Feast Of The Rose Garlands

When the young gentleman saw Hannelore, he didn't bother to remove his hat, which Hanne thought to be very rude of him. The only thing spoiling his young,graceful face and delicate bone structure, was an expression of utter annoyance. Katherine ran through the door behind him, trying in vain to get him to stop, but the boy seemed determined.

"I told him to wait for you downstairs-" Katherine said, exasperated.

"It's ok, Katherine, I'll see to this." Hanne said, placing her soiled hands on her hips and turning back to the boy. Katherine stalked back into the house.

"What seems to be the matter?" Hanne asked, hoping he spoke German, as she spoke little Italian. The boy gave her a puzzled expression and then answered her in perfect German.

"I am Castiel Valten, emissary of Master Botticelli, here to serve your master, Alaric Dusek." He announced, with an air of pretentiousness which Hanne didn't much care for.

"I am Hannelore, your humble servant." she replied and it came out with a hint of sarcasm for she could not believe he had called Alaric her master.

"You're quite young to be the head maid, but Master Dusek does like to surround himself with beautiful things." Castiel said, smirking at the dirty-faced beauty in front of him.

Hanne was so angered by his rudeness, she slapped Castiel very lightly across his right cheek, leaving a sting of pain and a smudge of dirt from the garden.

"I am no servant, I am mistress of this house." Hanne instantly felt horrible for striking the misinformed lad. Even if she had been a servant, his vulgarity was most inappropriate.

Hanne felt even worse when she saw Castiel Valten's expression change from shock to sadness. All of his bravada had faded and what was left was a very devastated young man, very near tears, with dirt marring his perfect face.

"Master Dusek has taken a wife? No one informed me of this. Please forgive me Mistress, I did not know. I am very sorry." His voice held sadness that made Hanne's heart break.

"And I am sorry that I struck you. Are you alright?"

Valten shook his head and said he was fine, save for embarrassed. Hanne had him come into the house where she washed her hands in the basin and then took a wet cloth to Castiel's face,gently wiping away the grime.

"We've both been foolish, shall we just forget about this and start over?" suggested Hanne.

"Please, I'm afraid Master Dusek would be very angry if he found out I'd caused you any trouble." Castiel replied, taking the cup of water Hanne poured for him.

"Then we shall never speak of it again. I am mostly at fault for not saying my last name and not having my head covered properly." Hanne said, smiling at the young man. She couldn't help but stare at him when he wasn't looking at her, she had never seen such a graceful man before. He was completely masculine in his manner though, strong and decisive in his movement.

"You have some dirt there, on your cheek." Castiel said, taking the cloth from the table to clean her. His slender fingers touched her face accidentally. She felt arousal at his nearness and touch when he let his fingers linger just a moment too long.

"Thank you." she said, clearing her throat. Then Castiel smiled knowingly at her, so she jumped up to get more water.

"I have canvases that need mounting immedietly, that's why I was in such a hurry." he said, absently watching her move around the room.

"My husband has set up easels for them on the fourth floor, in his studio, Katherine will show you to them. Alaric will return from Cologne within a week's time." her back was turned to him as she spoke.

Laughing, Castiel turned to go find the housekeeper, leaving Hanne to try to shake the blush from her pale cheeks.

Supper was on the table, but Hanne and Castiel were dining alone, as Katherine thought it only proper to dine in her small room at the back of the house. The two said nothing for the longest time, until Castiel broke the awkward silence.

"How long have you been married?"

"Four days, today." Hanne answered.

"Congratulations, are the two of you happy?" Hanne thought it was an intrusive question.

"Yes, very. We are in love." said she. Again, the look of sadness was so obvious, even when he tried to smile. Hanne hoped he wasn't the kind of boy who went around falling in love with every pretty girl in town, it would be a painful existence for him. No matter how comely and charming he was, she would not be tempted. Even if she were the kind of wife who was inclined to infidelity, there would be no way to hide such an indiscretion from her husband. Her virginity was as good as a chastity belt.

"Your German is very good." Hanne observed, changing the subject.

"It's because I am German. My parents are artists who moved to Florence before I was born."

"Your mother is an artist also?" Hanne asked with surprise, one rarely heard of a female artist, not a professional anyway.

