When Luciana Vetra is asked to pose for a painter friend, she doesn't mind serving as the model for the central figure of Flora in Sandro Botticelli's masterpiece Primavera. But when the artist dismisses her without payment, she steals an unfinished version of the painting—only to find that someone is ready to kill her to get it back. As friends are murdered around her, Luciana turns to the one man who has never desired her beauty, novice librarian Brother Guido. Fleeing Venice together, Luciana and Guido race through the nine cities of Renaissance Italy, pursued by ruthless foes who are determined to keep them from decoding the painting's secrets. The author