sweat that trails along his jawline. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it.”
I sense the other women watching.
“Careful now,” Grazia’s voice tells me. I press the flat of my blade against Silvio’s Adam’s apple. Then I pull away, taking my weapon with me.
“Then go,” I say. “Take your hateful face out of our presence and thank Teresa that you still have your life. And remember, we can find you anywhere.”
Silvio staggers slightly as he bends to retrieve his clothes.
“Oh no you don’t,” Sophia tells him, kicking his shirt under the bed, out of reach. “Those don’t belong to you anymore.”
“What? You …” He starts to protest but then thinks better of it. Holding his hands over his nakedness, he waddles out of the room, cursing under his breath. I slam the door shut behind him, then move to the window, watching as he emerges into the alley below, looking over his shoulder nervously. He’s lucky. The nighttime streets of Venice will likely preserve his modesty. I almost wish we had struck during the day, so that he could be openly mocked in the busy markets. But the cover of night is always best for us.
“All clear?” asks Bella Donna, poking her head around the bedroom door. Grazia beckons her into the room, and we conceal our weapons. Bella Donna rests her hands on her thighs and guffaws. “I was watching through the keyhole. Did you see the size of that belly? I thought he would pop with outrage!”
We pull down our hoods and take off our masks, shaking out our hair. We trust Bella Donna enough to share our faces with her—a rare privilege. It’s good to go back to being Laura, a woman with a face.
“Your performance was the best,” Grazia says to me. “The move with your dagger was very clever—even I thought you were going to run him through.”
I bow my head modestly, but only because I don’t want her to see my face. She can read eyes, that one. And I know what she would see in mine—guilt. These women can’t know how close I came. How my anger almost won.
21
We leave Bella Donna and go to meet the rest of the Segreta, following the best route to avoid the city’s night watchmen. The appointed place is a grain store in a secluded part of Venice, near the northern shore. Four stories high with a peaked roof, it sits beside a canal where supplies can be shipped by boat. I follow the others inside, and my nose picks up the comforting scent of wheat. Burlap sacks, each printed with the supplier’s mark, sit in neat rows along wooden shelves. We pass them and climb the stairs until we arrive at a wooden platform beneath the eaves of the building. Would the merchants of Venice ever guess what secrets their storehouses hide?
The other women are waiting, lit only by the moonlight streaming in from a window in the roof. One person is missing—Paulina. It’s hardly a surprise. I sent a note of condolence to her home, but words are never enough. I wish I could see her and try to offer some true comfort.
Allegreza steps into the center of the circle and turns on her heel, gazing into each of our faces. The success with Silvio fades from my mind, and I remember why we are gathered here—because our city, and my love, is in crisis.
“These are testing times,” Allegreza begins. The other women murmur in agreement. “But the Segreta have been tested before. Aysim put her trust in us, and we have failed her. There is no avoiding that fact.” She pauses, and I can feel the attention of the women linger on me, even if their eyes do not. “Moreover,” continues Allegreza, “her secrets have gone to the grave with her. What worries me more is this: Why did she die when she did? Who else knew that she would be coming?”
I remember Allegreza’s words to me when I visited her at her house. “A traitor in the Segreta.” The others pick up on her meaning too. We each keep our gaze firmly fixed on our leader, not daring to look at each other in case our glances are misconstrued as accusation—or guilt. My cheeks burn nonetheless. Does anyone here believe that I’m the person giving away our secrets?
“I tell you now,” Allegreza continues. “Stay alert at all times. If you see or hear anything—anything!—that is suspicious,