Cesare reclined with one hand resting on the table and the other supporting his forehead as if deep in thought. He paid little attention to the conversation taking place between Juan and his father; something about conspiracies. He wasn't sure and didn't care. He was sick of the bonds of the Papacy and the paranoia of his father. He closed his eyes, casting his mind back to the morning he had held Friar in his arms. He could still taste her in his mouth, smell her honeyed scent in his nostrils. Friar was easy to conjure as she had etched an imprint on his soul.

"Cesare!" Rodrigo shouted as he slammed his fist against the table.

Cesare jumped accidentally spilling a goblet of wine. "What father?" he growled, reaching for a cloth.

"I have just came back from the dead and you snap at me?"

"Sorry. I did not mean to, father. My mind is else where."

Juan glared suspiciously at his brother and sneered as if he was silently ridiculing his brother. Childish mockery he had aggravated Cesare with since they were little boys.

"Well return your mind to your father, boy! Me; your father, who has an entire army of enemies seeking my blood!"

Cesare tossed the cloth on the table and sat straight taking in all the schemes and plots to keep Rodrigo's enemies at bay.

A hand of time later, Juan and Cesare strolled down a corridor in the Vatican. Micheletto suddenly appeared from the shadows causing both of the brothers to lurch in fear.

"How many times have I ordered you not to do that?" barked Cesare, not in the mood for his assassin's bizarre behavior.

Juan cast a smile toward Cesare's assassin. "On edge brother?"

Cesare ignored Juan's question turning his attention to Micheletto.

"There is a chance that one of the Vatican maids has witnessed an act that she should not have."

"And what was that?" Juan asked, still eying Cesare.

"She might have overheard the plot to rob Cletto's Holy War collection. "

"Oh that. Yes, well that could fling my father and Cletto at odds. Better take care of it. Slit her throat and toss the body into the river."

Juan started to walk away but Cesare halted him. "Murder her before we know if she even knows anything? Let us just have someone we trust question her and if suspicion falls upon her than we will take a different measure."

Juan laughed "Since when have you balked at the taking of a mere peasant's life?"

"The maid may have a child or an elderly mother at home; peoples whose sole welfare depends upon her."

"You have worn the cloth too long. You are growing weak, brother."

Cesare shattered a fist into the corridor wall. "It is not weakness to value life!"

"Since when is a peasant's life consider of value? They are like animals! They do not feel as we do! They do not laugh and cry like we do! They are like a pack of wild dogs; animals whose sole purpose in life is to serve men like us."

Cesare stared hard at his brother and saw in him the monster that he himself had felt like outside of Friar's cottage. The sight sickened him. To Micheletto "Question the maid. If she is guilty, do what you have to do."