A/N: So encouraged by all the feedback I'm getting from you guys! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you all had wonderful holidays!

Elena watched as the candle she had set down on the windowsill flickered steadily, it's reflection mirrored in the foggy, salted glass. A faint moonlight danced on the rippling, inky surfaces of the canals outside. Golden light burned within a few street lanterns hanging from shop posts and inn signs, helping to scatter some of the nearby shadows, but for the most part Venezia had become a quiet, sleeping world lost in the peaceful darkness of night. Elena sighed despairingly. The entire world was slumbering, and she was too restless to even sit in a chair.

"Elena. Elena, are you asleep?"

"I wish."

Serafina entered and closed the door behind her. No sooner was it latched, then she trotted over to her older sister and said,

"Grazie. A thousand times, Elena, grazie—"

"Why did you let him in?"

Serafina fumbled for words for a moment. "He came to see you. Honestly. He came here to ask me where he could find you."

Elena smirked. "And found something better, it seems."

"No, Elena. That's not how it happened."

"That's exactly how it happened!" Elena laughed bitterly and walked over to the small wooden bed, plopping herself upon the rickety old mess of sheets. Staring up at the ceiling, she rambled on, "And I know he's charming and handsome and tempting, but it's just a game to him, Fina. You shouldn't let him play you."

Serafina set down her candle on a nearby chest and planted her hands on her hips. "Good advice coming from the woman who was readily playing his game only a few years ago."

"Sì, and now I know better."

"Know what?"

"That if I kept it up, I would be having his children one day, Dio non voglia." (God forbid)

"Bene (fine), so he managed to seduce me and I made a foolish mistake. But he—"

"You would do well to have this be the first and last mistake with Ezio. He knows exactly what he's doing."

Serafina leapt onto the bed and landed next to her sister's head, much like the 5-year-old that never truly grew out of her. Elena looked up at her younger sibling, admiring the way the dim candlelight traced the soft, golden curls that fell around her pretty face.

"Elena, why do you dislike Ezio so much?"

"I don't dislike him. On the contrary, he's a good man. I'm only trying to spare you from doing something you'll regret."

"Like what?" Serafina's blue eyes suddenly illuminated with wonder. "Do you regret something?"

Elena sighed and turned her eyes back to the ceiling.

Sì.

"Elena." Serafina wrapped her fingers around her sister's arm in a way that made Elena want to reach for it and hold it tight. "I know you and Ezio…you…would you say you were lovers?"

"No," she smirked.

"But you were close."

Elena shook her head. "We were friends. And we still are. But we were friends that enjoyed the occasional roll in the hay and therein lies the problem. It may have been excusable if we actually were lovers, but to sleep with each other because it was convenient and fun…no one could overlook that."

The small scrunched skin between Serafina's eyebrows told Elena she was beginning to ramble again. Taking a deep breath, she searched for the simplest, boldest words she could conjure,

"It deems you a whore; scandalous and unchaste. Once word spreads, your reputation as one of Ezio's many women renders you…unwanted. Whether Mama and Papa are aware of it, I don't know, but half of Firenze certainly is."

Serafina chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. "You think it's because of Ezio you are still a maiden?"

Elena shrugged. "Like I said, Fina, it's a game of sorts. I chose to play it and in some ways, sì, I wish I hadn't. And I didn't even have much to lose. But you—you have a husband! Think of everything you're risking when you let Ezio in; your marriage to Alessandro, our parent's faith in you, your own stature. It makes me sick to think you could lose it all so easily if anyone were to find out. And it makes me mad that Ezio would jeopardize you like that. Bastardo."

Serafina's gaze fell on the blankets she was fiddling with. "Married," she muttered. "Sometimes I forget I am. Or I think I'm married to some ghost that comes to haunt the house every once in a while."

Elena sat up. Now it was her turn to reach for her sister's hand. "I can't imagine what it must be like."

Serafina tossed her a sad little smile. "It's not easy. I know it's no excuse, but it is lonely when Alessandro's gone."

For a brief moment, Elena pitied the image of her sister waiting by the window for her husband to come home from sea. How she must spend her days wandering throughout an empty house, patiently occupying herself with cooking, cleaning, counting the days…and having to come to an empty bed at night.

And then the image of Ezio snoring in her sister's bed resurfaced in her mind.

"I know. But Ezio knows this now, too. And while I don't doubt that his heart softens for your circumstance, he tends to think with his virilità (manhood), more often than naught."

Serafina smiled wickedly. "E che la virilità!" (And what a manhood!)

The sisters dissolved into a fit of giggles and Elena felt her cheeks blushing a rosy red, despite herself.

"I know you know what I'm talking about!" Serafina said. "Don't pretend you don't know!"

"Sì, sì, he's quite the stallion."

Elena watched with a smile as her sister rolled around on the bed, laughing hysterically, burying her face in the pillows so as not to wake their parents.

You'd never guess that she's the one who's married, Elena thought.

When the giddy fit of laughter had subsided, Serafina sat up next to her sister again, panting.

"What did he say to you when you saw him?"

Elena shook her head. "Stupid things," she said quietly.

"But did he say what he wanted?"

"No."

The blonde woman's lips pouted in disappointment. "He was in Roma, you know."

"Roma?" She nodded. "Perché?" (Why?)

"We…didn't get that far. He didn't say why he wanted to see you?"
"We didn't get that far, either. He said he wants to speak to me."

"About what?" Elena shrugged. "But you're going to, right? Elena. A man doesn't travel all the way from Roma just to ask how you've been faring."

"Somehow, I doubt his sole reason for coming to Venezia was to look for me."

Serafina whacked a pillow over her sister's head. "Don't be such a pessimista (pessimist)."

"Fina," Elena snatched the pillow from her sister and hugged it tightly. "Even if he is here for some kind of romantic notion, I don't want him to be."

"Perché? I thought you said he was a good man."

"He is, but…" Whatever else she had meant to say faded away into lost thought.

"You never forgave him for taking Gabriele." Elena looked over at her younger sister and those doll-like eyes.

"Gabriele is a grown man. He can do whatever he wants. If he chooses to follow Ezio, then so be it."

Serafina looked unconvinced. "Why did it bother you, then? When Gabriele left? I know you were much closer to him than I, but still…you were so angry when you found out."

Elena's gaze found the flickering flame on the windowsill and she watched as the wax drippings run down the yellowy candle like tears. "I was afraid that Gabriele followed Ezio for the wrong reasons. And I was angry with both of them for leaving without any sort of parting farewell."

Elena made an effort to never lie to her younger sister, but there were certain truths she kept locked away from everyone, even herself. Truths that she'd rather ignore and pretend they didn't exist. Yet the more she contemplated the thought, sitting in a dark bedroom and watching the candle slowly burn itself out, the more she realized her anger stemmed not from their leaving, but from being left behind.

"Sì," she eventually sighed. "Part of me wants to hold a grudge until the day comes that I can beat the sense out of both of them. The only problem is that I'm very fond of both of them."

Serafina smiled and combed her slender fingers through her sister's hair, wincing a little when they became entangled in one of many knots. "Well, I think you should go talk to him. At least see what Ezio wants. Who knows? Perhaps he has a way to reunite you with Gabriele."

Elena said nothing. It was too much to realistically hope for—she'd been wishing to see her elder brother ever since he'd disappeared with Ezio on that winter's eve several years ago. All she really needed to know was that he was alive and well. And only the assassino could tell her the truth.

"Then tell me…how do I get to the eastern docks?"

A/N: So a little more explained here...I hope everything makes decent sense and I didn't forget any important details. Thanks so very much you guys! You all rule! =D