1496
January
Amara de Medici's own bed – or more rightly his own –had grown cold in Cesare's absence. The feeling had been so unbearable to poor Amara that she found refuge in the arms of another, her lover's own sister. While he searched for Della Rovere they reverted back to their childish bedtime ritual and although there was the addition of a child in the chamber the two girls found life to be beautiful – bliss.
At least it was until the child began to cry.
"Is he hungry?" Amara propped herself up on one arm to watch the Madonna and child.
"Yes." It was strange to Amara that Lucrezia fed the child herself. She was used to upper class women employing wet nurses instead of feeding the child herself.
Amara rolled lazily off the sheets and moved towards the already filled bath. Both she and Lucrezia were in the habit of taking a bath the moment they awoke and made sure that their maidservants were prepared for this task. She let her nightgown slip away from her body to the floor. Amara placed one foot into the bath to test the waters. She almost melted as her body sunk into the lavender smelling liquid.
It was when Amara had closed her eyes and draped her hair over the side of the copper tub her haze was interrupted.
"You must evade yourself of a wet nurse, my love." Amara's eyes widened at the sound of the Pope's voice.
"Indeed Father, why?" Lucrezia sounded perplexed as she studied her father's face though Amara was certain she knew why.
"You're hardly a commoner." When he continued speaking Amara felt a small sense of relief in the fact that the Pope had not seen her. "And your vigour should reflect that grace."
"Ah…" Lucrezia let out a knowledgeable sound. "Because I am yet of marriageable age am I not?"
"Nothing could have be further from our thoughts, Lucrezia." Amara almost wished to laugh. Fathers were always looking to marry their daughters and the Pope had an extra need with so many enemies.
"This child Holy Father, lacks a father." The case of Lucrezia's child had been a puzzle to Amara. Although she had told Amara about the father, how he was a beautiful stable hand who could not read or write Lucrezia had kept the rest to herself.
He Pope almost choked as he struggled to find the correct words. "Well one appropriate station."
"And at the moment you have no need of a marriageable alliance but if the need arose you would marry me to the moon."
"What? Does the sun threaten our papacy now?" The Pope reached up to kiss his daughters forehead to show the softness in his questioning.
"No, Father." Lucrezia saw the humour in such a topic. "Mars in in a unique aliment with Saturn, the heaven beams down upon us…for the moment." Still, she was so adamant in her views to further stress her cause. "But the day may come."
There was a silence between the pair but when the babe began to cry the Pope spoke once more. "Let me hold him. Now come along, that's right." He turned from his young grandchild to Lucrezia once more. "So, a wet nurse We insist."
The Pope began to walk from the room and as a result saw the lady Amara sitting in her unclothed state inside the sweet smelling waters. He was quick to address his daughter's young friend. "Donna Amara."
Amara breathed under a scarlet face. "Your Holiness."
The Pope continued to stare at Amara with a puzzling look. It was becoming clearer to him, with Amara's softly burning cheeks in his mind the fascination that he had heard his son, Cesare had grown towards the Medici girl. His eyes never changed until the Cardinal Sforza addressed him. "The French Ambassador awaits, Your Holiness."
The Pope looked startled for a moment before he muttered under his breath. "Oh God, isn't he dead yet?"
"He's not even sick." The Cardinal replied waiting for the Pope just outside of Lucrezia's room.
"Come let us see the French Ambassador. What could he have to say?"
The two girls burst out into the laughter the moment he had left the room. Amara, forgetting about her hair and only thinking to hide her burning face sunk down into the waters in the hope that they would swallow her.
"Maria?" Amara ran her hands over her hair and started to remove the pins that held it in place as she called out for one of her maids. "Maria?"
"I'm afraid I send her away." She stopped in her tracks but continued walking once she recovered from the sight of Cesare Borgia lying on the bed, his arms behind his head.
"You should know Cardinal Borgia that it is not proper to be found in a Ladies room." She waited until she had finished her sentence before she let herself smile.
"Oh! I was quite unaware." He mocked his shock pulling himself up from the bed he continued, "Allow me to make amends." Before Amara knew what was happening his lips were upon hers. It seemed that their single month apart had been too long for the Cardinal. Nevertheless, Cesare knew of the news he had gathered from travelling Amara did not.
