Free Belladonna by Fiona Paul Page B

carefully.
    “Thank you, Signorina Cass.” Feliciana crossed the damp stone floor and sat on her makeshift bed. “I didn’t know if I’d see you or Siena tonight.”
    “We spent all day in the city.” Cass quickly relayed the story of Luca’s imprisonment and the trip to the Palazzo Ducale to speak on his behalf. Finally there was someone she could tell everything to. Feliciana wouldn’t lecture her about bribery. She’d be impressed.
    And she was. Feliciana’s eyes got wider and wider as Cass spoke. “Luca da Peraga? A heretic? It’s laughable.” She ran a hand over the fuzz of blonde hair on her scalp. “Next they’ll be saying he’s the one who killed Sophia.”
    Cass couldn’t help but notice how when Feliciana spoke Luca’s name, it felt completely different from when Siena did. She wondered whether Feliciana knew of her sister’s feelings for Cass’s fiancé. “Actually, a Signor Carmino has been found guilty of Sophia’s murder. Dubois took great pleasure in informing me of his execution.”
    “What?” Feliciana practically screeched. “Signor Carmino may have been a flirt, but he was no murderer.”
    Cass put a finger to her lips. “I know he didn’t do it. It was Dubois and his henchmen. And Dubois is also the reason Luca ended up in prison.”
    Feliciana’s eyes narrowed. “How does your fiancé even know Joseph? Hasn’t Luca been living abroad for years?”
    “He’s met with Dubois several times since he returned to town,” Cass said. “Including the day before he was arrested.”
    “But why?” Feliciana asked. “Why would Luca meet with him? What aren’t you telling me?” She patted the crate next to her.
    Cass lowered herself to the blanket-covered wood, wincing slightly. She hated the thought that Feliciana was forced to sleep on the rough crate, but she supposed it was better than directly on the damp floor, as nuns often did.
    “It’s a long story.” Cass took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. “A few weeks ago, my friend Liviana passed away. Do you remember her?”
    Feliciana nodded. “She was always such a frail girl.”
    “She was interred in the graveyard right outside the villa,” Cass continued. “When I went to visit her tomb, I noticed the door was open. I went inside and saw that the cover to her coffin was askew.” Cass looked down at her hands. She could feel her throat constricting, her voice tightening as she thought about Mariabella. “As I struggled to replace the lid, I couldn’t keep from glancing down at the body. It wasn’t Livi. It was a girl I’d never seen before, a girl with an X carved over her heart.” Slowly, the rest of the story spilled out. Cass running into Falco in the graveyard. Their murder investigation. How it led them to Angelo de Gradi’s workshop full of body parts in neatly arranged tin basins and Sophia’s body floating in the Grand Canal.
    Cass’s throat grew dry as she spoke. “Falco and I, we—” She blushed.
    Feliciana’s eyebrows shot up. “Signorina Cassandra! You’re telling me . . .” She trailed off, but the implication was obvious.
    “No,” Cass said quickly. “But we kissed, and sometimes I think . . . I think I love him.
Loved
him,” she corrected. She continued her story before Feliciana could press for the intimate details. “At Madalena’s wedding I was lured into the wine room by a friend of Signor Rambaldo’s. His name is Cristian, and I believe he is the same Frenchman you saw at Palazzo Dubois. I didn’t know it at the time, but he’s actually Luca’s half brother. He tried to—” Cass swallowed hard. “I think he meant to kill me.” She finished by telling Feliciana about the deal Luca had struck with Dubois.
    “The Order of the Eternal Rose. I may have heard that name mentioned by visitors to Palazzo Dubois.” Feliciana frowned. “How much does your aunt know?”
    “Very little.”
    Feliciana arched an eyebrow.
    “Almost nothing,” Cass admitted. “She