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“Yes. Signed by someone called Straba. At least, I think that was the signature.”

He moved as though startled. “What did you just say?”

The chime sounded. I pushed back my chair and stood up. He grabbed my hand in his own rough one and pulled me toward him. With a rush, my fear came flooding back. This man had drawn a knife on another man not ninety minutes ago.

I tugged my hand away.

He seemed about to say something and then changed his mind. “The next course will be mussels in stew.”

I met his eyes, one intense, one clouded. “Thank you, Your Grace. I shall remember that.”

I settled myself beside a man with a beard down to his chest. He introduced himself as Vicecomes Ignatius and began talking about his son, who was fighting in the war in the east. As a bowl of mussels was placed in front of me, I looked back and saw the Archidux leaning back in his seat, watching me with a thoughtful expression on his face.

iii

“BY THE GODDESS, I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL THE BIDDING is over,” Kyra said the next afternoon. “I’m up all night worrying.”

Camilla laughed and shook her head. “I intend to have fun with it. We might as well.”

Luna nodded, although without much conviction. “Several of the men are good-looking. And there was even a woman.”

“Our work here isn’t a game.” Vesta threaded her needle with a delicate hand. “It’s a tradition and a duty. We perform an important service for the Empire.”

“What service is that? Satisfying the cravings of the Empire’s elite?” Camilla laughed again. “It’s a game, and I intend to win it. I’ll find the wealthiest patron of all and be gone from here in a year’s time.”

“If it’s a game, it doesn’t have any winners,” Kyra said quietly, her eyes on her sewing.

Marina snipped off the end of a thread. “At least, once the bidding is over, we’ll be free to go out into the city when we want to. I have a friend at Casa Aeris that I can’t wait to see again.”

I reached over and squeezed Kyra’s hand. “Think of that. We’ll have the freedom of the city. That’s something to look forward to.”

Flavia snapped her wooden sewing box shut with a bang. “Girls, I have a funny one for you.”

We looked up eagerly from our mending. Apprentices were required to help repair the many dresses owned by Casa Caligine. I didn’t mind. I liked keeping my hands busy, and Flavia had a bottomless well of stories.

The elderly laundress settled back and clapped her hands on her broad thighs. “There was a western lord here once who had recently been to the court of the Imperator in Panpirion. Oh, he thought he was a magnificent fellow. Considered himself very important. Of course, what man doesn’t?”

She broke into a brief peal of laughter that made the skin at the edges of her eyes crinkle. “He was in his cups at dinner, wasn’t he, and continued afterward, and he was so confused that he left a bedroom to find the latrina and ended up wandering out onto the grand terrace completely naked! And didn’t he make his water right off the edge? What do you think the people down below thought of that?”

By this point, we were all laughing so hard that it took a few minutes before our hands were steady enough to begin sewing again.

I looked up to see Kyra focused on the hem of the red silk tunic lying across her lap. She had two round-ended pins clamped in her teeth and seemed to be concentrating very hard, but she was making too many stitches in the same spot. They would all have to be ripped out and done again. Her hands shook just a little. She must have already had several cups of wine. I’d never seen her drink so much, even in our last years at the training school when we older girls had been permitted to take wine with our dinner; I knew she was trying to manage her growing fear about the upcoming bidding.

At that moment, the door opened, and Beatrix stood in the doorway, a shawl wrapped around her narrow shoulders.

“The matron would like to see you, Anna. Right away.”

I looked around the room in confusion, but I saw only my own surprised look reflected in the faces of the other girls.

“You couldn’t have a bid yet,” Camilla said. “It’s too soon.”

Flavia waved a needle. “Go on. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

I FOLLOWED BEATRIX down to the first floor. She rang a little bell, pushed open the door to the matron’s receiving room, and gestured me inside. The chamber was spacious, with large glazed windows providing a hazy view of the snow-covered mountains.

I had never spoken to the matron alone before. She sat at her table, peering at a ledger through a glass lens.

“Take a seat.” She sighed and rubbed her eyes, letting the lens drop and dangle on its leather cord.