"Yes, both my parents paint on glass. My father crafted Alaric's version of "Last Supper" on stained glass for St. Mary's Cathedral." Castiel said. He looked somehow younger in the dying sunlight and without his expensive coat and hat.

"Then you come by painting quite naturally."

"I can paint, but I prefer engraving." he replied. Hanne looked at him strangely.

"Will you be assisting Alaric with painting then?" she wondered aloud.

"I will be painting reredos panels for him and also I have been his model."

Hanne knew at once that she had seen him before in Alaric's series of prints depicting a young Jesus Christ. Her father owned the complete set. It was that series which led Hanne to believe her fiancee to be the torrid lover she now knew he was. There was an erotic quality to the way he drew Christ, the viewer was left with difficulty in recognizing the subject as The Messiah. Now Hannelore knew her husband had only accurately portrayed lusty Castiel Vertan.

"You're very young, when will you be a master?" Hanne inquired.

"I'm nineteen, older than I look. I wish to set up shop somewhere in Germany, so I will be a master if Alaric will give his approval of me to the guild." Hannelore was shocked that Castiel was older than she was, he looked no older than her sixteen year old brother, except his demeanor was more worldly. There was no naive look in his eyes.

Hannelore got ready for bed that night, thinking about Alaric who was no doubt sleeping in a crowded inn somewhere. She had grown used to falling asleep with their naked bodies entwined. Even hearing him shuffling about in his studio the floor above their bedroom when he could not sleep was a comfort. Now it was rakish Castiel who inhabited the studio. She could hear him up there, humming a droll minstrel ballad. Figuring she could not sleep for all the racket, Hanne opened a copy of Pliny's Historia Naturalis and began to read. A few pages into her reading, footsteps were on the stairs outside and someone was knocking at the door. It could be only one person.

"Yes." Hanne said, impatiently.

"Sorry to disturb you, but I am out of some colors and wondered if Alaric kept any extra on hand." Castiel's voice came from behind the closed door. Hanne was still wearing her nightgown so she begrudgingly let him enter. His shiny gold hair was tied back and he wore no shirt, only trousers. Each gawked at the other's state of informal dress. Castiel's eyes seemed to focus on Hanne's unbound breasts which pressed against the thin, white cotton gown she wore until she crossed her arms in front of her.

"There are some colors in the chest over there, I don't know which ones, probably crimson and gold those are his favorites." she said.

"I know." he replied, going to open the chest. "Crimson and gold and-what have we here?" he exclaimed, holding a drawing that was quite obviously Hannelore, standing naked with a come hither smile on her face.

"What do you think it is?" She would not let him provoke her to embarrassment. She wasn't ashamed of Alaric's vision of her. She had a feeling young Castiel was the sort of person who thrived on making people feel uneasy.

"I think I might ask this model to come upstairs and pose for me." Castiel said, seductively, moving closer to the edge of the bed where she sat.

"I can love only one man, I am sorry." Hanne replied firmly.

"How is that just when so many men probably love you?" he asked. Hanne burst into fits of giggles, laughing until she had to wipe tears from her eyes. Castiel was laughing too at his miserable failure to seduce the young master's wife.

"I am a cad." he sighed and flopped down next to her on the bed.

"And Alaric told me all of Botticelli's boys were reputable..."

"I'm sure he wasn't thinking Master Botticelli would send me." Castiel told her. It was an odd statement which would occur to her again the moment her husband returned home.

"Why do you feel so compelled to flirt with a married woman?"

"You are beautiful, do you not see?" Castiel had a habit of answering her question with another question, which Hanne couldn't stand.

"I think that you exalt Master Dusek in such a fashion that you wish to be him, to have what is his." Her astute statement clearly stung his pride far worse than the slap she gave him earlier in the day. Castiel jumped up, storming out of the room. He slammed the door behind him without another word to Hanne.

The arduous week which followed, Hanne and Castiel were able to avoid each other nearly all the time. During the day, Hanne went to sit with Margreth or went to the Duseks' to help Alaric's mother,who was very close to delivering her eighteenth child. Castiel worked constantly in the studio, filling in panels that had already been outlined by the master. The two were together only at supper, where they did not speak, even to say "Pass the salt." and went in separate directions when finished.

