A Miracle of Love Page 10

  “I doubt if locks will prevent them from breaking in and stealing it. I suggest you take less on board in future.”

  The Captain laughed.

  “I have put up with them on two other trips, but this has been easily the worst.”

  They were now moving into the harbour.

  “I and my sister will stay below, Captain, until after they have disembarked. Then I hope for a good breakfast.”

  “I will see to it, sir, and I agree you should remain in your cabins until the ruffians have departed.”

  The Captain smiled as he left him and went below.

  The Prince knocked on Sacia’s cabin door.

  When she asked a little nervously, “who is it?”, he turned the key and walked in.

  “You will be glad to hear, Sacia, our unwelcome guests are disembarking immediately. Then we go on to Ostia, the Port for Rome.”

  When he had entered the cabin, Sacia was sitting on her bunk gazing out of the porthole.

  She was wearing the dress she had bought from the housekeeper and he thought she was looking entrancingly pretty.

  “We will have breakfast together as soon as they have gone.”

  “That will be lovely,” Sacia smiled.

  Even as she spoke they were both aware that the ship was moving into the harbour.

  There was the noise of chattering and shouts from above and this meant that the youths were awake and were signalling their arrival in their usual noisy manner.

  The Prince sat down on the bunk.

  “Tonight at least, Sacia, you will be able to sleep without being afraid.”

  “But also without anyone like you to protect me.”

  “You will not need it in Rome. I am sure there will always be someone to look after you there.”

  “But not in the same way as you have done,” Sacia persisted. “And it is something I will never forget.”

  “I will not forget it too – ”

  Their eyes met and for a moment it was impossible for either of them to move.

  Then, almost harshly, because he was afraid of his own feelings, the Prince stood up and walked across the cabin.

  “I am going up above,” he said, “to see what is happening. You are to stay here until I come back.”

  He did not look back and Sacia watched him until the door closed and she heard him turn the key in the lock.

  ‘I just don’t want to leave him, God,’ she prayed. ‘Please provide some reason for us to stay together a little longer and I will be so happy. I feel sure I can make him happy too.’

  As she finished praying she was very close to tears.

  She put her hands over her eyes, knowing that she must not cry in front of Nico.

  She must be brave until he had finally left her.

  He seemed to be away a long time, but it was only because some of the youths were still suffering from the effects of too much drink. They were so unsteady when they were finally woken up that their friends had to carry them off the ship.

  Only as the last of them struggled ashore did the Captain quickly sail out of the harbour.

  The Prince, who had been standing near the bridge, went below to join Sacia again.

  She jumped to her feet as soon as he appeared.

  “Have they all gone?” she asked him breathlessly.

  “Every one of them. Now I hope they will give us something substantial to eat because I am really hungry.”

  ”I doubt if it will be very exciting. But I will be content with a cup of good strong coffee.”

  “We have had every kind of food since we set out on our adventure,” added the Prince, “and it will not be hard to remember the good as there has been so little of it!”

  Sacia laughed.

  “Like everything else, it was not exactly what we expected, but that is what makes an adventure different from all one does every day and every night.”

  “You always give me the right answer, Sacia, and I cannot imagine what it will be like when we are apart.”

  “I was just thinking the same,” Sacia said in a low voice.

  She thought, as he did not answer, that he had not heard her and she told herself she must be very careful not to reveal how much she minded losing him.

  It was only a short way from Civitavecchia to the Port of Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber.

  There was just enough time to eat their breakfast and then they disembarked and the Prince hired a carriage to take them the thirteen miles to Rome.

  Sacia prevented herself from telling him how sad she was that their adventures were now at an end.

  ‘He has no idea who I am and yet the only way he would expect me to behave is like a lady,’ she told herself. ‘Like those who were taken to the guillotine, I must hold my head high and not show that I am both apprehensive and miserable at losing him.’

  *

  As they approached Rome, the Prince was aware in the distance of many familiar sights – the Seven Hills, the many bridges, the domes, the towers and the beauty of the Eternal City that had always delighted him ever since he was a child.

  He sensed that Sacia was feeling the same.

  As they drew nearer to the Ponte Palatino, he took her hand in his.

  “You must promise me, Sacia, that you will look after yourself when I leave you and if you are in trouble, I feel somehow as if I will hear your cry to me.”

  He felt Sacia’s fingers tremble and went on,

  “In some mysterious way, perhaps by the kindness of Aphrodite, I will sense what you are feeling and come instantly to your rescue.”

  “Do you really believe that?” Sacia asked him.

  “Of course I do. I saved your life in the first place by a miracle and everything that has happened since we have been together has made it clear that we feel the same and think the same. Therefore if ever you need me again, I will come at once and save you.”

  He was speaking with a deep sincerity she could not doubt.

  It flashed through her mind it would be so much easier if they did not have to part, but she knew it was something she must not say.

