Starling

by Fiona Paul

  The spilled box was full of pewter teacups, each one wrapped in plain muslin for protection. Exactly what Cass needed. She grabbed a piece of the rough cloth and used it to smear some of the theriac on Luca’s shoulder. The wound was scabbing over nicely.

  Then she heard a creak from outside the room. Her eyes widened, and she hopped back to her feet. The box that fell from the stack had made an awful racket. Could it have awakened Bortolo in his office down the hall?

  Cass hurried toward the wooden door, berating herself for not locking it as soon as she had returned. She lunged for the dead bolt, but was a second too slow. The door swung inward on its hinges.

  “Man is more willing to believe in imaginary monsters than to accept that his brothers are the monsters who wish him harm.”

  —THE BOOK OF THE ETERNAL ROSE

  three

  Moving quickly to one side of the doorway, Cass positioned herself to ambush whoever had discovered them, if needed. Narissa shuffled into the room, brandishing a heavy iron skillet in her hand. Her brow furrowed when she saw Luca’s supine figure illuminated by the single candle flame.

  “Narissa,” Cass whispered. “It’s only us.”

  Narissa flinched, but she lowered her skillet when she saw Cass. “Grazie a Dio. Signorina Cassandra! You’re alive.”

  “Yes.”

  “I thought you were robbers come to loot the place.” Narissa threw her arms around Cass’s waist and hugged her. “It’s a miracle.”

  Cass tensed in surprise. She had expected Agnese’s handmaid to be furious with her, not to embrace her. The old Narissa would have lectured her on how her impulsive behavior had, literally, killed her aunt. Perhaps grief had softened her, or perhaps seeing Cass alive was almost like regaining a piece of Agnese.

  But Cass couldn’t share in Narissa’s joy. “If it were a miracle, Siena would be alive too. And my aunt.”

  “So you know, then.” Narissa lowered her head. “I don’t know what I shall do. Attending to Signora Querini has been my whole life for almost twenty years now. I can’t imagine starting over elsewhere.”

  “Mi dispiace.” Cass hated how inadequate the words sounded even to her own ears. “I never thought my actions would—”

  “Oh, Signorina. Heavens, no.” Narissa raised one hand to her chest. “You musn’t blame yourself. Your aunt’s condition deteriorated while you were away in Florence. The Lord took her to heaven. It was simply her time.”

  Cass wanted desperately to believe Narissa, but she couldn’t. Agnese had been weak and under a lot of stress. The thought of Cass and Luca dead could easily have been too much for her aunt’s heart. Plus, it was easier to blame herself than to wonder why God had stolen away her aunt when she needed her the most.

  “We are all saddened,” Narissa continued, “but joyful that Signora Querini has found respite from her suffering. I hope her nephew sees fit to keep us employed here, in some capacity.”

  “As do I.” Cass didn’t want to be responsible for any servants being thrown out into the street. She would figure out a way to persuade Agnese’s heir, Matteo, to keep the staff in his employ . . . somehow. “We will speak more of this,” she promised. “And of what is to become of the villa. But right now Luca and I need your help.”

  Narissa looked over at Luca, who appeared to have fallen asleep beneath the wool blanket Cass had snatched from Agnese’s room. “Whatever I can do.”

  “He’s been feverish,” Cass explained. “Are we safe spending the night here?”

  Narissa nodded. “I’d say the two of you ought to go upstairs to your own chambers, but all of the servants are still here, awaiting Signor Querini’s arrival, and unfortunately some of them are quite chatty. They wouldn’t turn you in for money, but they might accidentally let word of your whereabouts slip.”

  Cass nodded. She thought longingly of her room—the soft bed, the gauzy canopy.

  “I took some money from Agnese’s armoire,” she confessed. “Luca and I plan to return to Florence.” She paused. “When we first approached the villa, I thought perhaps the black draperies were for me. Do you know if the Doge’s guards are still searching for us?”

  “If they were, they would have found you before you made it back to the villa,” Narissa said. “There were boats patrolling the shoreline last week, both belonging to the Doge and private watercraft. Citizens, I suppose, looking for a way to make some gold. But they all disappeared a couple of days ago.” Narissa shook her head. “Perhaps they’re afraid to be out after sunset because of the vampires.”