Despite their silent war, Castiel seemed to invade Hanne's thoughts constantly. More than once she dreamed it was him kissing between her legs, not Alaric. The dreams were often so vivid that Hanne awoke, heart pounding, with underclothes damp from desire. It was bothersome to Hanne that she should be attracted to someone so erratic and seemingly unstable when she was married to man so perfect in every way.

Friday afternoon, Hannelore went to bathe with Fye. When the bath attendant was out of earshot, Fye began to grill her sister-in-law about Castiel Valten.

"You've said nothing of the fair new guest in your house, Hannelore, why is this?"

"Because he is so boorish, he is not worth discussing." Hanne said flatly.

"I would expect such behavior from the bastard son of a count." Fye said flippantly.

"He said his father was an artist." Hannelore exclaimed.

"Oh, he is an artist. An artist with a sizeable trust fund who forsook his arranged marriage to live in sin with a woman of common birth. It caused such a scandal in Basel that the Count and his mistress were forced to move to Italy." Fye loved to gossip and her round face lit up as she told the tale of Castiel's disgraced parents. Hanne should have been apalled, but the story was so romantic, it made her see Castiel in a whole new light. He was the child of a love so powerful that it could not be contained by society's rules. It was no wonder that he provoked such wanton sensations in her, he couldn't help it. Perhaps he deserved her pity rather than her scorn.

Walking home from her bath, Hanne hoped with Alaric's return, her feelings for Castiel would disappear. It had to be loneliness clouding her mind, she thought. The house seemed deserted when she entered through the ground floor front door. Hanne had sent Katherine to help as midwife to Alaric's mother, who had taken to bed with labor pains. Castiel was probably upstairs working or having something to eat at the tavern. She turned to go out to the garden, but saw Alaric's things on the table. Her heart could hardly contain her joy and she decided to creep up the stairs to surprise him. Undoubtedly, he would be in the studio.

Three steps away from the studio door which was open slightly, she could hear Alaric and Castiel speaking heatedly about something. They tried, but failed to speak in hushed voices, for Hanne heard every word.

"Why have you come here?" Alaric demanded.

"Sandro asked me to come here, on what grounds could I refuse when I was on the way back to Germany anyway? There was a time when you would've welcomed me with open arms." The younger man said angrily.

"That was before I was married." There was sadness in the master's voice.

"You knew you were to marry when you left Florence. It changes nothing."

"I did not know I would fall in love with my wife." Alaric replied and his voice faltered as if he was about to cry.

Suddenly things were so very clear to Hanne and she cursed herself for having been so naive. The signs were all there, so painfully obvious. She remembered the look on Castiel's face when she told him she was Alaric's wife and how Alaric had said he had much to atone for.

"So, you are in love with her. I take it she does not know of us." Castiel replied. It sounded as if he was pacing the floor.

"Of course not, she is innocent, it would break her heart." said her husband. Hanne was too shocked to be upset and too intrigued with the great drama unfolding to cry foul. It was like a modern day Greek tragedy in her own house!

"I doubt she is as frail as you think and she is not so innocent, since you have certainly defiled her with that huge thing in your breeches." Castiel said, laughing arrogantly. "Was she in much pain? for I know it pained me greatly the first time. "

"Don't be vulgar." was all Alaric said.

"I am not, your beautiful wife has stolen my heart as well."

"She has refused you, hasn't she?" Alaric was laughing. "Tell me, was it the first time anyone ever dismissed you, my lovely boy?"

"She refused my advances multiple times, her will is certainly stronger than that of her husband." Castiel mocked.

"I cannot be tempted by you again. I must do what is right."

"Did it feel so wrong, the things we did? You told me you would love me forever, is it no longer true?" Castiel asked. The boy asked so many questions, did he never shut up? Hanne thought and nearly laughed.

"I do love you, Cas, but I fear for my soul. You should fear for yours as well."

"I am a bastard, I will never find salvation in the church. But I thought I had found it in your arms." Castiel sobbed and it wrenched Hanne's heart to hear him rejected once again. Castiel, with all his fine clothes and artistic talent, was out of place in his own world. Hanne wanted to comfort Castiel, realizing it was she who stood in the way of his happiness. At the same time, she feared he would take Alaric from her.

