Grand Council are too important to lay their lives on the line. It will be new recruits or loyal soldiers—sons and brothers and young fathers—who will leave families grieving.
Ever since my reunion with Roberto, my mind has been constantly turning over. Even if Halim were to discover that he’s in Venice, it would not avert the battle. He would accuse us of giving him shelter and seek retribution before we had time to reveal his lies. It’s clear that our visiting prince doesn’t set much store by honor. He’s determined this war will go ahead, whatever the stakes. Venice is too great a prize, and Carina’s meddling has played right into his hands.
My thoughts are interrupted by a polite cough from the doorway.
“There’s a visitor with a message for the lady of the house,” a manservant says, looking at me. He appears to be nervous.
“Show him in, show him in!” cries my father. “Pour him a glass.”
“Are you sure?” the servant begins to say, but Father slams a fist on the table, making the crystal decanter shudder.
“Do as I say!”
The servant’s nerves have made my own senses heighten. I hear stately steps. Then Father gasps and pushes his chair back. I lift a napkin to hide my smile.
Bella Donna hasn’t even bothered to discard the yellow scarf that marks her as a prostitute. Her hair has been curled around her face, and she wears a low-cut maroon bodice embroidered with gold thread, the sleeves slashed so that clouds of white linen poke through. She sports no gold or pearls, but there is heavy rouge on her cheeks and she carries a gaudy peacock feather fan in one hand. A black veil spills from the crown of her head, but does nothing to cover her chest or arms, and she moves towards us on high-platformed shoes. She does her best to ignore Father’s shocked expression, and her best is very good.
“Calm down, Father,” I say. “This is a friend of mine.”
“She’s a … a … in my home!”
“Won’t you take a seat?” I ask her.
Bella Donna sashays into the room, going to sit next to Father. He shakes his head with disgust.
“Whatever you have to say, you can say it standing!”
Bella Donna smiles sweetly. “Don’t worry,” she tells me. “I simply came here to tell you that the gloves you left in the convent have been found.”
Aysim. Bella Donna has found her.
“Thank you so much,” I say. “I thought I’d lost them forever.” I get to my feet to follow Bella Donna from the room. “Take me to find them.”
“What’s this? Gloves! You come into my home and talk to my daughter about a wretched pair of gloves? Get out—both of you! Laura, have you not brought enough shame on this family?”
I don’t hear what else he has to say; we’re already out in the hallway.
“Where is she?” I hiss.
“At my place of work,” Bella Donna tells me.
I swallow hard. The idea of returning to the unseemly place where we trapped Silvio makes my stomach clench. But our needs are of the utmost importance. I must go where Bella Donna leads. For Venice, for Roberto. “Take me to her.”
“You’re sure about this?” she asks. “You, an ex–convent girl?”
“Don’t be silly,” I joke. “How much difference can there be between a brothel and a convent?”
Bella Donna raises her eyebrows.
We arrive at a low, discreet doorway in a tiny alley off the Calle Bressana.
“The House of Provocation,” Bella Donna murmurs, cocking her head to the sounds of laughter that emerge from a window set high in the wall. “Ready?”
I draw my cloak closer around my shoulders and nod. Bella Donna pulls back the hood of her cape to show her face to the man at the door, and he grunts in acknowledgment, stepping aside to let us in.
“The girl was caught trying to steal food from a stall,” Bella Donna explains as we walk past an open salon where a group of men and women chat in low voices. “She fell and sprained her ankle trying to escape. We took her in to save her from being beaten by the stallholder.”
We duck down a narrow corridor lined with gilt-framed paintings. Beside each painting is a closed doorway, hung with tasseled curtains. I can hear more laughter and the sound of a spinet being played. Bella Donna shows me into a kitchen with a table in the center, along which are ranged decanters of wine ready for customers’ refreshment. At one end sits a