RENAISSANCE ITALY. WINTER, 1539.When Cesare Aldo learns of a conspiracy to assassinate Duke Cosimo de' Medici, he is hired to protect the ruler of Florence. The deadly attack leads to bodies, bloodshed - and something far more dangerous.The instigators obtain a secret journal of Cosimo's thoughts and strategies that - in the wrong hands - could destroy all of Florence. Aldo must hunt down those responsible and reclaim the journal, or face banishment from the city and everyone he loves.The trail leads him inexorably towards the one place Aldo has sworn to never return, a city of masks and lies where he has no allies and far too many enemies: Venice.