Act II. The scene is a circular terrace on the high castle walls. A

single staircase leads up to the battlements. It is afternoon. The sky is covered with changing, fleeting clouds. Trumpet blasts are heard from the valley. From the left comes _Manfredo_ with his arms around _Fiora_. He pleads with her for her love. As a last boon before he departs he asks her that she will mount the stairway and, as he departs down the valley, wave to him with her scarf. Sincerely moved to pity by his plea, a request so simple and yet seemingly meaning so much to him, she promises that this shall be done. He bids her farewell, kisses her, and rushes off to lead his men back to the siege.

_Fiora_ tries to shake off the sensation of her husband's embrace. She ascends to the battlemented wall. A handmaid brings her an inlaid casket, from which she draws forth a long white scarf. The orchestra graphically depicts the departure of _Manfredo_ at the head of his cavalcade.

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_Fiora_ sees the horsemen disappear in the valley. As she waves the veil, her hand drops wearily each time. _Avito_ comes. He tells her it is to say farewell. At first, still touched by the pity which she has felt for her husband, _Fiora_ restrains her passionate longing for her lover, once or twice waves the scarf, tries to do so again, lets her arms drop, her head droop, then, coming down the steps, falls into his arms open to receive her, and they kiss each other as if dying of love. "Come tremi, diletto" (How thou art trembling, beloved!) whispers Fiora.

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"Guarda in sù! Siamo in cielo!" (Look up! We are in heaven!) responds _Avito_.

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But the avenger is nigh. He is old, he is blind, but he knows. _Avito_ is about to throw himself upon him with his drawn dagger, but is stopped by a gesture from _Flaminio_, who has followed the king. _Avito_ goes. But _Archibaldo_ has heard his footsteps. The king orders _Flaminio_ to leave him with _Fiora_. _Flaminio_ bids him listen to the sound of horses' hoofs in the valley. _Manfredo_ is returning. _Fiora_ senses that her husband has suddenly missed the waving of the scarf. _Archibaldo_ orders _Flaminio_ to go meet the prince.

The old king bluntly accuses _Fiora_ of having been with her lover. Cowering on a stone bench that runs around the wall, she denies it. _Archibaldo_ seizes her. Rearing like a serpent, _Fiora_, losing all fear, in the almost certainty of death at the hands of the powerful old man, who holds her, boldly vaunts her lover to him. _Archibaldo_ demands his name, that he and his son may be avenged upon him. She refuses to divulge it. He seizes her by the throat, again demands the name, and when she again refuses to betray her lover, throttles her to death. _Manfredo_ arrives. Briefly the old man tells him of _Fiora's_ guilt. Yet _Manfredo_ cannot hate her. He is moved to pity by the great love of which her heart was capable, though it was not for him. He goes out slowly, while _Archibaldo_ hoists the slender body of the dead woman across his chest, and follows him.