Chapter One

"Lilliana!"

A voice broke through my reverie. I jumped to my feet as two men, one old and the other younger, approached my perch at the edge of the fountain. I dipped into a curtsey as my instructor had taught me.

"What are you doing out here, my dear?" the older man asked me.

I gestured to the fountain behind me. "I was simple enjoying the beauty of the garden, Master Auditore."

A warm smile crept onto the corners of his mouth. "It is a beautiful garden, Lilliana, but I must insist that you do not tarry here for too long, my dear. Florence is not as safe as it once was."

I dipped into another curtsey. "I understand. I will return to the estate in a few moments."

"Very good, my child." Master Auditore smiled at me warmly. "I must tell you that you are looking like your mother each day. She would be proud to see how fine of a young woman you have grown to become."

A flush spread across my cheeks. "You words warm my heart, Master Auditore. Thank you."

Before he could respond, a young man raced through the gate of the garden. He bowed to Master Auditore before he spoke. "My deepest apologies for disturbing you, Master Auditore. You are needed quite urgently at the bank."

Master Auditore nodded at the young man before thanking him for delivering the message. "Very well. Return to the bank and tell them I will be shortly." The man bowed again and left through the gate. Master Auditore turned to his son. "Ezio, please escort Lilliana back to the house and inform your mother where I have gone. I do not know how long I will be occupied, so tell her not to keep supper for me. I will eat when I return."

"But… Father-" Ezio began to protest.

Master Auditore cut Ezio's protests off sharply. "Son, you will do as I say! Lilliana is in my care, and you will protect her as you would your mother or your sister." His voice gentled as he continued, "Now, you will do well to avoid the guards. I sense there may be trouble brewing, and I do not want you mixed up in any misunderstandings. When you arrive, do not leave the house until I return. Make sure you tell your brothers as well."

"Yes, Father," Ezio said.

Master Auditore bade us farewell and exited the garden. I turned to Ezio, but he barely spared me a glance. "Let's get you home, Lilliana."

"Ezio…?" I queried quietly.

"What is it?" he said with a disinterested tone.

"Why is it that you dislike me so?" I asked him, an edge of hurt to my voice.

Ezio focused his gaze on me and was silent for a while, turning my words over and over in his mind. "I do not dislike you, Lilliana," he finally answered. Our eyes met, and we stared at eat other for a few moments. I felt a warmth spreading across my cheeks. I began to feel shy, but I did not understand why felt that way.

The moment was broken when Ezio extended his arm to me in offering. "Come, Lilliana. We must get home, quickly." I looped my arm through his, and we left the beautiful garden behind. The shadows of the buildings we longer than I had been expecting. I glanced up and noted the orange glow in the western sky.

"It is nearly sunset, isn't it?" I asked. "That is why you and Master Auditore came to search for me?"

"Yes. Mother was growing worried." Ezio's words had an edge to them. I could sense Ezio's tension from the way he held his arm, but I could see none of it on his face. "There is something… wrong. I feel as though we are just in a calm before a terrible storm comes."

"Yes, there has been a certain tension in the air," I agreed.

We were hurrying a down a busy street when Ezio suddenly pulled me into a side alley. "Be still," he whispered. I held my breath as a patrol of city guards went by our hiding place. I overheard a snippet of their conversation that sent chills racing down my spine.

"…Auditores are being accused of murder and treason. We go to make an arrest tonight."

I felt Ezio stiffen beside me. When the last of the guards had passed by, I peeled myself from the wall we had been pressed up against. "Ezio! Ezio, we must warn your father," I pleaded in a desperate whisper. "Ezio!"

He must have heard the urgency of in my tone, for Ezio unfroze a moment later. He pulled me along without another word. We continued to dodge the guards patrolling the streets by taking many alleys and side streets I had never known existed. By the time we had reached the Auditore house, the street lamps were being lit.

Ezio carefully pulled open the gate and peered around the corner. "It is alright," he assured me. We entered the estate alert for any signs that something was amiss. Ezio pushed the gate closed before joining me to look around. There was a silence in the air that chilled me to the bone. "What would you have me do?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

"You will check the bedchambers for any sign of my family or any clues you can find," Ezio told me. "I will check my father's study. We will meet back here in a quarter of an hour with anything we may find.

I nodded and turned to enter the living part of the estate. The house was devoid of any life, for there were no torches lit on the walls and the usual sounds of the house were absent. I climbed the stairs and made my way to the bedchamber of Claudia, Ezio's sister. I opened the door, and the room was empty as I had expected. Claudia's desk, usually covered with papers or books, was bare. Her room had been searched, that much I was certain, and the searchers had done poorly putting everything back in its place. I found a similar situation when I opened the door of Ezio's brothers', Federico and Petruccio, bedchambers.

