Starling (109 page)

tion as the equations turned to ash. Then she returned to her bed, lay
down, and looked up at the ceiling. A sense of calmness moved
through her, as if she had fixed one tiny piece of her broken world.

She stayed there, embracing the peaceful feeling, until a gentle
rapping on her door disturbed her from her reverie.
“Capricia.” It was Flavia’s voice. “You have a visitor.”
Luca. He had heard about the fire and come looking for her, discovered her location somehow. Cass needed it to be him, even though
she knew it was next to impossible. She hadn’t seen him in over a
week, and he had no way of finding her.
Sliding out of bed, Cass considered her reflection in the dressing
table mirror. Her hair was a mess of tangles, her face scratched from
where she had fallen to the cobblestones during the fire.
“A minute,” she said. “I’ll be right down.” She quickly twisted all
of her hair into a bun and dabbed a bit of rosewater behind her ears.
Luca’s face occupied her mind now, and filled her heart with
hope. Thoughts of him had kept her alive when she was imprisoned.
Thoughts of him had given her strength to outwit his half brother
Cristian. Luca made her better. Stronger. Cass liked the person Luca
believed she could be. She wanted to be that person for him, and for
herself as well. Once she turned over the Book of the Eternal Rose to
the authorities, perhaps the Senate would be so grateful that she and
Luca could be pardoned for their crimes.
She glanced up at her reflection once more. The girl who looked
back at her was fierce. Determined. She knew what she wanted.

aximus,” Cass said. “So lovely to see you.” She
hoped the disappointment wasn’t evident by her
expression.

“And you, as well. I was delighted to hear
you had returned, unscathed, to Palazzo Dolce. When Octavia told
me of your disappearance, I feared the worst.” He bowed and then
cast a quick glance around the portego. It was empty. “But this isn’t a
social visit, I’m afraid. There’s something I need to show you.”

“It’d be better if you saw it in person.” He tossed his dark cloak
back from his shoulders and held out a gloved hand.
“A moment,” Cass said. “I need to disguise myself.”
“It’s all right,” Maximus said. “Where we are going, there is no
one you will need to hide from.”
Cass wondered where the conjurer was taking her. Danger seemed
to follow her everywhere she went. “I’ll just get my cloak then.” She
headed back upstairs to her room. As she slipped the loose garment
around her, she heard Flavia reading to herself from across the hall.

“Are you certain you can trust him?” Flavia asked. She sat at her
dressing table, a copy of
The Odyssey
open before her.
It was a fair question. Cass didn’t really know Maximus that well,
but he had found her a place to stay at Palazzo Dolce and had given
her a weapon with which to protect herself. He had never been anything but kind to her. If she couldn’t trust him, then whom could she
trust?
“Is there a reason why I shouldn’t?”
Flavia shook her head quickly. “He seems very kind. I just don’t
want anything else bad to happen to you.” She laid her chin down on
the pages of her book as if exhausted, then turned her head to look
up at Cass. “I’m surprised you can trust anyone at all after your ordeal.”
“I trust you.” Cass felt a rush of affection for her new friend.
Flavia smiled. “Always, you can trust me.” She sat back up and
did her best to look stern. “But return by nightfall or I shall send the
wolves after Maximus.”
“Agreed.” Cass bent down to give Flavia a kiss on the cheek.
“We’ll read together tomorrow, I promise.”
She headed down the stairs where Maximus leaned against the
door frame of the portego. He was absentmindedly making a single
gold ducat disappear and reappear as he manipulated it with one
hand.
“How do you do that?” Cass asked. She lifted the hood of her
cloak up over her head to partially obscure her face.
Maximus smiled. “With magic, of course.” He flicked his wrist