A Renaissance rival rapier academies romantic adventure set in 16th-century Italy from the author of the Archers of Saint Sebastian series.
‘He says he loves you, he means to kill you...’
When Fiora di Rossi’s father Alessandro falls ill, she’s thrust into a position she never wanted. She must serve as the temporary head of her father’s rapier fencing academy, the Cloaks, and watch over her irresponsible brother Giovanni. Figuring out how to protect him and the other Cloaks from the Daggers, students of the rival rapier academy run by Alessandro’s former friend and now arch enemy, Jacopo d’Amari, is sure to be a headache. The only good thing about it is that her father is finally giving her the fencing lessons she’s always wanted, albeit in secret — he’s the master of ploys, and he intends for her to be his secret weapon in his feud with the d’Amari. And maybe he’ll finally show her the secret to his signature technique: the di Rossi disarm, a move so impossible no one has ever figured out how he does it, not even Fiora.But Fiora suspects she’ll be expected to marry her father’s godson Alessio into the bargain. He’s a gifted fencer, the best in their academy, and a marriage alliance would be the perfect way to secure his allegiance. But Fiora’s always resented him, and working with him to preserve their academy is sure to be awkward. To make things worse, Orlando d’Amari is back in town — Jacopo’s son, the boy who broke Fiora’s heart when he broke their engagement. It’s been three years, and there can only be one reason he’s returned: to take advantage of her father’s illness to crush their school, and to seduce the secret of the di Rossi disarm out of Fiora.
As the rivalry between the two schools heats up, Fiora doesn’t know whom to trust. Can she save both her father’s academy and her own heart, when the line between passion and betrayal is as thin as the edge of a rapier, and love itself may prove the most dangerous duel of all?
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Used availability for Jeanne Roland's Cloaks and Daggers