"How was your trip?" She asked breathlessly when she pulled away. "Did you find him?"
"It was fruitful." Cesare launched himself towards her again.
"So you did." She placed a hand on his chest to stop him. "Does that mean you don't have to go away again?"
"Perhaps, why?" He cocked his head to the side and continued arrogantly. "Do you dislike it when I go away?"
"Who told you that?" Amara chuckled at the statement moving slowly over to her bedside table. She began to slowly remove her rings and drop them swiftly onto the copper plate. "I was merely curious."
Cesare pressed on. "But haven't you missed me?"
"I don't believe so." She pouted.
"I have missed you." Cesare's arms scooped around up from behind and threw her down onto the bed. She shrieked while he continued mercilessly, pinning her underneath him her wrists trapped above her head between his fingers. "Will you admit it now?"
Amara smirked. "A little."
Cesare moved his hand to tip her face up before his mouth covered hers. It was the same shock as always when his soft lips met hers. Amara still couldn't understand how they could be so soft when Cesare himself had such a harsh reputation. While he was distracted by other events Amara managed to slip out of his grip, her hands travelled to run over his jaw and through his dark curls. It was just after Amara released a breathless moan she heard the high pitched noise.
"Oh my… Amara." Cesare groaned when she had goaded herself out from under him to investigate.
"I heard something." She shushed him with swollen lips. If anyone was paranoid about being caught it was Amara de' Medici. She was aware, of course, that people talked but that didn't mean anyone could catch them in the act.
Cesare watched her fretting figure for a moment before he too heaved himself from the bed. He knew what the noise, after all he was the one who had brought it into the room. Amara was preoccupied with trying to compose herself that she didn't think to turn back towards the Cardinal until he coughed.
She stared at him with parted lips and rosy cheeks. "What are you holding?"
It was a kitten. She knew what kittens looked like and there one was in his arms staring at her with its green eyes which matched her own. "Do we have mice?"
"I saved it." He explained stroking the creature behind its ears. "Some choir boys were going to drown it for being a witch's demon."
"And you don't think it is?" Amara understood that the common folk thought black cats were the companions to witches and although Amara wasn't inclined to believing in superstition that didn't mean she was happy with letting one into her chamber.
"It's not even black." He held the cat up to show its stomach. Although the most of it was one colour in the centre lay a splodge of white. "See. If you don't want him I can easily take him back to the choir boys."
"No." She barked in horror. With one large breathe she crossed the room to Cesare. "There's no need to be rash."
He allowed her to take the gift into her arms. "I thought you might say that."
"He'll need a new bed." She demanded, placing her new toy onto the soft bedding.
"I'll have one made." He agreed with a nod and then tugged her into him once more. "I have a meeting with my father."
"You should hurry then." She said but her grip on him didn't loosen. "Juan will already be there."
"That is because he has no distractions." Cesare's voice was tinted with humour behind his teasing tone.
Amara tilted her head to one side and enquired, "Am I a distraction?"
"Yes." He replied flicking her nose with his own.
"You should go." He moaned in resistance burrowing his head into her neck causing her to laugh. "I can distract you later – Go!" Amara ordered Cesare while pushing him from her chambers.
It was well into darkness when Cesare Borgia returned to his rooms. Amara had been trying to sleep without success as her mind raced. She had heard some maids muttering together in a giggling state over the exciting fight that had broken out earlier that day between a Cardinal and his brother. It did not take long for Amara to deduce who they had been speaking of, especially when they ceased in their gossiping the moment they noticed her.
Cesare collapsed onto the end of the bed with a soft thud. Amara raised herself up to try and study his face for bruising or any other indication that he had recently come to blows. There was nothing which gave Amara a reason to give herself a small dash of hope.
"Are you going to tell me about it?" Amara made an attempt to sound uninterested.
"About what?" Cesare sounded tired but that wasn't enough to stop Amara.
"The fight." She told him deciding that it would hours of goading before he admitted it himself. "Have you never heard of Fratricide?"
