Before I could get a good look, the door flew open, and Lady Savony strode in. I glimpsed a brand-new artifice seal nailed to the door on a piece of canvas. Hell of Despair. That complicated things.

“Are you still trying to convince her?” Contempt iced Savony’s voice. “We should kill her and get it over with. Do you truly think it’s kinder to let her die slowly?”

Ignazio tucked the chain back into his doublet and glanced over his shoulder at her. “You agreed to follow my lead. In this, and all things.”

“Because you have the vision, wealth, and influence to save Ardence. And because Astor would have destroyed it with his excesses, if he didn’t hand it over to Vaskandar first. I will not let my city fall”—she shook her head—“but I have no patience for sentimentality. Don’t you start dragging your feet like Leodra did over the children.”

“I’ve admitted it was a mistake to bring him in. Have no fear—I’m made of sterner stuff.” Ignazio jerked his chin toward the door, and the city beyond it. “How do things stand?”

“The River Palace is sufficiently outraged, and the lords primed. It should be trivial to place it entirely under my control. Lady Terringer is unconscious from the poison you slipped her. She may survive, but it doesn’t much matter; she’s out of our way for now, and my people sabotaged her courier lamps. Bedridden and without a way to contact the doge or the garrison, she’s neutralized. The Shadow Gentry are set to take the blame, and the children and Lieutenant Verdi remain imprisoned below.”

I stopped my eyes from drifting to the winch. So long as they were still alive, I had a chance of getting them out.

“The last pieces are our Falcon and Falconer, then,” Ignazio said.

“Yes. And you promised me you’d have them under control.” Savony bit off each word. “To threaten the city with balefire and then save it. Everything goes to the Nine Hells if the Empire starts actually destroying the city with those artifice cannons instead.”

“I fear I didn’t anticipate my cousin’s lack of a sense of self-preservation.” Ignazio flicked a disappointed glance my way. “But I have some confidence Zaira will be willing to work with us regardless. Never fear.”

“Also, they’re not quite the last pieces.” Lady Savony fingered the spectacles dangling from her neck. “What of the children?”

Ignazio sighed and stood. “I’ll have someone deal with them. I have to choose carefully. We need people who won’t balk and can be absolutely discreet.”

“What are you going to do?” The words burst out of me.

He didn’t reply. Lady Savony glanced at me with no more interest than if I were a bug, and the two of them headed for the door.