Kushiel's Chosen

Baal-Jupiter.
    It meant I was perforce confined to the fortress with the other young women, but for once an atmosphere of such gaiety prevailed that not even I could find the company dull. We were ferried across the way to find that bushels of flowers-roses, geraniums, gladioli, love-in-a-mist, orchids and violets-provisioned the fortress, as well as eggs blown hoilow and filled with scraps of bright confetti or colored flour. These, it seemed, were our armaments.
    At Baal-Jupiter's temple, the young men were given the priests' blessing, and set forth in a vast armada of gondoli to storm the fortress. Like the truce-parties, all enmity was set aside; this was a courting ritual, one of the highlights of the summer. We leaned from the tower windows and watched them come, oars flashing in the sunlight, swift prows cutting the water.
    When they arrived, shouting with laughter and high spirits, the gondoli swarmed the base of the tower like a shoal of dark fish and the young men in their doublets and striped hose made a riot of color within them. We leaned from the windows and pelted them with flowers, until the air was filled with a petal-storm. They returned our salvos in kind, tossing nosegays and sweets, sachets and trinkets, begging us to open the sea gate or lower a rope. Severio was there, catching my eye and pleading far more winsomely than he had last night, but it was the daughter of a member of the Consiglio Maggiore who caught a pomander and weakened first, throwing out a rope ladder such as had been provided us, tied with gay ribbons.
    At that, the game shifted, and the young men in their gondoli vied for position, that they might make the daring leap to catch the rope ladder. Most fell instead, splashing into the lagoon, to be hauled out by their fellows, and any who gained the ladder became the target of the flour and confetti eggs. The Immortali had allowed Remy and TiPhilippe to crew with them, and it was their efforts that brought Benito Dandi's gondola in reach of the ladder. Adept sailors, they grinned and held the ladder for him. Despite our best efforts-Giulia Latrigan threw an egg that burst in a profusion of blue flour and coated half his head-Benito gained the tower and claimed a kiss from the first woman he caught, which I made certain was not me.
    Below, the sons of the Hundred Worthy Families--and my two chevaliers-cheered, and Benito signaled his victory from the window, before going below to open the sea gate.
    Afterward, the servants and the chaperones joined us, and there was a great feast with much wine served in the courtyard of the fortress. When the dancing began, I took care to keep an eye on Remy and TiPhilippe, who met with much admiration from the Serenissiman maidens. I did not wholly trust either of them not to find it a fine lark to win with D'Angeline charm what every unwed Serenissiman woman was supposed to retain; the Hundred Worthy Families place an absurd value on virginity. Happily, the chaperones had the same thought, and kept my chevaliers in line.
    "There will be matches aplenty made today," Severio observed, standing at my side. "Phèdre, if I apologize for my behavior last night, do you think you might give an answer to my proposal?"
    I raised my eyebrows at him. "How can I answer, when I've not heard your apology?"
    He grinned at me and went down on one knee. "My lady Phèdre nó Delaunay de Montrève, 1 apologize for my appallingly rude behavior. Come here," he added, rising and taking my hand. "I want to show you something."
    We left the courtyard by a side gate, and Severio led me through a small garden where a flowering hawthorn bloomed on a rise. Atop the hill, we could see over the fortress wall and across the water, where the Temple of Baal-Jupiter and its great statue stood. The sun was low, and its slanting rays picked out the thunderbolt in the striding god's hand, setting it ablaze with gold.
    "It's beautiful," I said, although it gave me a chill, knowing what I did of the blasphemy at the heart of La Serenissima.
    "Not half as beautiful as you." Severio gripped my arms, a little too hard. The lowering sun was behind him, and his face in shadow. "Phèdre, you're driving me mad, Will you marry me or no?"
    I could have put him off longer, I think, if I'd not been so distracted with the events of the last few days; I'd done a poor job of it and given him this opening. "Prince Severio," I said gently, seeking out his shadowed gaze. "Almost, you convince