  “Vampires?”

  “You haven’t heard?” Narissa’s gray eyebrows arched in surprise. “The whole town’s gone mad about vampire sightings. Yesterday at the market I heard women gossiping about girls waking up bearing the mark of the undead.”

  The mark of the undead. Cass stroked the side of her neck where she had once borne her own “bite mark.” It had turned out to be needle punctures from where Belladonna’s physician, Piero Basso, had been stealing her blood while she slept. If what Narissa was saying was true, it couldn’t be a coincidence that Venice was suddenly overrun with vampire sightings. Either Angelo de Gradi had returned from Florence and started employing Piero’s techniques or Belladonna herself had come to town. And if Belladonna were here . . .

  Cass and Luca couldn’t go all the way to Florence in search of the Book of the Eternal Rose if there was a chance it might somehow be in Venice.

  Narissa took Cass’s silence for fear. “I wouldn’t panic, Signorina. Just a bunch of daft old biddies and excitable young women, if you ask me. But you’ll be in no danger from vampires, neither here nor in Florence, with Signor da Peraga by your side. Everyone knows the undead prefer single targets.” She patted Cass’s hand. “I’ll let the two of you rest now.” Narissa headed for the door to the storage area, but stopped short halfway across the room. “Signorina Cass,” she said. “Was it you who opened this container?”

  Cass had found the cloth she needed in the smaller box and had never gone back to the open crate. “Yes, why?”

  Narissa held up a handful of something that shimmered in the candlelight. As Cass watched, a waterfall of gold and silver ducats rained from Narissa’s palm back into the crate. Cass raised a hand to her mouth. Peering down into the crate, she realized it was full of not just coins, but also pieces of jewelry. She held up a glimmering emerald ring with wonder. She couldn’t imagine her sensible aunt owning something so decadent and impractical.

  Dropping the emerald, she pawed through the crate. A set of ruby hair combs. A sapphire pendant. A gorgeous carved coral bracelet with pearl accents. This one crate alone contained enough treasure to fix all the crumbling steps and tiles around the villa and buy new furniture. Why had Agnese insisted upon living so modestly if she had wealth like this at her disposal? Could these crates belong to her deceased husband, or another member of the family? Could it be Agnese didn’t even know she was storing such riches down here with the spiderwebs and stagnant water?

  “How is this possible?” Cass whispered to Narissa.

  Narissa cast her eyes around the cavernous room. “Do you suppose there’s more?”

  Cass swallowed back a gasp. It was unthinkable that the entire room could contain such treasure. There had to be at least fifteen additional crates and boxes, as well as a line of worn leather trunks along the far wall of the room. Narissa strode to the nearest trunk and tried to heave open its heavy lid.

  “Locked,” she said. “I’ll search your aunt’s quarters, see if I can find a key.”

  Cass nodded mutely, but inside she was still reeling.

  “It appears someone else also heard you clanging around down here.” Narissa was preparing to slip into the corridor.

  Splendid, Cass thought. More visitors.

  But then Slipper bounded through the doorway, and Cass’s heart threatened to burst out of he
r chest with joy. She forgot all about sleeping as she scooped up the squirmy gray-and-white cat and started covering him with kisses.

  “I’ll leave the three of you alone, then,” Narissa said, her eyes twinkling. She closed the door behind her, and Cass locked it from the inside.

  Slipper kicked his back feet against Cass’s bodice and she let him down to the floor. For the first time since hearing of Agnese’s death, she felt lighter. It wasn’t just the newfound treasure and seeing her cat. It was Narissa too. Cass hadn’t known what Agnese’s handmaid would say to her, but she hadn’t expected her to be welcoming, and helpful.

  And forgiving.

  If only Cass could forgive herself so easily.

  She reclined next to Luca on her set of crates. Slipper hopped up and nuzzled in between the two of them, giving Luca’s cheek a scratchy kiss with his tongue. Then he curled into a ball and fell fast asleep. Cass knew she should sleep too, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the Order and vampires and her parents and how all of it was connected. She couldn’t stop dreaming of the day she and Luca might finally feel free.

