Across
- A ruthless prince.
- A victim of operatic machinations.
- A poison allegedly used by the Borgias; no real-world analog has been found.
- One who knows his price but not his worth.
- The fantasy-of-manners genre.
- A newspaper, named for the coin it costs.
- The ideal novel contains no fewer than five instances of this.
- One who wears a beaked mask with glass eyes.
- A mask that hides scars carved deep by betrayal.
Down
- The bestest boy.
- An opera house master and producer, not unlike Vivaldi.
- A master artisan who knows Fiore better than he knows himself.
- A knight of Halcyon.
- The most fun a man can have with his clothes on – or off, frankly.
- Curtained cabin aboard a gondola.
- Begging for the chance to be someone’s righteous blade.
- A devoted sister.
- A city of serenity wed to the sea.
Fiorenzo is a queer fantasy-of-manners romance featuring swordplay, hurt/comfort, and a happily-ever-after.
Fiore has a plan. Find a wealthy elderly gentleman, delight him until the end of his days, and retire on the resulting inheritance. It’s the best outcome a low-born courtesan in the city of Halcyon can hope for.
And it seems a perfect scheme… until a mysterious masked man upends it.
Banished from university after a disastrous duel, Enzo wanders the city searching for scraps of the affection he’s lost. His public mask conceals private agonies. A single night in the company of a courtesan, however, balms his wounded heart, and he finds himself returning again and again to Fiore, revealing more of himself than he’s ever dared before.
Furthermore, and more astonishing still, Fiore finds he returns Enzo’s affections.
But while Fiore wears no mask, he nonetheless has secrets of his own. And when the ghosts of their pasts return to haunt them, only the bond of trust between them will carry them through.
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Sebastian Nothwell 