“It’s not your fault. You didn’t put the jess on her.” Quenching the warlock’s fire and unintentionally claiming her for the Falcons was a rare thing I’d done on my own, as Amalia, not as the Cornaro heir. I couldn’t turn away from it and let the consequences fall on Verdi and my Falcon alone. “I’ll do what I can.”

“Thank you, my lady.” He put his hand over his heart and bowed; I glimpsed the hollow of his throat down the collar of his doublet. “I’ll pray to the Graces it’s enough.”

The autumn air seemed warmer as we continued past rosebushes and an herb garden to one of the brick dormitories. Verdi led me through the unlocked door and up an oak-paneled staircase.

“One way or another, we have to introduce you two,” Verdi said as we reached the second floor. “If she seems too, ah, aggressive, we can cut it short.”

I clutched my silk-wrapped package. “Is there anything I need to know before I meet her?”

“I wish I could tell you anything about her, but she won’t talk about herself or her past. We don’t even know enough to contact her friends and family to let them know what happened to her.”

I had a bleak suspicion there might not be anyone to tell. “That’s unfortunate.”

“One important note. Whatever you do, don’t say ‘Exsolvo.’”

“Ex—”

He whirled. I caught a white flash of eyes, and his hand clamped over my mouth. I teetered on the edge of the topmost stair, tasting the salt on his palm, the word caught on my tongue.

He steadied me, his strong hand warm against my back. Then he quickly released me. His face was chalk pale.

“I’m sorry, my lady. But you must not say that word, not even out here. Not halfway across the world. That’s the release word.”

I laid a bracing hand on the wall, my heart stumbling. The taste of his skin lingered on my tongue. It took a moment to sift through mingled indignation and embarrassment to grasp the meaning of his words.

“Oh!” I remembered the doge’s grim joke about burning down the Mews. Two syllables more, and it would have lost its humor. “So, if I say that, she gets her magic back?”

“Yes. And in her current mood, she wouldn’t hesitate to use it.”

I swallowed. “What’s the word to seal it again?”

“Revincio,” he replied. “That one you can say all you want.”

“Revincio,” I repeated.

“You’ve got it. Don’t forget that one.” He winced. “And I apologize again for being so familiar, my lady.”

I waved his words off. “Don’t. I’d far rather get grabbed than set the castle on fire or fall down the stairs.”

“A lady of sense. Still, I’d appreciate if you didn’t mention it to the colonel.”