There was a huge canvas in a gleaming frame on one wall—a woman with an improbable bosom bathing in a stream, and seeming to enjoy it a lot more than was likely. Monza never had understood why getting out a tit or two made for a better painting. But painters seemed to think it did, so tits is what you got.

“That bloody music’s giving me a headache,” Vitari grumbled, hooking a finger under her corset and scratching at her side.

Monza jerked her head sideways. “That fucking bed’s giving me a headache. Especially against that wallpaper.” A particularly vile shade of azure blue and turquoise stripes with gilt stars splashed across them.

“Enough to drive a woman to smoking.” Vitari prodded at the ivory pipe lying on the marbled table beside the bed, a lump of husk in a cut-glass jar beside it. Monza hardly needed it drawn to her attention. For the last hour her eyes had rarely been off it.

“Mind on the job,” she snapped, jerking her eyes away and back towards the door.

“Always.” Vitari hitched up her skirt. “Not easy with these bloody clothes. How does anyone—”

“Shhh.” Footsteps, coming down the corridor outside.

“Our guests. You ready?”

The grips of the two knives jabbed at the small of Monza’s back as she shifted her hips. “Bit late for second thoughts, no?”

“Unless you’ve decided you’d rather fuck them instead.”

“I think we’ll stick to murder.” Monza slid her right hand up the window frame in what she hoped was an alluring pose. Her heart was thumping, the blood surging painfully loud in her ears.

The door creaked ever so slowly open, and a man stepped through into the room. He was tall and dressed all in white, his golden mask in the shape of half a rising sun. He had an impeccably trimmed beard, which failed to disguise a ragged scar down his chin. Monza blinked at him. He wasn’t Ario. He wasn’t even Foscar.

“Shit,” she heard Vitari breathe.

Recognition hit Monza like spit in the face. It wasn’t Orso’s son, but his son-in-law. None other than the great peacemaker himself, his August Majesty, the High King of the Union.

Ready?” asked Cosca.

Shivers cleared his throat one more time. It had felt like there was something stuck in it ever since he’d walked into this damn place. “Bit late for second thoughts, no?”

The old mercenary’s mad grin spread even wider. “Unless you’ve decided you’d rather fuck them instead. Gentlemen! Ladies! Your attention, please!” The band stopped playing and the violin began to hack out a single, sawing note. It didn’t make Shivers feel much better.

Cosca jabbed with his cane, clearing the guests out of the circle they’d marked in the middle of the yard. “Step back, my friends, for you are in the gravest danger! One of the great moments of history is about to be acted out before your disbelieving eyes!”

“When do I get a fuck?” someone called, to ragged laughter.