Heart of Glass

33





The crowds have dispersed from the square, and several hundred soldiers are stationed around the edges. It feels as though the city has been invaded by some foreign enemy. I peer into the faces of everyone I pass, half expecting one of them to be Roberto. But of course he can’t risk showing himself. He’s in hiding, and I know who can tell me where.

I head across the Rialto Bridge to the house of Allegreza. The last time I was here, my leader refused to even look at me, but she must still retain some affection. After all, who if not the Segreta could have masterminded Roberto’s break out of jail?

I bring the sea serpent door knocker down hard and wait for the grumpy servant woman to let me in. She doesn’t look surprised to see me and swings the door open wide, stepping back into the hallway.

“You do like turning up without an appointment, don’t you?”

Allegreza sits framed in one of the open windows. Her gray head bends over a tiny book that rests in her open palms, an illuminated letter glittering with gold foil.

“You’re back,” she says, without looking round. She closes the book slowly, and shifts in her chair, holding out a hand.

I take it. “I came to thank you,” I say.

“And what are you thanking me for?” She pulls her hand free.

I examine her features, searching for a glint of playfulness. On the contrary, she looks only confused. “But Roberto is free …,” I say.

Allegreza gets to her feet. Now we stand face to face, and she shrugs. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, Laura, but the Segreta had nothing to do with his escape. He’s a clever boy.” She goes to a side table and reaches for a silver jug, pouring tea into two carved glasses. She passes one to me. “The Doge must have had a hand in it.”

“I don’t think so,” I say. “He seemed as surprised as I was, and now he’s paying the price.”

“What do you mean?”

I tell her what I witnessed in the Doge’s chamber. Allegreza is silent for some time, sipping her tea as she ponders my words.

“Massimo has always been ambitious,” she says at last, “but the Doge is a fool. This is no time for nepotism.”

“I told you, he had nothing to do with the escape.”

“Perhaps not,” she says. “You’d better go, Laura. And take care.”

I’m relieved to hear her voice soften. I cannot yet be forgiven for going to the convent, but I have started to make amends. I curtsy and turn to go, when I hear the maidservant shouting. “Get out, get out! What do you think you’re doing? How dare you?”

Allegreza nods to me briskly and points towards the opposite door. I slip through a muslin curtain as a man’s voice warns, “Move aside, old crone.”

I look back through the curtain. Allegreza stands tall as a group of soldiers burst into the room and surround her.

“Can I help you, gentlemen?” she asks. Her politeness could freeze the Lido.

The men look uncertainly from one to the other; then one steps forward and grasps Allegreza’s arm. The maid lets out a small scream of shock and hastily stuffs the hem of her apron into her mouth.

Allegreza calmly looks down at the man’s hand. “Take your paws off me,” she commands.

Slowly, awkwardly, he lets go of her. “You are to come with us, by order of the Grand Council,” he says.

Allegreza smiles and nods. “And what have I done to offend anyone?”

“You’re under arrest for the murder of a soldier.”

Murder? Have they too linked the Segreta to the jailbreak?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” says Allegreza.

“His name was Silvio.”

Allegreza frowns.

Silvio is dead? Not the guard at the prison at all, but the man we humiliated. This makes no sense.

“I’m afraid I still don’t understand,” says Allegreza. “Why would I have anything to do with a common soldier?”

“One of your secrets, is it?” asks the guard. The way he says the word, with a sneer, makes the blood drain from Allegreza’s face as it drains from mine.

They know of the Segreta. There have always been rumors, of course. But they know about Allegreza. They know who we are.

“Search the house,” says the soldier.

I slip outside before any of the soldiers has the chance to notice that I was there. I race down the marble steps and turn into the first alley I come to. I wait, my heart thumping, then hurry away from the house. I know exactly where I’m going.

Grazia’s apartments are down a small street just off the Calle dei Fabbri. But when I knock at the door, I discover that she’s absent.

“I don’t know where she is,” the young servant tells me. “You can leave a message if you like.”

I can’t help the sigh of exasperation that escapes me. “Tell her that Laura della Scala needs to speak with her.” I want to insist that it’s urgent, but I have more sense than that. I’ve already risked the confidentiality of the Segreta, coming here in the first place. It’s enough that Grazia knows I’ve called at her apartments. She’ll be in touch.

In the meantime, I have nothing left to do but wait. I walk away from Grazia’s home, towards the shoreline. I can barely think straight, so much has happened. Roberto is who knows where in Venice, the Doge is all but usurped, Allegreza arrested and … I spot three Turkish ships sailing away from our city, heading for the horizon. If Halim was telling the truth, a whole fleet waits somewhere out there.

He’s promised to return in ten days.

I sink down on some dirt-stained steps and gaze out into the harbor. I don’t care if I sully my skirts.

The seas will not be calm for long.