Was the whole world turning against them, Sophia wondered. Was it the podesta's men? The Monaldeschi?
Francesca put her hands over her face and wept softly for a moment, then continued. "The Tartars and that French cardinal who always came with them. They came with armed men, dozens of them. They were after Rachel."
Rachel!
The horror of it all was like a spear driven through Sophia's breast. She sat down on her bed as the room went black around her.
"Oh, no," she heard herself saying. "Oh, not Rachel!" Fear stopped her heart. She slumped on the bed, her hand pressed to her chest.
"When Cassio tried to stop them, they went mad," said Francesca. "The men-at-arms killed every man in the house, and they raped all the women. Some of us over and over again. And they tore the house apart and stole everything they could carry. What they could not take, they smashed. And all the while they kept laughing, Madama. They kept laughing."
Sophia felt bile burning in her throat. If she had to hear any more horrors, she was going to vomit.
Tilia sat looking stunned, shaking her head from side to side.
"What happened to Rachel?" Sophia managed to choke out.
"She tried to run away. She got out of the house. The white-haired Tartar, the one who beds with her, chased her. He must have caught her, because I heard the cardinal shouting that they had found the one they came for and they must get on the road or they would be fighting the Sienese."