Read City of Secrets for Free Online

mean,’ she said. ‘How much time will we have together on our own to talk like this? And do you think we’d ever be able to roam the streets the way we did when you were my father’s apprentice and I was an island girl visiting her aunt?’
    â€˜Is that why you have come to Padavia?’ asked Luciano.
    â€˜I wanted to have one last birthday when I could just be me,’ said Arianna pensively. ‘It’s really hard to be Duchessa all the time.’
    â€˜Come on then,’ said Luciano. ‘Let’s make the most of it. I can show you the basilica. It’s not quite as grand as the Maddalena in Bellezza, but it’s pretty impressive.’
    He led her into the many-domed cathedral and neither of them noticed that they were being watched by a rather bedraggled-looking figure, dressed in what had once been a handsome blue velvet suit.
    *
    Silvia was watching the Duchessa no less intently. There was something not quite right; Arianna would not meet her eyes. What was she up to? The banquet had been a muted affair because of the Duchessa’s indisposition but now that the guests were gathered on the colonnaded balcony overlooking the sea, there was the usual excitement about Rodolfo’s fireworks.
    They were launched from a raft in the lagoon while the company watched and for a while the Duchessa seemed like her normal animated self, clapping each firework and set piece. The customary winged rams flew across the sky in a shower of silver and purple stars, peacocks opened and closed their magnificent tails, two giant spotted cats leapt above the lagoon. At the same moment a groom brought the Duchessa’s own two African cats up on to the balcony.
    â€˜There is definitely something not right,’ said Silvia to herself. The Duchessa seemed nervous of the cats, patting them distractedly; she would normally have flung her arms round their necks and kissed their furry faces, even when dressed in her most formal clothes. Everyone knew how the young Duchessa loved her cats, although they had been given to her by her greatest enemy.
    Silvia was supposed to be Rodolfo’s second wife; just a handful of people knew that she was his only wife and the previous Duchessa, Arianna’s mother. So in public she couldn’t behave towards Arianna with anything more than the concern appropriate for a new stepmother. But she itched to get her on her own and put her to the test.
    Rodolfo made his way back to the Ducal Palace, pleased with his display but worried about his daughter; perhaps it was just her illness but she really hadn’t seemed herself this evening. He said as much to his wife, as soon as the guests had dispersed and Arianna had gone to bed.
    â€˜That’s because she wasn’t,’ said Silvia tartly.
    â€˜Wasn’t?’
    â€˜Herself. I had been suspicious ever since her maid told us about the sore throat yesterday, but when she was nervous of the great cats then I knew something was amiss. I made her look at me when she said goodnight.’
    â€˜And?’
    â€˜And what looked back at me were the brown eyes of the maid, not the violet ones of our daughter.’
    â€˜So,’ said Rodolfo. ‘She used a double. Did you not say anything?’
    â€˜What good would it have been to chastise the maid, who is probably terrified? Do you suppose the deception was her idea? No, we shall wait till Arianna returns.’
    â€˜And where do you think she will return from?’
    â€˜It does not take a magician to divine that, surely?’ said Silvia, suddenly weary.
    Rodolfo took her hand. ‘She is with Luciano.’ He felt as rejected as Silvia did. He had been reunited with his undreamt-of daughter for only two years and in all that time he had never been the most important man in her life. It still pained him to think of how he had missed her entire childhood, when she might have turned first to him for protection and love.
    All he