“There must be some better way to do this,” I burst out at last, after three straight hours of finding various excuses to dawdle in the Plaza of Six Fountains in front of the River Palace with Zaira. There was still no sign of Lady Savony; but then, we could have missed her if she had departed the palace by a secondary entrance, or if the crowds of the plaza had blocked her from view.

Zaira rummaged in a large sack she’d brought along. “Absolutely. Go ask your mamma to loan us a dozen spies, and have them do it for us.”

“That would take days to arrange. And we don’t know whom we can trust, anyway.”

“Well, then you’ll survive doing a day’s work for a change.”

I wished we had Marcello with us, despite Zaira’s objections. He’d gone to the garrison, to send a message to the doge over the courier lamps updating him on our discoveries. He’d decided to keep it to facts for now, leaving our speculations out of it until we had more information.

Finally, Zaira spotted Lady Savony striding across the Plaza of Six Fountains, heading north toward the river.

“Here, carry this.” Zaira stuffed her sack into my arms. It wasn’t heavy—soft and light, in fact, as if full of cloth—but it was awkward.

“Why me? What is this, anyway?” I asked as we hurried after our quarry.

“Because otherwise your movements and posture will scream I’m being sneaky. This way, all they can say is I’m carrying something.” Her sidelong glance laughed at me. “It’s like sticking sweets in a brat’s mouth so he can’t say anything stupid.”

“I see you’ve thought of everything,” I grumbled. But she was right; I couldn’t overthink acting casual, because I was too worried about how to hold the lopsided sack without dropping it.

Zaira had planned this out surprisingly well, considering she’d only had an hour to prepare. After several minutes of following a good distance behind Lady Savony, she pulled a couple of hats out of the bag and told me to sling it over my shoulder.

“To change your silhouette,” she explained. “In case she’s noticed us.”

The first place Lady Savony stopped was Gabril’s town house. I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised. Fortunately, there was a small tavern across the street, and Zaira and I sat at a table in the window sipping wine and nibbling meat pies while Lady Savony paid her call.

Zaira glanced out at the street and grunted. “I was half worried Lieutenant Lover Boy would try to tail us, but it looks like we’re clean.”

“He wouldn’t do that. He trusts us.”

“He trusts you, you mean.”

“No. Well, yes, but he doesn’t trust me to stay out of trouble. He trusts you to protect me.”