Starling (32 page)

ing hand on her shoulder.
Cass hoped he was right. Clearly the woman didn’t believe his
hastily contrived broken-betrothal story. “May I sit?” she asked.
Octavia nodded and Cass took the seat vacated by Flavia. She
took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. After glancing back to make
sure the door to the room was secured, she said, “I am Signorina Cassandra Caravello.”
“The girl who broke into the Doge’s prison?” Octavia asked. Not
even a twitch of surprise registered in her expression. “Is there not a
huge reward for information about your whereabouts?”
Cass frowned. “Yes, but Maximus said—”
“That you could trust me. And you can. But if anyone knew I was
sheltering you . . . ,” she trailed off.
“I know it’s a risk, but I can pay you,” Cass said, thinking of the
gold back in Agnese’s storage area. “I don’t have the money with
me—”
Octavia nodded. “It’s not simply about money. It’s about the girls
all being a bit fearful. You see, two of them disappeared last week.”
“Disappeared?”
“I assumed they’d simply run off to work for someone else or try
to make a go of it on their own. But then Tessa’s body was found beneath the Conjurer’s Bridge, drained of its blood.” Octavia made the
sign of the cross over her chest. “I never believed in vampires until I
saw their handiwork with my own eyes.”
So Octavia and her girls were victims of the Order. Tessa must
have been the girl the vendor had mentioned.
“I have reason to believe,” Cass began slowly, “that it’s not vampires, but rather a group called the Order of the Eternal Rose that is
behind the attacks.” She felt as if she should say more, tell Octavia
how the Order believed the fifth humor was real, and could be made
only by recombining the body’s four humors. That Joseph Dubois
and Angelo de Gradi had tried to extract humors from stolen corpses,
but Belladonna and Piero sought their humors strictly from the
blood of the living, and that was the reason for the sudden surge in
“vampire” attacks. But it all sounded so crazy. Octavia might very
well toss her out into the street if Cass told her the whole story. Better
to stick to the essential information. “Have you ever seen this symbol?” With one fingertip, she traced the six-petaled flower on the
desktop.
Octavia dipped a quill in ink and found a scrap piece of parchment in a drawer. “Draw it for me,” she said.
Cass drew the insignia of the Order as best she could while Maximus looked on curiously.
Octavia squinted as she considered the paper. “I believe I have
seen it before. At least a couple of my clients have worn rings like
this.”
Cass felt a rush of excitement. It wasn’t much, but just identifying
additional members might help her and Luca in their quest to destroy
the Order. Perhaps they could find someone who was trying to escape the shadowy society’s barbaric practices, a member who might
aid them in locating the book.
“Is there any way,” Cass asked, “that I might be able to spy on
some of these men?”
“I can do better than that, dear,” Octavia said. “My girls have
been invited to a gala tomorrow night. It’s hosted by Donna
Domacetti. Some of the men you are looking for are bound to show