‘May I worship you?’ Dario asked of Mina, and she turned to him, but her thoughts were of Isabella.
‘How does she do that?’
‘That was a record even for her,’ Dario replied. ‘She has a lot of tricks, but I’ve never seen her make such a quick conquest!’
‘I wonder how quickly she will change her mind when she discovers he’s one of us,’ Mina said.
Jal turned to her, astonished. ‘Have you been a little bit naughty?’ he asked.
She grinned. ‘It seems the night for it.’
‘I know who … that was Lucien Andreini. I didn’t recognise him without his make-up. He’s grown up.’
‘An Andreini?’ Lisette asked. ‘Well, he is a lord, one could say.’
Dario replied to Mina’s unspoken query. ‘The Andreinis are one of the oldest playing families. They’ve been the royal troupe many, many times. You could say t