"Will you now tell me of my foolishness?" Cesare was flustered and frustrated. He had already heard of his stupidity from his mother, father and Micheletto, he did not need Amara to add to that list.
"It was foolish." She insisted.
"And you would protect Juan?" He finally flung himself around to face her. He was angry that was for sure but so was Amara.
The thought of Cesare fighting his brother was one thing but him thinking that Amara preferred Juan to himself was quite another. "You really are a fool."
"Then why do you protect him so?" He accused struggling to get his left boot off.
"Because one of us has to!" She exasperated. "Don't you see? You have to at least have the face of a man who loves his brother. People are going to think that you're not strong."
"Is that what you would have me do?" Cesare blasted. "To pretend we are the perfect family."
"That is impossible." Amara said seeing the humour in a perfect family. There was not one in this world and she doubted there would ever be one. "Still, you must be a family and families are united."
"You're right." He surrendered sinking his head into the palms of his hands. "Of course, you are."
Amara watched him struggle on with his boots for a few more moments before she decided to act. She swung her legs from the bed and approached him carefully. "Let me." She began. It was obvious that he was toying with the idea of letting her help, Amara didn't wish to have another argument so she carefully peeled each of his fingers away to be replaced by her own.
"I'm sorry." She finally said after managing to undo the second boot and placing it to one side. "I only say what I must to protect us. Juan is like a rat – you can't corner him and if he knows you intend to take his place… I worry what he will resort to in order to keep it."
"He infuriates me." Cesare blazed. She let him have that attack, since it wasn't aimed at her.
"I know." She agreed moving up to run her hands through his head. Amara lowered herself onto his knee wrapping her legs around his waist and whispered, "You shouldn't let him get to you this way." When he made no indication that he would speak again Amara decided to continue. "He's jealous, that's all."
"Jealous of what?" He sounded taken back by her statement.
"Everything." Her head was resting on his shoulder now. "The world wouldn't be enough for Juan. He thinks that your family loves you more."
"Not of you then?" Cesare suggested.
"Me?" Amara laughed an astonished sound. "Why would he be jealous of me?"
"I could list a few reasons." He sounded almost uninterested at first. That was until he grasped Amara from under her upper thighs and managed, somehow, to flip her onto her back. "Or I could show you."
Cesare's hands ran along her sides. It felt as though tiny pins prickled through her skin when he touched her and even with the small strange pain it brought she was willing to endure. He bent his head down to the nape of her neck and with travelling hands shifted her nightgown up.
When Cesare and Amara's intimate relationship was new she would gasp as he reached to pull her clothing up. It wasn't like that anymore, although a small part of her was still shocked she no longer reached down to stop him.
His lips trailed down her body planting soft kisses as he went. He found spots to claim for his own, gently biting and sucking until he rested where Amara felt the throbbing sensation. She had found that he often ventured downwards even though she was certain that the smell must have given him some repulsion. Still, he never seemed to complain.
"Cesare!" She had meant to caution him but her voice yielded to his actions at the last syllable. She was close to the edge, the knots inside her stomach were gathering together. Amara whimpered and groaned her legs flailing. She didn't want to be overcome like this, she wanted to be with him, joined with him. Not really thinking Amara reached down, grabbed a fistful of Cesare's dark hair and tugged – hard.
He came up instantaneously a look of disbelief clouded his features. "Little Medici."
"Cesare Borgia." She retaliated in the same voice.
"Are you ordering me about?" Amara was speechless, was she? That wasn't the intended desire she had, she only wished him to stop for a moment so she could gather herself.
"I wouldn't dream of it." She retorted piercing her lips together to stop them from breaking out into a smile. Before Amara could scream or make any noise at all he was on top of her, firmly pressing her down and positioned in the place she wanted him the most.
He goaded himself into her with the same breathless groan as always. She hooked her legs around his waist dragging him closer to her. After a few more curses and murmurs into empty space Amara felt the familiar heat rise up in her cheeks before it spread through her whole body, burning every nerve, every fibre of her being. She was quiet – like she always was – when it came. Her back arched raising her chest against him until it was over.