  She pushed her makeshift bed next to Luca’s, drawn toward his warmth. As he changed position slightly, he murmured something unintelligible. His eyelids fluttered open, just for a second. “I love you, Cass,” he said. “Always.”

  She smiled weakly. It was so easy for him. She hadn’t told him she loved him since the morning after they had escaped from the Palazzo Ducale. Both of them had been flooded with emotions and full of resolve to take down the Order, but Cass had meant it when she said it.

  At least she thought she had.

  “Love is the heart’s greatest asset and the mind’s most easily exploited weakness.”

  —THE BOOK OF THE ETERNAL ROSE

  four

  The next day, Luca awoke free of fever and feeling stronger. Cass informed him of everything Narissa had told her.

  “Vampire attacks in Venice? Could it be a coincidence?” He stretched his injured shoulder across his chest, massaging his stiff muscles with his other hand.

  “I don’t know, but we should find out more before we go to Florence,” she said. “If Belladonna has come to town, it quite possibly means that she believes the book is here.”

  Luca looked down and noticed Slipper still curled up on the wool blanket. He petted the cat gently. “What do you recommend?” he asked.

  “I suppose we could do like Narissa and eavesdrop at the market,” Cass suggested.

  “What about that workshop you told me about, the one with the symbol for the Order? Perhaps we should go by there and see if there’s any obvious activity.”

  Cass blanched. She had mentioned Angelo de Gradi’s workshop to Luca but had never told him that she had broken in with Falco. He didn’t know about de Gradi’s collection of body parts or how the physician had nearly caught Cass trespassing. He didn’t know the mere mention of the place terrified her. She scooped Slipper into her arms, nestling the cat against her chest. He blinked sleepily and then started to purr.

  “Cassandra,” Luca said. “You’ve gone white as a seabird. I don’t mean for us to go inside. I thought we might watch the building for a bit and see if anyone comes or goes.”

  She nodded, but the thought of it made her breath go taut and her heart slam against her rib cage. The room with the tin basins appeared before her. She could smell the tinge of balsam in the air. She could feel the fabric of her nightgown catching on the broken shutter.

  Angelo de Gradi’s hands reaching out for her.

  “Or I could go alone,” Luca offered. “You could wait here for me.”

  Cass knew they would be in little danger if they were only going to watch the de Gradi workshop from afar, but she never wanted to go anywhere near that horrible place again if she didn’t have to. But how to explain that without divulging that she had been inside, with Falco?

  “What if you go to the workshop and I go to the market,” she suggested, releasing a squirming Slipper to the floor. “Then we can meet back here later and discuss what we’ve found.”

  Luca watched as the cat pounced on a ball of dust. “It’s not safe for you to go wandering around the Rialto by yourself.”

  “Luca, be reasonable. I’ll borrow a servant’s outfit and no one will even notice me. The market is always crowded. I’ll blend in with the masses.”

  He reached out to touch the diamond necklace that hung in the hollow of her throat—a lily. He had given it to her before his arrest. “You’re a little well adorned to be a servant,” he said drily.

  Cass tucked the pendant inside her bodice and chemise so that even the chain was hidden. “All better,” she declared. “Besides, consider this: if anyone is still looking for us, there’s a greater chance we’ll be recognized if we stay together, right? It’ll be safer for us to split up.” She wasn’t sure if this was technically true, but it made a logical kind of sense. The Senate knew she and Luca had escaped as a pair. They would most likely be expecting them to still be together.

  Luca appeared to be thinking it over. “Just the market?” he asked. “You promise you won’t go anywhere else without me?”

  “I promise I won’t do anything foolish,” Cass said. “Between the two of us, perhaps we’ll hear something about Dubois or Belladonna, or if not them, then something about this sudden scourge of vampires. If we don’t, we’ll plan to head to Florence tomorrow.”

  Luca frowned. “I know how strong you are, Cassandra, but I hate the thought of leaving your side even for an instant. Perhaps we’re crazy to fight the Order by ourselves. Perhaps you should remain here and I should take the pages we have to the Senate and ask them to hear my testimony.”

