Starling (13 page)

The Conjurer’s Bridge: Cass knew it. A small stone bridge that
crossed a minor canal in the Castello district. Beyond it was Palazzo
Viaro, a large house that had sat empty for a couple of years. And
only a few blocks away, Angelo de Gradi’s workshop. Cass shivered
again.
She made her way out the back of the market and then around to
the Grand Canal, where she stopped so suddenly, she stumbled and
nearly fell.
A group of men carrying swords and clubs stood at the base of the
Rialto Bridge. They were intercepting random passersby as they
flocked home from the market in droves, pulling them from the
crowd and showing them unrolled pieces of vellum. These were not
the Doge’s soldiers, as they weren’t wearing the traditional scarlet
and gold of the palace, but they were clearly some sort of militia
group.
Slowly, Cass inched forward, trying to see what was on the parchment. She caught a glimpse of a drawing, but the ink wavered before
her eyes. Was that . . . a sketch of Luca? She couldn’t tell. Right as she
was about to blend back into the crowd and hurry past the men, she
noticed the crest on one of the men’s sleeves, and she froze. A griffin
wielding a flaming sword. It was the Dubois crest. Perhaps the Doge
and Senate had given Cass and Luca up for dead, but Joseph Dubois
was still looking for them.
And Dubois had a way of getting what he wanted.