They lay tangled up in one another, breathless with hearts hammering against them so hard that Amara was certain hers would never stop. Cesare gathered her into him, his eyes closed in sweet content. It seemed he had managed to forget all about Juan with her help. She observed him in that state and wondered about Lucrezia. Her first husband had clearly been a disappointment to her, especially when it came to performing the task she had just committed. Amara had thought that it always hurt but men who were kind would get it over with quickly. Studying Cesare she realised that if other men were so horrid to only think of themselves when Cesare could make her feel like a goddess she would rather die than lie with any other man.
"Cesare?" She whispered not certain if he had surrendered to the nights call yet.
"Hmm…" He answered with a clear struggle.
"There will never be anyone else." She felt the need to tell him that although the thought both scared and excited her. "Only you."
"No there won't." He agreed in a tone that was somewhere between humour and solemnity. He drew her closer, his mouth grazing her ear. "You're mine."
February
When Amara de' Medici was living at the Borgia Villa she was used to dining with the Borgia family. However, she was still not used to dining in the Vatican as the meals were often accompanied by the Holy Father who she felt rather uncomfortable dining with.
"I propose a wager?" Amara was so focused on the red liquid being poured into her goblet she barely heard Juan Borgia speak.
"Gambling?" The Pope sounded outraged at such a suggestion.
"Please, Father." Juan pressed knowing his father would eventually grant him anything he wanted.
The Pope mumbled something under his breath in a disapproving tone but allowed his golden son to continue. "And what is this wager on?"
"The horserace tomorrow." Amara swallowed trying to avoid either of the Borgia brother's gaze as she reached for her goblet. The horserace had caused some friction and since the fight which had erupted a few days earlier the tension between the brothers had grown.
"A Borgia I would hope." The Borgia Pope chortled at the notion of anything other outcome.
"Of course…" Juan paused, his eyes flicked to rest on Cesare before moving back around the table. "But which brother?"
Amara attempted to fixate her mind on something other than the current conversation growing throughout the room. She moved her hand down and placed it gently on Cesare's upper leg in the hope that it would soothe him.
"Amara?" Her head snapped up to face Juan. "Who would you prefer? Myself or my brother?"
Amara almost stuttered out her answer but with some miracle she managed to make it to the end of the sentence fluently. "I would not like to gamble as our dear Holy Father says it is a sin."
"I'm afraid I must insist." Juan's eyes were firmly set on her now. She could feel the fierce stare burning into her and so it seemed could Cesare since he moved his hand to clasp his hand on top of hers.
With no argument from the Holy Father she couldn't resist the Duke of Gandia any longer. She smiled and with a slight wit in her smile she answered. "I suppose it would be whoever rode the fastest horse."
"That would be Averardo then." Lucrezia tittered, Amara joined her but she couldn't ignore the way Cesare's hand firmly gripped hers beneath the table.
Amara found that she couldn't sleep the night before the horserace. She could feel Cesare steady breathing next to her but while he could place the nagging feeling of nerves aside, Amara could not. She was plagued with thoughts of Cesare's crumpled figure on the dusty floor, trampled by the passing horses while Juan placed the crown upon his head.
When the pale dawn finally graced the room with light Amara decided to stop fighting herself. Cesare stirred as she tried to remove herself from his arms. He murmured his complaint and made an attempt to keep her in his embrace. Eventually, she wriggled herself away from him and the bed.
She slipped on his Cardinal robe, it was something that Amara had become accustomed to doing in the morning. She enjoyed the way the red looked against her skin and the feel of the fabric, which smelt so much of her lover, overwhelmed her.
She brought herself to sit at Cesare's great desk running her hands over the oak. On various occasions she had tried to write a letter to a member of her family but every time she did her mind wiped itself clean. What could she tell them? How she shared a bed with a Cardinal? How they intended to free him of those robes?
No.
"Plotting my downfall, Little Medici?" His voice startled her. Cesare was still lying in the bed, his head resting on the pillow as he observed her with only one eye visible.
"Always." She quipped with a breezy smile.
"Guards! Guards!" Cesare crossed the room while he yelled for help. Amara jumped from her seat when he raced towards her with a growing smile on his face. She shrieked as she tried to flee her predator. Amara was still out of his grip when a servant entered the room. Cesare didn't shift his eyes from her while he ordered, "Fetch me some water. I wish to bathe."
