The woman gasped in recognition, and she heaped such profuse thanks on me I had trouble disentangling myself. By the time I made it back to Zaira and Marcello, they were deep in argument.

“Maybe you should have thought about whether you wanted someone like me in this uniform before you forced me to wear it,” Zaira snapped.

Marcello turned to me, grimacing. “My apologies, Lady Cornaro. The last thing I intended was to embarrass or endanger you. We should return to the Mews.”

Zaira’s dark eyes flickered, and she tensed. I had the impression she was ready to bolt off into the crowd.

Marcello must have thought the same, because he lifted his hand, and all at once four large men surrounded Zaira. A moment ago, they had been part of the crowd: farmers and workmen. They made no move to threaten her. One pretended to point out the spires of the Temple of Bounty to another, while two compared purchased fruit. But they stood between her and any possible escape, poised and ready on the balls of their feet.

Zaira laughed. “So, I’m not a prisoner, am I?”

“Apparently you should be, given your behavior,” Marcello retorted.

“I did it to draw them out.” Zaira surveyed the four disguised soldiers, hands on her hips. “And it worked. Though I’d spotted three out of four. Might want to work on that.”

I’d had no idea about any of them. I turned to Marcello, biting back anger. “Lieutenant Verdi, I thought we were here to build trust. Was this necessary?”

He winced. “For your safety, my lady, yes.”

My hands curled tight at my sides. I didn’t trust myself to speak.

Zaira had no such compunctions. She rolled her eyes. “Yes, because I’m so terrifying, especially with your stupid jewelry keeping my fires out.”

“I’m sorry it came to this.” I fought to keep my tone level. “Perhaps we can try again soon, with more honesty on all sides.”

“I’ve got something better than honesty now,” Zaira said. “Truth. Now I know how to value all your talk about trust and partnership.”

“And I have your measure as well,” Marcello replied through his teeth. “Now I know how you survived in the Tallows.”

He didn’t say the word, but it hung silent in the air between them. Thief.

We took two boats back to the Mews. Marcello and I rode in one, and Zaira and the disguised guards in the other. Marcello must be worried she’d try to heave us out into the lagoon if we sat with her. By the glower on her face, I couldn’t blame him.

He remained silent at first, as the uniformed oarsman guided us down the Imperial Canal, always keeping Zaira’s boat at our side. Other craft gave the red-and-gold boats space, passengers and oarsmen casting dubious glances at Zaira’s uniform. No one wanted to tangle oars with a Falcon.