DELUGE by Lisa T. Bergren Page B

canal. “We shall sup in a few hours, but, please, make my home your own. You may wander the entire thing, from top to bottom, and should you have need of anything, merely ring a bell,” she said, gesturing toward a rope by the door.
    “Thank you, Lady Brexiano,” Mom said, with a lovely curtsey. I’d have to get lessons from her later. She’d gotten way better at it than I.
    She put Lia in the next room and Luca across from her, waggling her eyebrows as if she expected midnight mischief. Luca just crossed his arms and shook his head in consternation. As much as he loved to joke around, he’d never do anything to put Lia’s reputation in danger. Still, a little kissing in a gondola might be just the thing they needed to push them out of their tentative, tense track, I thought.
    The last room was for us. With a wink, she opened the doors and led us inward, hands clasped, face expectant. The room sprawled before us, and I had a hard time not believing it was the master bedroom. Perhaps she had an identical one on the far side of the hallway. There was a massive four-poster bed with carved headboard and luxurious linens across it, as well as delicate netting across the top, giving it an exotic feel, even though I knew it was used to keep bugs away. Come summer, Venice could be called Mosquito-rama. That’s why Dad insisted we go in the spring or fall.
    “Oh,” I moved toward the tall windows at the front of the room. “Oh, it’s wonderful,” I said, taking in the curve of the canal, the multi-colored palazzos lining either side. We weren’t just in Venice . We were staying in a palazzo during its heyday . During its height of power. I looked back at Caterina as Marcello joined me at the windows. “ Grazie , Lady Brexiano. We might never leave.”
    “Trust me,” she said, coming closer. “When the doge finds out the She-Wolves of Siena are in his city at long last, he might not allow you to stay with me or to leave the Palazzo Ducale. There will be much celebration. He loves nothing more than famous guests, and he’s long harangued me to use our family ties to bring you north.”
    “We can only stay for a week or so,” Marcello said, turning toward his cousin, arms folded. “Given Gabriella's state, and with the winter seas just around the corner. We’d best be back to Siena in a timely manner.”
    “Yes, well, I assume you know how the doge is prone to press his own way. There will be business to discuss, trade between the republics.”
    “I understand. But, Caterina, it is the other Betarrinis who have recently come to court that brought us here at all. Have you met them?”
    Her long-lashed, dark eyes searched me a moment, then Marcello, then back to me. “I have. They are most…unique. Are they close kin to you, m’lady?”
    “Nay,” I said, with a shake of my head. “We’ve not yet met. Honestly, I do not know if they are madmen, latching on to stories of us, or truly two of our own.”
    “They may well be frauds,” Marcello put in, adding to the story as we’d prepared. “Men seeking to gain access to our own Betarrinis.”
    “Well, they have asked after you,” Caterina said. “They fairly demanded to be taken to you, but the doge wouldn’t allow them to leave. He finds them intriguing and clearly believes they still have secrets he wishes to ferret out. As I said, he favors any diversion he can find at court, and those two are certainly rare with their wild tales. And likely he knew that keeping them here might bring you northward at last.”
    “Where are they now?”
    “In prison.”
    “In prison,” Marcello and I said together.
    “Yes,” Caterina said, raising a brow. “They ceased speaking at all, in protest that they weren’t allowed to leave. So the doge had them flogged for their insolence and sent them to the cells.”
    I sighed heavily. “Do you think we might be able to speak to them there?”
    She bit her lip and looked tentative. “It will be far more