Starling (29 page)

“A flower for your thoughts?”
Cass was half tempted to ask Maximus if he could wave his hands
and make a roasted chicken appear. She had only begun to eat when
she and Feliciana had to leave the restaurant. “Why are you being so
nice to me?” she asked. “You hardly know me.”
“I like what I know,” Maximus said. “And you look as if you
could use a friend.”
Cass bit her lip, suddenly at a loss for words. She had never made
a friend on her own before, and she wasn’t quite sure how to proceed.
“Are you skilled at disguises?” she asked suddenly. She and Luca
had both cut their hair while hiding on the Giudecca, but it had
taken Feliciana and Maximus both about two seconds to recognize
her. Obviously shorter hair and a servant’s uniform were not enough
to keep her safe.
Maximus chuckled to himself but didn’t answer. He studied Cass
for a moment. “I’m on my way to meet a friend,” he said finally, “but
you can come with me. She is the kind of woman who might be able
to teach you a thing or two about becoming someone else.”
She.
Cass imagined spending the night with Maximus and his
lover. Perhaps even more awkward than spending a night alone with
him. But what alternative did she have? Huddling in the rain all night
and praying Piero didn’t find her? “I wouldn’t want to impose,” she
said slowly.
“It’s no imposition,” Maximus said. “She’ll likely want to hear
your story. Escape from the Doge’s dungeons. Brilliant, I say.”
“You cannot tell her who I am,” Cass insisted. “It could put Luca
in danger if people find out we’re still alive.”
“So your fiancé made it out as well? Amazing.” Maximus adjusted
his hat again. “Well, if you won’t tell her, you’ll have to promise to
tell
me
someday.”
Cass nodded. The two of them hovered beneath the recess,
watching the silvery drops of rain slash their way to the ground. She
didn’t mind getting wet if it meant getting someplace where she could
feel safe for the evening.
“Shall we?” She gestured out at the street.
“We shall.” Maximus took Cass’s arm, and with it, much of the
fear she had been holding inside herself. With him, she wasn’t Cassandra Caravello, fugitive of the Republic. She was neither a threat
nor a target, just a simple serving girl out for a stroll in the rain with
her friend.
Maximus led her back the way she came, and then he turned away
from the Grand Canal. Raindrops battered her cloak and her bare
hands, but her hood kept her face protected. Her feet were another
story. Without her chopines, her simple leather shoes were submerged completely in the pooling water.
Gradually the palazzos became smaller and older, with clusters of
dingy little flats between them. In one of the larger houses, two girls
danced in windows to the music of a boy playing a lute. Cass recognized the area: Fondamenta delle Tette. “Are we going to a brothel?”
she joked, thinking back to the time she had spent in the neighborhood with Falco.
Maximus turned to her with a grin. “What better place to secure
a beautiful lady for the evening.”
Cass skidded to a stop on the wet cobblestones and pulled her
arm free from Maximus’s grasp. “I cannot go to a brothel with you.”
She imagined what Luca would say. It was bad enough that she wasn’t