Masquerade by Fornasier Kylie

no choice but to stand up and join her.
    ‘What is it?’ asked Claudia without enthusiasm.
    Her mother opened her fist to reveal a small brass key.
    Claudia frowned. ‘I don’t understand.’
    ‘It is a key to the Doge’s opera box where Bastian Donato will be tonight should you feel the need to surprise him later,’ said her mother with a triumphant smile.
    Claudia’s frown deepened. ‘How did you get it?’
    Her mother waved a hand. ‘The owner of La Fenice owed me a favour.’
    Claudia stood up and pressed her fingers against her temples. ‘So Bastian doesn’t know?’
    ‘That’s why it will be a surprise.’
    Claudia was pacing now. ‘What makes you think he’ll be alone? When is Bastian ever without female company?’ She stopped and spun around to face her mother.
    ‘All the more reason for you to make yourself known.’
    ‘It is a pointless pursuit. I don’t want to marry Bastian and even if I did, it would never be possible. He can only marry someone from within the aristocracy. We are not in the Golden Book.’
    Her mother sighed irritably. ‘Let me worry about that. You just concern yourself with Bastian.’ She stood up and put the key in Claudia’s hand. ‘Aren’t you going to thank me?’
    ‘Of course,’ muttered Claudia. She leaned forward and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek.
    ‘Make sure you don’t waste this opportunity. And make sure you’re seen at the balcony of his box. I want everyone to know you were with Bastian. It’s time your name is mentioned in the
Gazetta Veneta
alongside his.’
    Before Claudia could protest, her brother, Marco, appeared in the doorway of her bedroom. ‘Are we leaving now?’
    ‘Si, we’re ready,’ replied her mother. When Marco had walked away, her mother turned towards her and pointed to the key in Claudia’s right hand. ‘Our little secret,’ she whispered.

    Their gondola was waiting at the palazzo’s water entrance. Claudia walked behind her mother and brother. She always made sure she was last to board. Those few stolen moments with Filippo were often the only thing that got her through the evening.
    Claudia stepped up to the edge of the water steps and gave Filippo a conspiring smile. Sometimes they liked to put on an act of exchanging pleasantries about the weather for her mother, or whoever else Claudia was travelling with. Those performances were especially common if Claudia and Filippo had been together intimately that day, making the charade of being mere acquaintances even more amusing. But the sad reality was that Claudia had not found a chance to meet with Filippo in the last few days, and there was nothing amusing about that.
    She placed her hand in his and they exchanged a silent, yearning gaze. Before he let go of her hand, he placed a fleeting kiss upon her glove and Claudia knew she was forgiven for her absence.
    Inside the felze, her mother and brother were already exchanging gossip. Claudia had no interest in speculating who was going to be at La Fenice or who would be with whom. She sat back and enjoyed the sound of the oar slicing through the water.
    She was feeling at ease until Marco kicked her with his foot. ‘I wonder if your lover will be there tonight. We should have invited him to share our box,’ he said.
    Claudia felt her throat constrict. ‘I don’t know who you’re talking about. I have no lover,’ she said on the verge of shrieking.
    Marco crossed his arms and leaned back against the pillows. The candle in a sconce on the wall of the felze illuminated his smug expression. ‘Come now, Claudia. It’s no secret that Salvador Oro is smitten with you.’
    The blinds of the felze were open, but Claudia could not bring herself to turn her head and see Filippo’s reaction to the conversation. She knew he could hear every word, since he often made fun of pretentious things he’d heard said by his passengers.
    ‘You’re a liar! Take it all back,’ shrieked Claudia, feeling herself rapidly losing