"This conversation is over. Help me finish the panels for the emperor's ballroom and you may take your leave of me. I will sign your papers so you can take your guild tests." Alaric said, composing himself.

"As you wish, Master." Castiel's voice was bitterness.

Hannelore hurridly crept back down the steps to their bedroom, closing the door behind her. She didn't know whether to bolt from the house in a panic or to act as if nothing at all had happened. Realistically, even if she had been furious, there was nothing she could do, aside from exposing the two of them to the law. She didn't really think they deserved to go to the gallows for their love affair. In fact, the more she thought about it, trying to picture Alaric and Castiel making love, the more aroused she became. The two were so beautiful, thinking of them so impassioned seemed a very natural thing indeed.

Instead of taking refuge in bed the rest of the day, Hanne went back to the studio to see if either man wanted something to eat. It seemed like the only thing to do. She still couldn't wait to see Alaric, nothing could change that. She knocked on the thick wood of the door and her husband opened it. His solemn expression quickly turned to a smile and he whisked Hanne into his arms. Castiel had his back to them and appeared to be painting something.

"I'm so glad you're home." she said, not above a whisper. The kiss he gave her was worth the wait. Alaric was beginning to grow a beard and she thought it to be most alluring.

"I am glad to be home. The trip went well, I was paid in advance and the cardinal bought three of my watercolors."

"How wonderful. We should celebrate, are you hungry?"

"Starving." Alaric replied. Hanne looked to Castiel, who was only inches away, hanging up some of Alaric's recent watercolors.

"How about you, Castiel?"

He shook his head, looking very tired. "No, thank you, there is much to do."

"Please, if only to make me happy." Hanne smiled and touched his hand gently.

"Very well." he answered, trying to smile back and just managing to look confused.

"We shall wash up and join you in the kitchen." Alaric said. Hanne kissed his cheek and turned to go, but elected to kiss Castiel's cheek also before she went. The gesture was bold and deeply intimate, but she had to do something to help heal the rift between the two men. The boy gave Alaric a startled look over Hanne's shoulder.

"Dont be long, gentlemen." Hanne said and sauntered from the room.

Castiel was mostly quiet throughout the meal Hanne served, but she tried to include him in the conversation as much as he would cooperate. Alaric was in awe of his wife, who seemed to know instinctively that there was tension between the two of them and tried to make everyone happy. The paranoid part of his mind told him she had probably heard his discussion with Castiel, since she arrived so quickly after it had ended. But what sane woman would dine with her husband and his boy? If she knew, she would likely have already taken her dowry and gone to join Willhelm Van Broyen in Antwerp, leaving him to rot in the town dungeon for sodomy, Alaric thought. He drank more of the wine that Hanne seemed to be pushing them to consume.

"Where is Katherine? Not that the food is not delicious." Alaric said.

"I sent her to midwife for your mother, she will be gone all night."

"You were going to spend the night alone?" Alaric balked.

"Castiel would've been here to protect me and now you are home, so I have both of you to take care of me."she said happily.

"That's correct and as you know, Master Dusek, I am a very accomplished swordsman." Castiel added, amusedly.

Alaric nearly choked on his wine and Hanne had to turn her head to keep the two of them from seeing her stifle her laughter.

"Have you decided what you will paint when the Cardinal's portrait is finished?" Hanne asked.

"I'm going to do a woodcut of Adam and Eve, I've begun drawing it, but it lacks a certain quality." Alaric replied.

"Hannelore would make an excellent Eve, dont you think?" Castiel remarked to Alaric.

Alaric looked closely at his youthful apprentice. "I had already thought of that. Now, I need only to find an Adam who is fit to stand beside her."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Alaric's face betrayed the emotions that gnawed at him. He had agreed to allow his virtuous wife to pose nude with Castiel, the man he still loved and desired despite his best intentions.

Hanne had undressed in the bedroom while Castiel waited for them in the studio.

"Adam and Eve were not ashamed, therefore we should not be either."

"When I came home to see that Castiel was our guest, I worried that he might've seduced you."

Hanne put her arms around Alaric's neck and looked up into those deep, intelligent eyes.

"Would you have flown into a murderous rage and killed the both of us if he had seduced me?"