Oriana pulled Armida to her side. "Doge Loredan is hosting his first ball since becoming Doge—a Masquerade della Sirena tonight to celebrate Carnevale. Rumors of your voice have been whispered to him, and he wishes you to be part of the evening's entertainment. Such an honor for your debut and for me to be endorsed as your teacher! Admittedly, it is inconvenient to be invited with this late notice. But thus is the game power plays."
No. No. This could not happen. The ball thwarted the plans to rescue the mermen and uncover the activities of Stavlakis. "I cannot. I am not ready. I have not completed my training with you."
"Girl, do you not realize what a privilege it is for you to be invited? You will sing the new song you have been practicing." Oriana's thin lips parted, revealing her teeth in a displeased sneer. "Someone of your class should be grateful. In your lifetime, you would never witness the like of such an occasion."
Armida dropped her head. Seeing no way out, she said, "I have nothing to wear." She was trapped in the moment; the path of escape would have to wait.
"Of course you don't. I have paid a dressmaker extra to come today and to fit you at once. Your shabby attire reflects poorly on Ca' d'Argento. Come with me to my private rooms. Every Veneziana will dream of being you.
They reached the next floor, and Oriana pushed a door inward, revealing a room paneled with ivory watered silk. Sunlight filtered through sheer linen curtains and played in dappled patterns on the carpet. A gray-haired woman stood next to bolts of blue moiré taffeta and green satin. "Hello, Emilia. I've brought you our latest project."
Oriana led Armida to a raised platform. "Step up. We must begin so you will outshine the many marvelous paintings in the Council Chamber, especially the magnificent Venus by Botticelli. The Doge is old and has lost his wife but he will forget his melancholy when he hears you sing."
Armida blushed. "Perhaps the dress will make any flaws in my performance go unnoticed." She stepped into the dress.
Emilia plucked at the details on a gown. "Your old dress will be perfect on her. Notice how the blue taffeta can be draped over it to mimic water and the green satin ribbons billow like flowing seaweed. Perfect for the sea theme of the Masquerade. Maybe some sequins to catch the candlelight?" After a tornado of pinning and basting, Emilia stepped back. "I will return in a few hours with your dress. The Doge will believe he is witnessing a mermaid rising from la Laguna."
Oriana's gasp startled Armida and Emilia; the dressmaker's comments cut close to reality. Emilia's face blanched as if she feared some possible gaffe.
"But Oriana, of course, none will compare to you. Indeed, let us discuss the matter of your costume. The gown is enchanting and all the women at the Masquerade will be weak with envy over your sirena." Emilia wagged a finger at Oriana. "And the Doge will forget Gemma when he sees you."
"Leave us, Gemma." A nod from Oriana sent Emilia to a corner of the room where more fabrics were stacked next to a mahogany chest. Oriana shouted, "No!" as Emilia lifted the heavy lid. Emilia's grasp slackened and it slammed closed.
But not fast enough to hide the contents. Armida saw within the chest a garment of cream satin and frothy silk ornamented with scales of turquoise, purple, and orange and with opalescence that could have but one source—those of her kind.
Thalassan mermaids and Marean mermen.
✧✧✧
Armida ran into the hall and stumbled to the stairwell. A sob wracked from her throat. A yearning for the days of her youth and for earlier times before all overtook her and replaced her conviction with powerlessness. The call of the ocean was urgent and astonishing in its intensity. To escape into the stream of life, to leave everything, everyone behind. How many times had she felt this already? How many before she no longer resisted the call?
Oh, Paolo! What will become of us?
Oriana found Armida sitting on a step of the grand marble staircase. "Where have you been? Hiding from Terisio? Or me?"
Anxiety rumbled Armida's stomach. Perhaps Oriana suspected her duplicity. "I am feeling faint. I sought the air here and a resting spot until I recovered."
Oriana caught Armida's wrist in a tight grip and jerked her to her feet. "You will not embarrass me. You will perform your best, and if you do not, I will ensure you regret it."
A maid interrupted, bowing. "Signora, please excuse me. A note has arrived for you. Signore Stavlakis' man said his message is urgent." She held out a silver tray.
Oriana picked up the sealed letter and slid a fingernail under the flap, breaking the wax seal.
She cried out with keening so shattering it caused her maid to drop the tray. Armida clapped her hands over her ears as the sound pierced her like a knife. Oriana flung the letter away and ran from the two women.
When the maid bent to retrieve the letter, Armida said, "I'll take it. Follow your mistress to be sure she is well."
Armida unfolded the letter with care.
One glance at the contents and Armida raced from the palazzo. Although she risked exposure, she had to find Rinaldo at once. Stavlakis had plans for Paolo that had to be stopped.
✧✧✧
The walkway was damp from the late winter humidity and Armida's shoes provided no traction. She slid around a corner, scraping her elbow as she stumbled. Venice was a hard place. Cut stone and unforgiving surfaces. On the water, not of it. Not of the water Armida loved. The rippling surface called to her again with irresistible insistence.
She would release Paolo, and they would dive in and be gone, back to Marea. No. It would be a ravaged Marea if she did not keep trying, keep reclaiming the water for every sea creature, not only the merfolk.
Rinaldo, where are you?
The printers near Rialto. That's where she needed to go. She looked up at the gargoyles hanging from the eaves. Sea monsters some. Lions. These Terrans traded in grotesqueries.
It is how they would see her. How they already judged Paolo, who was just a pup. Her loving brother. Her blood.
Father, I will save him!
The water dripped down her cheeks. Was it rain or her unstoppable tears?
She lurched forward; strange hands fumbled for her.
Skittering toward the Grand Canal, she dared not risk tumbling into the water. She grabbed a wood railing and stopped. She took a breath, a terrible Terran breath.
Armida turned her face to the sky and pleaded with the Antichi. As her focus returned to Earth, she spotted the Rialto Bridge. She begged the Antichi to help her find Rinaldo on the other side.
She dodged the carts and the two-wheeled wagons bumping down the long stairs. The print shops of Rusconi, Petrucci, and Stavlakis were ahead. She staggered to the well in the center of the campo.
A few brighter robes of the nobility, like those worn by Terisio, flashed among the average citizens, in their black robes and ever-present caps, who crowded near her. Workers of the class everyone assumed she belonged to trod along the stones, some weary from the burdens they hauled. A few women passed, drawing their shawls tight. A turbaned man slid through the crowd as intent on his destination as any of them.
The shouts of a town crier announcing a decree from the Council of Ten poured over Armida as she searched every face in the throng. She scanned for his raven curls and bronzed skin.
"Armida? What's happened? Why have you come here?" His gray eyes reflected concern.
"Rinaldo! What can be done? How can we stop the horror?" Armida leaned on Rinaldo, without the resources to stand unsupported.
Rinaldo cupped her face in his hands. "What is it?"
"It's Paolo. Stavlakis plans to display him tonight at the conclusion of the Masquerade. And I am to perform for the Doge, no less a trained pet than Paolo. Our success is denied us. How am I to choose between my brother and Marea? What is one without the other? We are lost."
"No, you must attend the ball. We will save Paolo. Dealing with Stavlakis will have to wait. The growing risk to Marea must not be your concern tonight. The prospect is as you suggest—to lose Paolo would be our end."
CZYTASZ
The Glimmering Sea
Dla nastolatkówIt's 1501 and near Venice, Italy, 16-year-old mermaid Armida is torn between saving the ocean she loves and the restrictive traditions of her mer colony. And she doesn't even want to think about silver-scaled Rinaldo who has plans to search for his...
