Inheritance of power

Ever-loyal Maddalena, a diminutive, blue-eyed, black slave, has borne Cosimo de Medici a son and seen him rise to the position of cardinal.

Now, late in life, she finds herself committed to a convent, as part of a scheme to protect the Medici Bank from ruin by Cosimo's sons, by hiding a fortune in gold for Cosimo's grandson, Lorenzo, to inherit.

But as the months go by, and the gold does not appear, her faith in Cosimo begins to wane and with it, her confidence in her own worth. Has she been duped?