I closed the door of Ezio's equally disheveled bedchamber and made my way to the bedchamber of Master Auditore and his wife. A gasp of horror escaped my throat when I looked at the mess before me. The usually spotless room had been torn apart as if a destructive wind swept through the room. Books and papers covered the floor. The wardrobe had been ripped open, and its contents were scattered across the room. Every drawer in Master Auditore's desk had been upturned and searched.

A small sound reached me through my shock. I held my breath, listening as hard as I could. The sound reached my ears again. I recognized the voice of Maria, the wife of Master Auditore. I raced across the room and found her in a crumpled heap on the floor near the bed. "Maria!" I cried, dropping to my knees next to her, and I clasped her hand in mine. Her skin was icy. "Maria, answer me! It is I, Lilliana. Please, you must tell me what happened!"

Maria opened her eyes, but she did not see me. Her gaze was locked onto something I could not see. "They took them!" she gasped.

"Who? Who did this, Maria?"

Maria's breath was becoming more labored. Her head turned towards the sound of my voice, and her eyes met mine. "The Templars did this…" she whispered. A long breath escaped her lungs, and she was silent. Her hand went limp in mine. I laid my head on her chest, but I heard no beating of her heart. Maria was dead.

I do not know how long I knelt there, tears streaming down my face, but the sound of footsteps broke through my sobs. I could not bring myself to move though. A warm hand wiped the tears spilling down my cheeks. "Who did this?" Ezio's voice stabbed like a dagger. I chanced a look at his face. His usually gentle eyes were gone, replaced by embers of hatred and fury.

"She only mentioned some group called the Templars," I choked out. I took a deep breath to steady my voice. "I haven't the faintest idea who they are though."

"That's alright," Ezio told me. He put his arm around my shoulders and squeezed. "There were papers in my father's study that the searchers missed. They mentioned these Templars, and there was mention of a Brotherhood. It seems my father was a member of the group."

We sat in silence a moment. "You must speak to your father, Ezio. He could explain why all of this has happened," I said, breaking the silence. "They must have taken your father and siblings to the prison tower."

"How am I to speak with them then?" Ezio asked me. "I am perhaps the most wanted man in Florence right now. If they are accusing my family of treason, I doubt that anyone would be permitted to speak to them. I could not just stroll into the prison and speak with them."

A mad idea was forming in my mind. "The guards need not know, Ezio."

"What do you mean?"

"I have seen how easily you climb buildings. Why should the prison tower be any different?"

"Lilliana, whatever mad idea you have needs to leave your mind now!" Ezio snapped. "There are too many things that could go wrong, and I will not be putting you or myself in needless danger."

"Perhaps it will be dangerous. Perhaps many things can go wrong, but Ezio, we must try!" I exclaimed. In a moment of passion, I did not guard my words from jumping out. "Your father always told you to never give up! There is always a way to accomplish something. You must be creative and able to change your course of action at a moment's notice!"

Ezio's face turned to a look of surprise. "That's what father always told me when he taught me swordplay in the courtyard! How do you know he said all of that? You were ill in bed at the time."

The excitement I had felt growing inside of me drained out at his words. "I have been learning how to defend myself," I admitted. "I listened in and watched your swordplay lessons, and I practiced on my own in my room or in the garden." I pulled a small, beautifully crafted dagger from the folds of my skirt. "I saved my florins and purchased a dagger of my own to practice with."

"Lilliana, do you know how angry Father would be if he knew about this?" Ezio said after a few moments.

"Yes, and that is why I kept it hidden. Ezio, I would like to be able to defend myself if I ever have need. That is why I will help you find a way to speak to your father. It is not common knowledge that I am of your household, Ezio. The guards would never suspect me."

"Lilliana, you are not going to help me. It is much too dangerous for you. You could be captured, if not killed. The guards would not be kind to a young woman, you must know this! You are under my protection until my father is released or until I find you somewhere safe to stay. I would hardly be fulfilling my duty as your guardian if I allowed you to do something so stupid, so dangerous. You cannot go charging off into a fight with the city guards. We will find you a safe place to hide, and then I will go see if I can talk to my father."

"Ezio, I am an adult now. I am sixteen years old! I can make my own decisions!"

"You are still in my care. Until the day you are married, you will be under my protection."

"Very well, I accept that you are my guardian and are responsible for my safety. However, just because you are my guardian does not mean you can order me about as if I were a servant, Ezio!"

"Lilliana, please, listen to me. Do not needlessly put yourself in danger."

"Ezio, remember, you are not the only one to have lost family today. Besides, I have a plan that just may work… if you are willing to listen."

With a heavy sigh, Ezio shook his head. Disappointment shot through me. "Very well, Lilliana. I will listen to your plan of yours before deciding. You are right, we must work together."