Heart of Glass - By Sasha Gould Page 0,88

young woman, her head in her arms as she sleeps. I recognize her instantly—the golden skin, slight frame and the frown lines that crease her brow even in her dreams. The room is lit by lamps that hang from the ceiling, casting golden circles over the furniture.

Bella Donna steps forward and gently places a hand on the girl’s arm. She wakes with a jolt. When she sees me, she leaps up, knocking her stool to the ground. She scrambles away towards the back door, grappling with the iron bolt.

“Calm yourself,” Bella Donna says, going after her. “This is a friend.”

“I’m not here to harm you,” I say in French. “I know who you are, who your brother is. Halim.” The girl lets out a whimper of fear, looking wildly from me to Bella Donna. “I’m here as a member of the Segreta. You were looking for us, weren’t you? Seeking our help? My fiancé, Roberto, is charged with your murder, held accountable by Halim. We have a shared enemy, you and I. You can trust me.”

Aysim’s face is softening, and slowly, cautiously, she steps away from the door and stands behind Bella Donna. She clears her throat.

“I’m sorry,” she begins in swift, fluent French. “For so long, I haven’t known whom to trust.”

I straighten the stool that she kicked over, and the three of us come to sit around the kitchen table. Bella Donna pours us all tumblers of water, and Aysim begins her story. We hear how she arrived in Venice with her loyal maidservant, Emen. How they were wearing each other’s clothes as disguises, fleeing from Halim’s violence. They were attacked, and Aysim managed to escape, but Emen did not.

Aysim’s voice breaks. “My faithful servant, the only person to show me loyalty. I let her die.” Her dark eyes brim with tears.

“She was the girl in Roberto’s apartments, wasn’t she?” I whisper.

Aysim nods, tears coursing down her cheeks. Bella Donna hands her a linen handkerchief.

“It was me they meant to kill!”

I feel sick to my stomach. Gales of loud male laughter spill from one of the rooms down the corridor, as though mocking me. Through the kitchen doorway I see a member of the Grand Council emerge, straightening his tunic. I quickly turn my face away, and Bella Donna hurries to shut the door.

Aysim tells me of her brother’s lust for power, his hatred of Venice.

“He’s been planning this moment for over two years,” she says. “At first it was just a fantasy. His advisers told him it couldn’t be achieved.”

“So what changed?”

“He sought new counsel—a witch who covers her face with a silver mask.”

I swallow hard. “Why does she wear a mask?” I ask. Though I suspect I already know the answer.

Aysim waves a hand before her own face. “A terrible disfigurement.”

My mind fizzes as a spiderweb of connections starts to take form. Prince Halim and Carina are working together? So Roberto’s kidnapping wasn’t a coincidence—it was orchestrated with Halim’s knowledge. Can my dead sister’s old friend be behind everything that’s happened?

The scale of the plot is almost too great to believe, and I try to see its many facets. One other point also bothers me. “Roberto?” I ask her. “Have you ever … met him?”

Aysim shakes her head. “I saw him from a distance in Constantinople. After I tried to dissuade my brother from his mad plans, he shut me out of everything.”

“But Halim showed us a letter, in Roberto’s handwriting,” Even now, those words of affection sting me—they seem so real, so true. “A love letter.”

Aysim laughs bitterly. “My brother has a forger. A cunning man called Faruk. It must have been his work.”

The plan is almost perfect. Paint Roberto as the cause for a war, sow discord among your enemies. But what sort of monster would try to kill his own sister?

“What can we do?” asks Bella Donna. “Is it too late?”

Not if I can present this girl to Massimo and the Council—if I can show them Roberto too. Then they’ll have to believe me. Roberto will be pardoned, and the Doge’s authority restored. As much as I dislike Massimo and the new leaders of Venice, they do care for their city. They are not heartless, like Halim. They will do what is best for Venice, when they are shown all the facts.

I hold out my hand to Aysim. “You must come with me,” I say.

She’s quaking again, and shakes her head. “Why? I’ve told you all I know.”

“To make men listen.”

43

Getting Roberto out