Calle

this Harrow

Obviously, also, Aldanto hadn’t meant Benito to be here. But just from following him, Harrow knew that Benito wasn’t good at doing what he was supposed to do.
This meeting was a worrying one. He’d been sure that a meeting between Aldanto and Aleri could only be short, sharp—and end with Aleri dead. In his former life as Fortunato Bespi he’d seen both men’s swordsmanship. Aldanto had the edge. Aldanto was perhaps the best he’d ever seen. So: what was this all about? No good, he’d bet. Interesting to hear Lorendana Valdosta’s name. It had nearly startled him into moving. That had to be the Goddess’s hand again. She watched Montagnards too.

Chapter 53
Luciano Marina had not expected to just move back to his old life. He thought he’d manage to scavenge a living around the Calle Farnese. What he hadn’t realized was that the death of Gino Despini had left an empty hole at the center of Venice’s Strega community. After Marina’s disappearance, Despini had done his best to keep the city’s Strega solid. But with Despini killed . . . by a still unknown hand . . . The Strega in the city were terrified—which, Luciano was now convinced, had been the purpose of the murder. And now that the Servants of the Holy Trinity were stirring up talk of burning out the whole of the Ghetto, being in a visible position of leadership was something all other Strega were shying away from.
He hadn’t realized it when he slipped into Itzaak ben Joseph’s shop, hoping to scrounge a few coins to start a life in the city. He had little enough to offer. Some medicinal herbs, a couple of twists of blue n