Cesare didn't miss the slight blush that rose to Amara's cheeks when the servant saw her in the Cardinal attire. She only blushed though, as embarrassing as it was a servant would never risk talking about what he had seen. The world was terrified of Cesare Borgia and the rumours that circled him. The servants were surprisingly fast at gathering the water and soon the bath was full. The couple never moved from their watching state, one ready to run and the other to pounce.
As soon as the door was shut Cesare flung himself into action. Amara darted across the room and over the bed with a shriek. It was without success as Cesare caught her by the waist. She could feel his arousal pushed against her, it was always that way in the mornings. He swept her hair to one side, and dipped his head down so his lips could brush her shoulder.
"Shouldn't you be saving yourself?" She advised. "For the horserace."
"Are you worried about my vigour?" Cesare asked pushing himself against her.
"Should I be?" Amara said the words in a tone that provoked so it was hardly a surprise when she was lifted from the floor and plunged along with Cesare into the waters without a care for his cardinal robes.
The race began at noon and even with their early rise the couple did not have much time after they had bathed. Still, they managed to get Amara to the grand viewing stand which had been made specifically for that occasion.
"Amara." Lucrezia had a twisted smile on her face as she addressed her friend the moment Cesare had left. "Your hair seems to be wet."
"I had a bath." Amara was trying to remain an innocent, if only her flushed face wouldn't give her away.
"Oh." Lucrezia trailed off. "It was only that Cesare's was a little damp too."
The two girls met one another's eyes with a small spark before they both began to laugh, Lucrezia from her own amusement and Amara from embarrassment.
The race had caused the crowds that lined the streets of Rome to be rowdier than usual and the Pope not wishing to let down his faithful Christian people had promptly commenced the festivities. The people of Rome cheered and howled as their favourites overturned each other, desperately crying out in effortless attempts to win their wagers. The first lap had to Borgia horses skimming one another, both in the lead. Amara tried to steady her breathing as she realised that maybe Cesare losing wasn't the worst outcome. If he fell there was a high chance he would be trampled. It wasn't long until the people of Rome were given their winner – Juan Borgia.
Amara's heart could have hit the floor the way it wallowed in her stomach at the sight of the chanting Borgia. "Where's Cesare?" Amara asked a little uneasy.
Lucrezia was already making her decent to crown her brother with his title and didn't hear Amara's concern. She continued scanning the crowd for some sign that he was around, surely he couldn't have fallen so far short of the title. When Amara did see him she felt her stomach clench. He was wiping the dust that covered his face away from his mouth, spitting at the ground. It was like a nightmare, a living nightmare.
Her legs moved before her brain began to think. She pushed through the sweat covered bodies, down onto the racetrack and soon she had enclosed her arms around him.
"What happened?" She desperately queried. "Did you fall? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine." He didn't mean to be stark, Amara knew that. His eyes darted from her to his brother who was still riding around triumphantly. When his view returned to her once more his face softened as he kissed the side of her head. Amara wondered if she truly looked so terrible.
"What happened?" Amara demanded, her heart was still hammering in her chest.
Micheletto held out his hand to the lady, she had barely noticed him standing nearby. Seeing what he laid out in his flat palm she sighed, knowing what it meant. "Caltrops."
It was said that Proserpina was stolen from a meadow of delicate, soft, sweet smelling flowers by the God of the Underworld, Pluto. Her mother, Ceres had fought desperately to rescue her gentle child from the clutches of such a man. But, before she could convince Proserpina's father, Jupiter to go into the underworld and take her back Proserpina had fallen into the clutches of love. Being in such a state of distress she took four pomegranate seeds into her hand and swallowed each one with a quiet determination.
Cesare had chosen her goddess for her. She had laughed when she first opened the package before jumping onto the bed to thank him.
After that encounter, she had forgotten about the new dress and the goddess too preoccupied with her nightmares over the horserace. However, now, looking at her reflection she felt a different prickle of nerves settle in her. The dress was made of white silk, or at least it felt that way against her skin but on the top the lace fell over like a waterfall of golden beaded petals and flowers. The dress dipped down her back, only stopping at her lower waist, and the straps which held it up were only thin allowing the world to see her arms. She had not realised, when only wearing the dress in front of Cesare who had seen far more of her, how revealing the dress was.
