be claimed because of the influence of the Church. Births were recorded under new names or went unrecorded.”

Julia remembered that Lombardi had said the same thing, back in Milan.

“It’s because there were so many illegitimate births in those days.”

---