Starling (107 page)

Cass told the courtesans about the Order of the Eternal Rose.
From the very beginning. The stolen bodies. The Palazzo della
Notte. Belladonna. The blood ceremony in the church. Octavia and
the others listened raptly. The crowd in the portego grew. There
were at least ten girls clustered around Cass by the time she ended by
talking about her escape from Palazzo Viaro.
“Cristian.” Flavia’s eyes widened. “I met a Cristian once. There
was something a little odd about him, so I ended the evening early. Is
he a member of this Order you speak of?”
“I’m not sure if he’s an actual member or just a man they pay to do
their bidding,” Cass said. “I injured him, but he’s still alive. He may
be hunting me.”
“You are safe here,” Octavia said. “Currently, no man is being
granted admittance unless one of the girls can vouch for him.”
Cass relaxed slightly.
“I still cannot believe you survived that fire,” Arabella said. “One
of my patrons owns a fabric shop not too far from there. He said the
workshop burned all the way through the night. And that in the
morning, the peasants came out to crawl through the rubble, fetching
bits of unburned glasswork and pulling baubles from the melted
corpses.”
Cass shuddered at the thought of scavengers clawing at Falco’s
body, picking him apart, looking for treasure. She swallowed back a
sob.
“Are you all right?” Arabella asked. “It must be horrible to think
about.”
Cass nodded tightly. She answered a few more questions for Flavia and the others. Mostly they wanted to know how they could protect themselves from this murderous Order. Cass wasn’t certain that
they could.
Slowly, the girls realized the story was over and began to return to
their instruments and their chores. Octavia headed to the back of the
palazzo where she had her office. Cass followed her, slipping inside
the modest room and closing the door behind her.
“What of the charges against Joseph Dubois?” Cass asked.
“They were dropped,” Octavia said. “Insufficient evidence.”
“Insufficient evidence?” Cass knew most of the senators were on
Dubois’s payroll, but still, Giovanni de Fiore was an influential man
himself. Surely, the Doge had at least listened to de Fiore’s claims.
“Indeed,” Octavia said. “Signor Dubois is throwing a party tomorrow night to celebrate.”
Cass had a feeling he was celebrating more than just the charges
being dropped. Now that Belladonna and Piero were dead, Dubois
could keep the Book of the Eternal Rose and find another scientist—
and another girl’s blood—to make the elixir. Her stomach roiled at
the thought of Joseph Dubois living even a day longer than God intended. The fire had destroyed the spiders and whatever equipment Piero used to extract humors and create the elixir, but all of
that information was likely still in the book. Cass had to steal it—
immediately.
“A party, you say?” A party would be an excellent way to gain
access to Palazzo Dubois. All she would have to do was find the secret room Feliciana had hinted about. “May I go?”
Octavia touched Cass’s cheek with the back of her hand. “You’ve
been through quite an ordeal and you feel a bit feverish. Are you sure
going out is the best idea?”