She was still staring at her reflection as her maids fluttered around her trying to make everything perfect. They noticed his presence before Amara did. She was too busy looking at her breasts, striving to establish if you could see them through the fabric. When her maids stopped with their fretting hands and all rotated at once to curtsy, she turned her head to one side to see him.
"Thank you." Amara was sure to smile at each of the girls in turn. "You may leave us." The maids could barely contain themselves as they fell over one another. They were just as excited as the rest it seemed, as the Pope had set up festivities across the Vatican for them to enjoy.
"I have a gift for you."
"Another one?" Amara said dryly. The gift he had given her when he had first arrived back from his search for Della Rovere was fast asleep on her bedding.
"Yes." His hands were hidden from her sight around his back. "You'll like this one."
Amara didn't stress that she liked the other one as well. The cat had been a slight nuisance at first but in the end she enjoyed speaking to a creature that could not spill all her secrets to the highest bidder. "What is it then?"
He held up his hand to reveal something that swayed gently from his index and middle finger. It caught the candlelight every now and again, gleaming when it did. "May I?"
"Yes, of course." Amara swung her hair to one side allowing Cesare complete access to her neck. He fastened the necklace in place. From closer inspection she could see that it was a pomegranate, the rubies taking the role as glossy seeds.
"Beautiful." He whispered against her neck, his hot breath ran shivers over her.
Amara let her weight fall against him allowing him to breathe the scent of blossom that radiated off her skin. She soon snapped out of her trance when the bell tolled, signally the nights events had begun.
"We're going to be late." She flew from his arms like they burned her skin.
Cesare was in the same place, staring at her with a sigh. "We aren't already?"
"We're always late." Amara reminded him with an edge. She had been teased by Lucrezia earlier and she was sure other people talked.
"I am not the distraction." He argued.
"Well, I won't distract you any longer." And with that decision she twirled on her heel and floated down the corridor away from the rooms and Cesare Borgia.
Amara had almost evented the masque on her own but at the last minute her body had taken on the role of a coward. The idea of entering the room that was already so full of people alone was not the thing which scared her, it was the idea of entering in her current attire.
She peeked from her safe place behind a pillar on the upper balcony to admire the room below. The Pope had outdone himself in this new commission and she wondered if the new Borgia rooms he was building in the Vatican would be as beautiful as the room below.
Amara gasped, her whole body losing its orientation as she tumbled almost over the balcony. There was a hand on her waist – thankfully. She turned to see who her saviour was with a scowl, after all it was their hand which had caused her to lose balance.
"I thought you didn't wish to be late." He smiled so wide she was sure he was trying to stop himself from laughing.
"I don't." She answered. "I was waiting for you."
Sensing Amara's apprehension towards entering the masque Cesare tilted her chin upwards, gripped between his two gripped fingers and sincerely informed her, "You are a vision, and anyone who says otherwise will meet my wrath."
"And anyone who speaks ill of you shall meet mine." Amara promised with a small smile. "We should go down – Lucrezia is probably all alone."
He offered her his arm and she was thankful for it. Clutching Cesare's arm made her nerves less obvious to the room. Amara realised her mistake as she reached the top of the stairs, if she had wished to slip in unnoticed you did not enter, late and with the most notorious man in the papacy. Especially when that man was a cardinal, a cardinal Amara was sleeping with.
"My dear." Amara recognised the voice that reached out to her the moment they had landed at the base of the stairs. "You look ravishing."
"Thank you, Juan." She smiled trying to sound genuine. "Or should I say Mars."
"You should." It was a small triumph to have guessed his choice of God. "The God of Warfare."
"But there shall be none tonight." The change in Amara's voice was a clear reminder for both of the Borgia brothers.
"No. Would you dance, my dear? That wouldn't be an issue would it brother?" Juan met Cesare's eyes with a smirk. The three of them were still the centre of attention, the whole of Rome was waiting for the next fight to break between the brothers.