  “I feel – sure,” she said a little unsteadily, “I will be safe with my teacher. But, as you say, perhaps in the same way as you saved my life once – you will save me again.”

  The Prince smiled at her.

  “You are very beautiful. You must remember that beautiful women are always in danger from men.”

  Sacia thought of the young ruffians who had been breaking up the ship last night and shivered.

  “Forget them! But if you go on that sort of ship again, make certain you are chaperoned and be very careful always to lock yourself in your cabin.”

  “I will do it because you have told me to, Nico.”

  “Now how far is your teacher’s house from here?” he asked. “As it is a lovely warm day, I would rather like to stretch my legs.”

  “We can easily walk. I know exactly where it is from here. If we go along the river, it is always interesting in the morning to see the barges filled with goods and I love crossing the bridges.”

  “What woman could resist the shops on them,” the Prince added teasingly.

  “I will need to visit plenty of shops if I am to stay in Rome.”

  “I feel sure and I did not have a chance of giving you anything except that one dress from the housekeeper. I assure you that if I had seen any dress shops on our way, I would at least have bought you a nightgown.”

  Sacia looked at him and then she realised he must have noticed last night that she had been sleeping in her petticoat as she had done ever since she ran away.

  She blushed and it made her look even lovelier than ever.

  With a brave gesture she replied,

  “You are fortunate to be rid of me before I have to buy myself not just nightgowns but a whole new wardrobe. In fact I will have to work hard to pay back my teacher.”

  “Supposing she will not have you?”

  It had not occurred to him before and he rea
lised that the possibility had not occurred to Sacia either.

  “I never thought of it,” she said. “She may already have an assistant and will not need another one. Although I think she was fond of me, I was just her pupil and she was paid for teaching me.”

  She was obviously upset by the suggestion and the Prince added quickly,

  “I tell you what we will do. As you don’t want to tell her that you have been with me, I will not come in with you.”

  Sacia nodded as she thought this was sensible.

  “Instead I will wait in the road outside,” the Prince continued. “If your teacher says she does not want you or it is impossible for her to hide you, then you must come back to me and we will start all over again.”

  “Do you really mean that, Nico? I know I am being a nuisance and a burden which I hate to be. It was very stupid of me to be so certain that she would welcome me.”

  “There has been no harm done. After all we had to make for this part of Italy, because there was no possibility of going elsewhere. If we continue our journey together, that is just fate and we must accept it.”

  “We cannot go on running for ever,” she sighed, “but I would be overwhelmingly grateful if you could find me somewhere safe – before you leave me.”

  She stumbled over the last words.

  Once again when their eyes met it was difficult to look away.

  “Now come along, Sacia. We are talking too much and doing too little.”

  The Prince paid off the carriage and they started to walk up the road and he noticed that Sacia was deliberately not hurrying.

  He wondered if he should ask her to stay with him a little longer and they might have a really good luncheon in one of the restaurants he remembered only too well.

  Then he told himself it would be dangerous.

  It was likely that someone would recognise him and apart from friends, there were several of his relatives who lived just outside the City.

  They would of course often be shopping or visiting friends in Rome itself, but he thought it was unlikely they would be about this early in the morning.

  He would be wise, however, when he had deposited Sacia with her teacher to return to Ostia and board one of the many vessels that were always loading or unloading at the mouth of the Tiber.

  If he decided to stay away for longer and give Ruta more time to announce his marriage to Princess Marziale, he could visit Greece, which he had always loved and then, if he still had no desire to return home, he could move across the Mediterranean to Alexandria.

  ‘The world is my oyster,’ he thought to himself. ‘Why should I be compelled to go home until I am ready to do so?’

  “You are feeling defiant,” Sacia said unexpectedly. “Why?”

  “Are you reading my thoughts again or are you just instinctively conscious that is what I am feeling?”

  “I think it is a mixture of both, Nico, but I do know what you are feeling. You are still rebelling at fate, as you were when we first met, or whatever is threatening you.”

  “I was indeed being threatened when I ran away,” he admitted, “and the same was happening to you. That is why we have been so happy together and found an affinity that others would not have had.”

  “Of course that is the reason. That is why I am even more determined not to be forced into marriage.”

  “I am saying the same thing to myself. I only hope I will be strong enough, as you have been, to fight off those who have very different ideas as to what we should do and what is our duty.”

  He spoke the last words almost as if he spat them out and then Sacia added softly,

  “I know you are so strong and so brave that no one could ever make you do anything you don’t want to do. We must pray and pray very hard that what you need and what you are seeking is yours when you most desire it.”

  “I wonder if that is possible in this world. It is the happy ending that only ever happens in books or in Heaven which, at the moment, you and I do not inhabit!”

  “But we can go on hoping, and, as I have already said, praying that we will both find all we seek.”

