Starling (11 page)

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.

She made her way through the narrow streets to the Mercato di
Rialto, where almost all of Venice came to buy food. It was a risk,
going there, but Cass knew if anyone was talking about her and Luca,
or vampires, she could hear about it at the market. She fought the
panic that welled up inside her as she approached the crowded area.
Before Florence, she had come here with Siena and jumped at every
shadow, at every accidental touch. She didn’t have that luxury anymore. If she were going to find the Book of the Eternal Rose and
destroy the Order, she couldn’t go around afraid of everything.

She stopped to read a faded handbill posted outside of the market, wondering if it had anything to do with her or Luca. It didn’t, not
directly, anyway. It was a notice of an execution. Cass quickly
skimmed the words. Two women were to be hanged in the Piazza San
Marco the next day, at noon: Alessia de Fiore, the daughter of a re