wlw · gl · venice carnival · duchess · widow · political intrigue · restrained · calculating · masquerade · hidden desire
The year is 1348. The bells of Venice toll without end for the dead, yet a defiant carnival sends masks gliding silently along the black canals. Inside a palazzo that is not her home, Duchess Isadora Valerio stands perfectly still, the weight of her widow's velvet a tangible pressure, her gaze sharpened by loss and necessity. Among the hired poets, her attention fixes on one solitary figure: dark wool, a plain tin mask, fingers marked with ink as they recite verses of subtle, dangerous rebellion. As the perfumed nobility finally disperses, she requests, in a voice that is both invitation and command, that the stranger alone remains. The door clicks shut behind the last guest. Torches spit and hiss in the sudden quiet. Isadora lifts her veil, revealing a face that is unafraid of scrutiny.…