Read Online The Painted War by Imogen Rossi - Free Book Online Page A

encrusted with gold and rubies that caught the light and shimmered whenever she breathed.
    At her side, on an ordinary chair, sat the Baron da Russo. Bianca’s lips twisted in distaste. She hated to see him sitting so close to Duchess Catriona – it only reminded her of his horrid plan to kill her and marry a painted Duchess who had no thoughts or feelings of her own. It was a creepy, creepy thought and Bianca shuddered.
    She couldn’t
quite
make out what the Baron was saying. She risked sneaking a little nearer, pressing herself close up behind a statue of an angel holding a golden sword.
    â€˜Many apologies  … ’ said the Baron. Bianca frowned. What was he apologising for? Not his attempt to take the Duchess’s crown, she was pretty sure.
    Bianca felt something tickling her foot and she looked down to find a bright green spider the size of her fist crawling over her shoe. She gave a violent, involuntary shudder and kicked out, trying to dislodge it.
    Her foot connected with something hard underneath the hedge, and a very quiet voice grunted in muffled pain.
    Bianca froze. Sweat prickled across the back of her neck and she held her breath. Which would be worse, she wondered, being discovered by the Oscuritans or one of the palace guards? If Franco knew she was here he’d have her thrown out of the palace, possibly from a high window  … 
    Then the bushes rustled and Marco crawled into her hiding space, wriggling out from under the hedge on his stomach like a lizard. Bianca let out her gasp as a silent sigh of relief.
    â€˜How did you even fit down there?’ she whispered.
    â€˜Practice.’ Marco grinned back. ‘Spent a long time in the false bottom of a trunk for a stage routine.’
    Bianca raised her hand to her mouth, fighting the laugh that bubbled up inside her. She chewed on one finger until the feeling passed and then nodded to the bower, where the Duchess was listening to the Baron with an attentive but rather glazed smile.
    â€˜I quite understand, really,’ she said. ‘I would not want Duchess Edita to risk her health to come here.’
    â€˜Thank you, Your Highness. You have really grown into a very fair young woman.’
    Marco glanced at Bianca and pulled a face, sticking out his tongue.
    â€˜The sunlight is simply too much for Her Highness,’ the Baron went on, with an exaggerated sadness. ‘She is particularly sensitive to light, and would find it difficult to visit your beautiful city even at night. However, the Duchess so sincerely wished to be here that she asked me to present you with this gift, as a symbol of the great friendship of our two cities.’ He turned and beckoned, and two La Luminosan servants appeared, pushing something large and heavy on a wheeled platform. The object was as tall as a man and about twice as wide, draped in a sheet of black silk.
    Duchess Catriona watched it approaching with an expression of deep and unconcealed suspicion. She looked just like Bianca felt. Bianca saw Captain Raphaeli’s hand stray to the hilt of his sword. He gave the leading servant a sharp look, and she nodded. Raphaeli’s hand didn’t move, but he didn’t draw his sword either.
    The servants pulled back the silk sheet, and Bianca let out a sigh of relief – and then winced a little. The Baron’s gift was a lifelike and life-size statue of Duchess Edita embracing Duchess Catriona, carved from plain white marble. Edita seemed to have been caught in the moment of drawing Catriona into a hug – they were facing each other, and Edita’s arm was around Catriona’s shoulders while her other hand was raised to touch her cheek. The Edita statue’s face wore an expression of perfect sweetness and affection that made Bianca shudder.
    â€˜Sickening!’ she hissed to Marco. ‘
And
it’s not even very good!’
    Marco frowned at the statue. ‘Looks pretty good to