Zola

Zola has made a very bad mistake for a courtesan to make: she's gone and gotten emotionally involved with her man.

Of course, after twenty years, it would be hard not to.

Zola met Antonio at about the time Salvador was being born. Antonio was young, favored by his father, and flush with pride and money. He dallied with several women before he and Zola developed a mutual fascination. Marco was born two years later.

Zola followed Antonio when he went to work for Mondavi as a Lord's Hand, and followed him back to Monfalcone when he became Lord Donati. She was clever and well-organized, administering his affairs and keeping a close eye on his half-brothers, Tomasso in particular. She pressed him to legitimize Marco, but he refused, not wishing to antagonize his half-brothers. For a while, Zola accepted that, since Antonio had not married and neither had Tomasso.

Then the Vestini girls came into the picture. The marriage came as an unwelcome shock to Zola. She was nearing 40; her looks were not once they once were, and certainly weren't up to the job of competing with the Vestini reputation for beauty. If Antonio was growing cold toward her, she would be unlikely to find another protector as good to her.

Not that Zola would necessarily need one; emotionally involved or not, she has put aside enough money to live well enough if Antonio kicked her to the curb tomorrow. In fact, she owns several rental properties that provide her with her own income. The problem is that she is emotionally attached to Antonio and is unwilling to give him up to these new wives without a fight. It doesn't really matter that they don't seem very interested in their new, much-older husband; it's whether Antonio is interested in them that matters to Zola.

Moreover, this seems like a slap in the face to Marco's prospects. Antonio's half-brothers are not going to be any more pleased with a legitimate son from their father's bastard than an illegitimate one; what happened to the "appease the brothers" rationale? Now what is his reason for ignoring their son? Zola smells a rat; she's not sure what's up, but is willing to blame the new wives for at least a good part of it.

Zola finally met the wives. The younger one, the pretty one, was refreshingly up-front. Not too kind, not too cruel, and warned her about her strega sister. Maybe there's some problems between the Senzavista vedova and the first wife? The older, the strega, was trying to talk to her just after Antonio had called her in to say his good-byes. Zola remembers something vaguely about Antonio and sharing him, and honeyed tones that were a little too kind - but her heart was breaking and this little girl clearly didn't understand that Antonio was dying and that none of this mattered anymore, did it? So she wasn't really paying much attention.

When Antonio pulled through after all, she rather wished she had.

Zola and Antonio started having problems not long after that. Angelo's bastard daughter, Pietra, was legitimized and brought into the family. That incensed Zola, who refused to see the difference between legitimizing a third son's daughter and a first son's son. If Pietra could be named Donati, why not Marco? Why not their son? Her incessant nagging got to be too much, and there was a loud, violent row. Literally violent; Zola didn't understand why, but Antonio spectacularly lost his temper and demanded that she drop the subject and stop reminding him about Pietra Donati. Bruised and angry, she retreated to her courtesan house to think about whether or not she'd take him back when he came calling.

The silence was a long one, but when word finally came on Julius 20, she was still uncertain. At the very least, he should come to her. The messenger finally admitted that it was bad news, about Don Marco, and she practically flew to Palazzo Donati.

Right now, she is deeply grieving her son's death and looking for someone to blame for it. Antonio, who let him go on the trip and who didn't stay with her that night, is a likely target.

Zola's most important Sorte strand is her strand to Antonio. The Cups has gone Queen, splitting off a matching Swords strand.