  Cass’s mother had stolen pages from the Book of the Eternal Rose and left them in the Caravello tomb for Cass to find, but they weren’t enough to implicate Dubois or Belladonna. Cass shook her head vehemently. “Don’t be ridiculous. Dubois owns the Senate. They wouldn’t hear your testimony. They’d probably execute you immediately.” Leaning close to Luca, she ran her fingers through his hair and then pressed her lips to his cheek. “I risked the world to get you back.” She thought of Siena and Agnese. “I have lost everything else that matters. I will not lose you too.”

  Luca turned toward her. Cradling her face with one hand, he closed the gap between them until his forehead rested against hers. “I never imagined you . . .”

  “What?” Cass whispered, the soft word melding with Luca’s breath. The sharp smell of the theriac balm tickled her nose. She could see the beginnings of a beard already growing out on his cheeks. “Wouldn’t want you to die?”

  He leaned away so that he could look into her eyes. “That you would look at me as you are, and speak in this manner. Not as if you’d feel responsible if something happened to me, but as if you’d feel . . . lost.”

  Cass felt her heart opening. It was like Luca had put into words something she hadn’t been able to herself. “Without you, I would be lost,” she admitted.

  He tilted her chin upward. Softly, he pressed his lips to hers. Reaching up into her bonnet, he buried one of his hands in her hair. Without breaking the embrace, she yanked the hat from her head. Luca’s grasp tightened on her hair, and pleasure raced through her body.

  He tried to pull her into his lap using only his good arm, but ended up half dragging her across the wooden crate. The medicinal ointments went flying onto the floor, the containers rolling across the wet stones with a clatter.

  Cass pulled back. She wanted to kiss him harder, to melt into his arms. “We need to go,” she said instead, raising one hand to her face to blot the sweat from her cheeks. “Once we have taken down the Order, there will be time for . . . everything else.”

  Luca started to protest, but then they heard the sound of the key in the lock and Narissa slipped into the room with a tray of food. Cass blushed furiously as she finger-combed
her hair. She and Luca laughed nervously.

  “Breakfast. We were just commenting on how hungry we were,” Cass said brightly.

  Narissa surveyed the salves and ointments strewn about on the floor and Cass’s hair hanging free. Her brown eyes narrowed knowingly. “Were you now?” she asked, her voice a bit shrill. “I’ll just leave this food for you and retrieve the tray later.” She hurriedly shuffled across the room and back to the door.

  Cass blushed again. “Thank you, Narissa,” she said.

  When the handmaid closed the door, Cass and Luca both burst into giggles. Luca struggled to hold a straight face. He imitated Narissa’s nasal voice. “Signorina Cassandra,” he said. “You are a wicked and depraved woman, and I should appreciate it if you do not further sully my dusty storage room.”

  Cass laughed aloud. She poked Luca in his chest. “Me, wicked? You tried to attack me. I’m just your victim.”

  “Willing victim?” Luca looked hopefully at her.

  “Well,” Cass said, trying to look extra thoughtful as she positioned the food tray between the two of them. “I suppose there are a few worse ways to spend my time.”

  Luca’s eyes softened. “I love you, Cassandra,” he said, stroking her face gently.

  “And I love you,” she replied, almost without thinking. For once there was no hesitation.

  ~

  It took a bit more cajoling, but Luca reluctantly agreed to Cass’s plan and Narissa found each of them a servant’s uniform. They walked to town and paid a young fisherman to drop them off at the southeast corner of the Rialto. Then they promptly split up—Cass headed for the center of town while Luca headed for the Castello district, to Angelo de Gradi’s workshop.

  Cass knew how to find her way to the market, but she was unaccustomed to wandering the city by herself and found the experience both strange and exhilarating. She couldn’t keep from peering into windows as she passed shops. Pastries, tall feathered hats. Even a full side of beef. She paused in front of an apothecary to examine a strange mix of items—crushed horn of elephant, a tiny twisted tree claiming to have come from the Orient, and a large glass container of leeches. This last made her stomach go slack and quickly quelled her interest in browsing.