In sixteenth-century Venice, the city's famed glassmakers are secretly perfecting one of the Old World's most wondrous inventions: the mirror. An object of fearful fascination, did it reflect simple reality, or reveal something more profound? The Venetian mirror was state-of-the-art technology, subject to industrial espionage by desirous sultans and royals throughout the world. And so the city's ruthless rulers, the Council of Ten, have handed down an edict: for any of the mirror craftsmen to leave the island is a crime punishable by death. One man, however, a world-weary war hero with little to lose, has a scheme he thinks will allow him to outwit the ominous Ten.