  The Prince smiled and then they realised there were more pedestrians on the pavement and it was difficult to talk and move forward at the same time.

  He was still carrying his bag in one hand and with the other he guided Sacia through the throng of people as best he could although impeded by his bag.

  They swore as he bumped into them and not always under their breath.

  “We cross the river here,” Sacia told him.

  They walked onto the Ponte Sisto and she could not resist stopping at some of the shops.

  There was one which sold the most beautiful coral jewellery and the Prince longed to go in and buy her some.

  He thought that the pink against her skin would be lovely, but he felt it would be wrong as they were parting.

  Anyway there was no point in making a further tie between them now that they were about to separate.

  “You can see how beautiful the coral is,” Sacia was saying, “when it is polished and made into jewellery. I have stopped at this shop before and I am sure you have noticed in another one they sell antique jewels.”

  She gave a little laugh.

  “I have sometimes thought if one buys and wears old jewellery one might absorb its history which perhaps could have been violent.”

  The Prince grimaced.

  “I think we have had enough of that to last us for a lifetime.”

  “I believe you will always be involved in fighting for what is good against what is bad, Nico. If you were a King, you would defend your country against the enemy even if you died doing so.”

  The Prince thought that once again she was being clairvoyant. She was perhaps seeing him fight for Vienz to keep it independent.

  “Actually,” Sacia continued, “that will not happen to you. I have a feeling, although I may be wrong, that you are very powerful. You will always have people following you because you fight for what is just and right.”

  “I cannot imagine why you are thinking that at this particular moment, Sacia, and actually I have no wish, now you are leaving me, to fight anyone.”

  “It is just that I was seeing you almost as if I was looking into a crystal,” Sacia replied in a dreamy voice. “But, as I have said, you will not die, but you will help a great many people as you have helped me.”

  Again she was speaking almost as if she was in a clairvoyant trance and because it made him uncomfortable he tried to change the subject,

  “I only hope that the food is better and the beds are softer than we have endured on this trip.”

  Sacia laughed as he meant her to do.

  “I cannot see it happening and if you are a soldier, as I believe you are, you may have to sleep on the hard ground.”

  “Now you are scaring me,” the Prince protested. “And where do we go from here.”

  He saw the sudden sadness in Sacia’s eyes and he felt as he had before that he was being cruel in leaving her.

  Yet how could they go on for ever wandering over the world?

  He wanted, more than he had ever wanted anything in his whole life, to kiss her – to hold her close against him and tell her he loved her.

  He now knew that he loved her with all his heart and soul, but it was hopeless for him to say so.

  How could he marry a girl who had run away from home? Someone he knew absolutely nothing about except that she was extremely beautiful and utterly adorable.

  Sacia was walking beside him as they moved off the bridge and onto the road on the other side of the river.

  She had ceased to talk and was no longer looking at him, but he recognised, as he now knew her every different mood, that she was upset and distressed.

  He longed to comfort her.

  Yet he could only do so by saying they could stay together, that they could go on adventuring and would still remain anonymous not only to the world but to each other.

  How could he sa
y it?

  And just how could he more or less take her into his possession without offering her marriage?

  Because he loved her so much he would not offer her anything else.

  He would not be a man if he had not thought of it a million times.

  Yet because she was obviously a lady and because he would not treat her as if she was just a cocotte, he had protected her against other men and indeed himself.

  ‘It has been a dream that can never come true,’ he thought as they turned off the bridge into a wide road.

  They only went a short way when Sacia paused.

  “This is where my teacher lives. Her house is only halfway down this road.”

  She now walked a little slower and he knew it was because she was fighting against the moment when they were forced to say goodbye.

  They would never see each other again.

  “Now what I will do,” the Prince insisted, “is stand in the doorway of one of these houses. This one looks as if it is empty and I will stay here while you see your teacher. If she agrees to have you, then I will go away. If not, you can come back and join me.”

  They had now stopped walking.

  A hired carriage passed, otherwise there appeared to be no one on the street.

  “Must – we really – say goodbye?” Sacia asked.

  Her voice broke on the words.

  “I am afraid so,” the Prince answered. “All good things have to come to an end and this adventure of yours and mine has been wonderful and very precious to me.”

  “And very precious to me too,” sighed Sacia.

  They looked at each other.

  The Prince made no movement to touch her.

  He felt if he did so, it would be difficult to control himself.

  For a moment there were no words.

  Neither of them could say what they were feeling or what they were thinking.

  Then with what the Prince sensed was an almost superhuman effort, Sacia turned round.

  She knew there was nothing she could say and the words would now be completely ineffectual anyway.

  She stepped from the doorway of the empty house and walked slowly towards her teacher’s house.

  The Prince’s eyes followed her.

  Suddenly he saw her stop abruptly.

  He wondered why.

  Then he saw ahead down the road the hired carriage that had passed them had stopped at one of the houses.