"I'm sure it's not." Amara replied for the tense Cesare Borgia. She supposed that he must have been using every ounce of restraint he possessed not to pull his sword on Juan there. She faced him with an easy smile while removing her arm. "Lucrezia is sitting by herself."
His face didn't change from its hard set state of loathing as he stormed away, leaving her alone with Juan. Amara fought hard to not let her face drop from anything but the smile it was currently holding.
"Shall we?" Juan had a victorious smile upon his face.
"Yes." Amara took his arm trying to maintain an air of serenity as he led her to their dance positions.
"So, you are Proserpina?" He enquired when the dance had begun.
"Yes." She answered noticing that his grip on her hand was a little tighter than was usual for such a dance.
"What dark forces took you hostage?" He laughed thinking that he knew exactly what forces it was.
"Who said she was taken?" The response brought a look which resembled shock to Juan's face. "What if she chose?"
"What girl would chose to stay in darkness?" His voice was low.
Amara didn't need a moment to think of an answer. "One who was in love of course."
Before the God of Warfare could respond to her he let out an unimaginable unmanly shriek of terror. Amara took a step back and only realised at the last moment what had caused his outburst. Little tacks lay upon the shiny floor, the same tacks that Cesare had found on the dusty racetrack earlier that day.
"My Lord!" Amara tried to sound sincere but was afraid that her true emotion would break through.
Juan whipped his head towards her with a nasty glared. Clearly, he partly blamed Amara for the travesty or perhaps he did not wished to be laughed at so. Whatever it was caused him to march away with a slight limp from his slightly wounded foot.
Amara could feel herself losing the battle to maintain her composure. She glanced around the great hall and her eyes settling on the Borgia siblings who were caught up in the hilarity. Cesare met her gaze with a glint in his eye and when he rose one eyebrow Amara gave in to herself – loudly.
It was later, when the dancing had ended and the guests were starting to fall into drunken masses on the floor that Cesare came for his sister and mistress.
"Come along." He addressed the pair had fallen upon one another in a delicate slump, their limbs intertwining as they giggled against each other.
"Where?" Amara inquired not wishing to move from her content state.
Cesare said nothing. Instead, he held his hand out towards her. She knew then that he wouldn't say another word until she followed him. Amara sighed, placing her hand in Cesare's and another in Lucrezia's making him do the work of pulling them to their feet.
He led them carefully and quickly through the room, up the stairs and finally they all stood on the balcony in the Pope's private quarters. The outside air carried the air of smoke with it and Amara didn't need to wait another moment to realise what it was they were going to admire. She ran to the stone wall almost throwing herself overboard as she strained to get closer to the growing fire.
She breathed in deeply trying to savour the smell of past memories. Amara squinted into the darkness to see the burning figure better.
"What is it?" She inquired, trying to make out the shape of the burning stacks of hay and wood.
"The Borgia Bull." Lucrezia said sweetly.
Amara bit her inner lip. "Oh." Cesare wrapped his arms around the two girls, she felt Lucrezia turn towards her brother and imagined the delight on her face. She supposed that she should have done the same but the idea of the burning bull only made her wonder:
"How long would it be till the Borgia's were consumed by the flames they had set around them?"
A/N:
Hello my lovelies! How are we all? Revising? I should be!
Okay so I have two things to tell you and they're both in relation to this story.
1) I have set up a pintrest which has all the clothing that Amara wears on it. If you just type in Amara: The Unholy Family on boards it should come up. I have loads on there including the one that she wore at the Masque in case you couldn't imagine it.
2) This news is more exciting! I am going to Italy for two weeks! I am so excited I have been planning this trip since the dawn of time. So I am going to be seeing Florence and Rome as well as some other places but I'm really hoping it will give me more of a boost to see where the Borgias lived and Amara (if she was real). I don't know how well I will be able to update though so it may be just a little later than usual because I may not have time to write. Hopefully I will though and it will be much better if I get a real sense for the cities and architecture.
Now back to the story. Please tell me what you think, I cannot stress how much I cannot write if I don't get reviews. I just feel really down but when I get a surge of reviews I can write like crazy it's weird. I love all of your reviews and if you ask me a question I will respond, just so you know.
Thank you all so much for reading,
- Anna x
