to know about Bessarion's death. One day Zoe would take time to find out exactly why that was.
In the meantime, there was a delicate balance of irony in using him to trick and ruin Cosmas Kantakouzenos, whose family's greed had robbed Byzantium of some of its greatest art.
Zoe was dressed in a tunic the color of dark wine in shadow and an even darker dalmatica, burgundy warp shot with a black weft, which caught the warmth of reds in the firelight as she passed through the glow of the torches.
She crossed herself and stepped out into the night, Sabas following behind her, for safety in the shadows of twilight and for their return in the dark.
She stood for a moment in the street, reciting the Ave Maria to herself, hands folded. Then she started to walk again.
She drew a deep breath into her lungs. This was her vengeance at last. By tomorrow, the first of those whose emblems were on the back of her crucifix would be dead.
She left Sabas outside as the servant showed her in to Cosmas's house. Even the entrance hall was magnificent, especially the marble bust of a Roman senator on a plinth, his elderly face lined with the emotion and experience of a lifetime. Blue Venetian glasses stood on a table, the light making them look like jewels. An Egyptian alabaster dog with huge ears took pride of place on a carved wooden table.
When she was shown into his room, Cosmas was sitting in a wide chair, staring at an inlaid table on which stood a jug of Sicilian wine, which was now more than half-empty. Beside it was a dish of dates and honeyed fruits. He was a short man with a curved nose and heavy-lidded eyes, red-rimmed in shadowed sockets.
"I don't owe you anything," he said sourly. "So I assume you have come to see what you can plunder."
She wanted to do more than gloat; she needed a quarrel, one that could be escalated into violence.
"You are a wretched judge of character," she replied, still standing. He did not rise. "I have not come to make financial profit out of you. I will buy icons to give to the church so all may worship them there and be blessed. I will pay you a fair price."
His shoulders straightened and his head lifted a little.
"But I will see them first," she added with a slight smile.
"Of course. Wine?"
"With pleasure." She had no intention of drinking anything in his house, but she wanted the glass. A pity to break it-it was exquisite.
He rose stiffly, knees creaking, and fetched another glass from a cupboard. He poured it half-full for her and set it within her reach. "Let us talk money. The icons are on the wall in there." He indicated an archway leading to a dimly lit room beyond.
She accepted the invitation and walked through. Then she stopped, her heart pounding. There were still half a dozen icons left, images of St. Peter and St. Paul, of Christ. One icon of the Virgin was in gold leaf and green-and-azure enamel, and blue so dark as to be almost black. She was somber-faced, with a tenderness that held the viewer in amazement.
Others had jewels encrusted on the clothes of the figures or were inlaid with ivory. There was such beauty in them that momentarily she forgot why she was here or why the hatred scorched inside her.
There was a sound behind her, and she froze. Very slowly she turned. He was there in the doorway, fat and soft, full of good living and the savor of profit.
"I would rather destroy them than be robbed," he said between his teeth. "I know you, Zoe Chrysaphes. You do nothing without a reason. Why are you really here?"
"The icons are beautiful," she said, as if that were a reply.
"Worth a great deal of money." His merchant's heart was in his face.
"Then let us haggle," she said, unable to keep the contempt out of her voice as she brushed past him, accidentally touching the protrusion of his belly as he stood in the middle of the archway. "Let us argue how many byzants the face of Mary is worth."
"It is an icon," he said with a sneer. "The creation of man's hands, made of wood and paint."
"And of gold leaf, Cosmas; never forget the gold leaf or the gems," she responded.
He frowned at her. "Do you want to buy one of them or not?" he snapped.
"How many pieces of silver, Cosmas,