It was painfully clear the duke hadn’t told them about the doge’s deadline. They spoke of the tensions with Raverra as a serious problem, but not an immediately pressing one. In their minds, the abducted children were the emergency. It made me fit to wear my teeth down to nubs with frustration. Once, I caught Lady Savony looking at me from across the Hall of Beauty as she dispatched pages and footmen to accomplish the tasks in her little notebook; she lifted an eyebrow at me, as if to say, You see what I must contend with?

After several hours, I gave up and collected Venasha from the library so we could go meet Foss and Aleki. We left the River Palace together and crossed the grand Plaza of Six Fountains toward the public gardens. Gray clouds smothered the sky, threatening rain. It was just as well; I’d rather not have to navigate picnickers and dogs on the winding garden paths right now.

“I can’t believe it,” I muttered. “Domenic isn’t an idiot. How could his brother be such a colossal one?”

“I’ve met him.” Venasha sounded worried. “He’s not stupid. He gets swept up in the passion of things, though. And he’s got enough charisma to bring people along with him.”

“That’s not what we need right now. Grace of Mercy, Domenic is never going to forgive me if I get his brother thrown into prison.” Or executed, but I didn’t want to make that possibility real with speech.

“And I’ll never forgive Gabril if his rash movement gets my Aleki hurt.”

I stopped by the great fountain at the center of the plaza, with its ring of twenty-four stone fish spitting water at a platform on which the Nine Graces stood back to back reaching out benevolent hands to bless everyone who came to the River Palace. Under the gloomy sky, their blank eyes seemed distant and pitiless.

“I don’t know what to do, Venasha,” I said, my voice low.

She frowned. “About what?”

“Gabril.” Savony’s list of names dragged at my hip like a bag of lead. “I wish to the Graces Domenic hadn’t told me he was the leader of the Shadow Gentry. That’s crucial information. How can I not tell Lady Terringer? And my mother and the doge?”

Venasha whistled. “Oh, dear. Yes, that is difficult.”

I spread my hands, catching windblown spray from the fountain. “If the Shadow Gentry are just bored nobles dressing up and spouting separatist rhetoric, it doesn’t matter. But if they’re involved in the plot to start a war between Ardence and Raverra, staying silent could get people killed. And turning him in could get Gabril killed.”

Venasha frowned. “I don’t much care about Gabril, but Domenic would be devastated. He has a bit of a blind spot about his little brother.”

“I’ve noticed.” I kicked at a loose paving stone.