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Floote solved this problehbors until the man shifted over

Alexia squeezed into the space provided to find, once she had settled, that the gentleman nearest her had suddenly found hianic manner, and without any obvious movement, her immediate area became entirely vacant of al personnel save Floote and Madaht her a plate of any kind, nor, indeed, any otherpassed about the tables

Floote, who had already completed his ies, et"

Alexia raised both eyebrows but took it What an odd thing to have to do Were al Italians this rude?

Madame Lefoux offered Alexia the platter of slicedyou’ve been out"

"What!"

Floote intercepted the melon when Alexia would have served herself "Let me do that for you, madam"

"Why, thank you, Floote, but that is not necessary"

"Oh, yes,she wished

It was as though he was trying to keep her fro any of the utensils Peculiar behavior, even for Floote

Madame Lefoux continued with her explanation "Don’t ask uess is a concentrated opiate of sohts"

"No wonder I aain at the silent, weapon-riddled ed Food first, ominous Italians second Alexia tucked in The fare was si in any meat In addition to the melon, chunks of crunchy, salted bread, white with flour, were on offer, as well as a hard, sharp yel ow cheese, apples, and a pitcher of some dark liquid that smel ed like heaven Floote poured a portion for her into his cup

Alexia took a tentative sip and was quite overwhelmed by an acute sense of betrayal It was absolutely vile tasting, a mixture of quinine and burnt dandelion leaves

"That, I am to assu herself a splash and then adding a good deal of honey and milk Alexia could not believe a whole hive of honey capable of rescuing the foul drink I that to tea!

A bel sounded and, in a shifting rustle, entlehtly less well dressed and a little less refined in their h they, too, ate in co read aloud And they, too, were covered in weaponry Alexia noticed with annoyance that clean utensils were set before the about with platters of food and additional coffee, ignored Alexia with as hness as theto make her feel quite invisible She attempted a subtle sniff of her arm Did she stink?

Just to test a theory, and because she was never one to take anything sitting down

--even when she was, in fact, sitting down--Alexia scooted along the bench toward her nearest Italian neighbor, stretching out a hand in his direction, pretending to reach for the bread In a flash, he was up off the bench and backing away, stil not exactly looking at her but warily watching her movements out of the corner of his eye So it wasn’t just that they were ignoring her; they were actively avoiding her as well

"Floote, what is going on? Do they think I aious? Should I assure them I was born with a nose this size?"

Floote frowned "Templars" He intercepted another platter that would have bypassed Alexia and offered her soreens

Madame Lefoux frowned "I did not know their reaction to a soul ess would be quite so extreiven their beliefs…" She trailed off, looking at Alexia thoughtful y

"What? What did I do?"

"Sohly offensive, apparently"

Floote snorted in a most un-Floote-like manner "She was born"

For the nored theusto The infant-inconvenience and she appeared to have reached an agrees In return, Alexia was beginning to think upon the little being if not with affection, then at least with tolerance

At the sound of a second bel , al of theoff about their business without a by-your-leave Even the Bible reader departed, leaving Alexia, Floote, and Madah Alexia ed to co up, no servant took her noice-dirty trencher At a loss, Alexia began to gather up her eating utensils herself, thinking she would take them into the kitchen, but Floote shook his head

"Al ow me" He picked up the trencher, stood, took three quick steps, and hurled it over the courtyard wal , where it shattered loudly in the city street beyond Then he did the same with Alexia’s cup

Alexia stared at hione coood pottery?

"Floote, what are you doing? What has the crockery done to offend?"

Floote sighed "You are an anathema to the Te "Like being one of the untouchables in India?"

"Very like,in contact with a preternatural’s oodness’ sake Then why bring me here?" Alexia frowned "And one of them must have carried me down the Alpine pass and then put me into bed"

"A professional handler," answered Floote curtly, as though that were explanation enough

Mada did Alessandro Tarabotti work for the Teave Floote a stern look "And how long did you?"

Floote came over al inscrutable at that Alexia was faot it when he was about to claey She faintly recal ed frohtmare ti soents Had her father real y been so bad as that? To work for a people ould have regarded him as not human No Could he really?

Alexia did not have an opportunity, however, to try and crack Floote’s hard, cureonly shel , for so purposeful y toward the Alexia ful in the face