Votive Read Online Free PDF Page B

in a long expiration, as if the city itself was astonished by what was occurring. ‘Do you understand, captain?’ whispered the Cardinale.
    The captain dropped to his knees, his eyes locked on the Cardinale’s. ‘Sì, your grace. Your words are my command.’
    ‘You, Sansono – you are my sword – God’s sword, and you must remember, it’s his work we do. Whatever it takes, you are to find the traitors who harboured the Estrattoreand punish them. You must find out what the chandler’s family knows, why that young man died on this bridge. Only then can we find the boy and bestow upon him what he deserves – what all Estrattore deserve.’
    Captain Sansono ignored the tiny niggle of doubt that tried to intrude upon his thoughts. He pushed it away and raised his shining face to the Cardinale’s, waiting for his final orders. As he did, the sky above opened and rain began to fall. He ignored it.
    ‘As God is our witness,’ said the Cardinale, ‘the hunt begins now, tonight – and it does not stop until we have caught our prey. Trapped and destroyed him.’
    ‘Amen,’ chorused the captain and his men breathlessly.

    W AITING UNTIL HE WAS certain the Cardinale and the Signori di Notte had left the bridge, Baroque peeled back the canvas and stood up unsteadily. Once again, he untied the craft from its moorings. He began to ease the oar into the forcola and push away from the fondamenta.
    ‘Merde!’ he hissed, almost dropping the oar as a shadow detached itself from a doorway. It was a black cat. It meandered to the edge of the canal and sat there, staring at him with its luminous eyes. He shook his fist at it before guiding the old boat into the middle of the waterway, trying to catch the current.
    As he manoeuvred along the stygian waters his mind raced. He’d thought the Maleovellis deluded when they first approached him to find an Estrattore. Keen to take their soldi, he’d agreed to work for them, humour them. When he’d finally found Tallow and realised what the boy … no, he corrected himself, girl was, he couldn’t believe his luck. Options that had never been available to him suddenlyappeared. Depending upon to whom he chose to reveal the girl’s whereabouts, he was going to be a rich man, only just as she was in his grasp, she was snatched out of reach. He’d missed his chance.
    He was not the only one. The Bond Riders had failed to obtain her, the Maleovellis were denied, and now the most deadly of all pursuers was on her tail.
    He steered through the Dorsoduro Sestiere, heading for Nobiles’ Rise. He knew he was taking a risk – in many ways. The Bond Riders would be watching him, but not tonight, not when they had their own problems to deal with. Tonight he could return to his former employers safe in the knowledge that he would not be followed. What happened after would be a different matter. No doubt the Maleovellis would use his journals to force his cooperation. They would want him to continue to search for the Estrattore. Fear clutched at his chest and a rivulet of sweat coursed down his back. Only now, with the involvement of the Cardinale, the search for her had reached a new and deadly level. He would be working not only against time, but also against forces that frightened him in ways he did not quite understand. He recalled the anger of the Bond Riders, the fervour of the Cardinale: his life depended on him finding Tallow first.
    I’m too old for this , thought Baroque.
    The oar spliced the water, sending gentle ripples of Cimmerian wash to break against the passing casas. As he piloted the gondola towards the Circolo, a scream shattered the night. He froze, the oar just above the water. The breeze brought with it fragments of broken voices, other frantic cries. Baroque quickened his stroke. He had to put as much distance between himself and the Signori di Notte as he could. His heavy thoughts turned again to the Cardinale and the conversation on the bridge thathad carried down to