Cesare named his daughter after me.
"Louise de Candia-Borgia d'Albret," I repeated the name he had just spoken a moment ago.
He was getting dressed and kept adding his armor and weapons on, and I just sat on the sofa beside the lifeless fire.
"She will be addressed as Louise Borgia when she is older," he said with pride.
Louise Borgia. The name I had once written in old notes and the name I dreamt of when I was wooed by Cesare was now a real living person- except it was not I who embodied the impossible name. A sensation ran through my body and I had felt this feeling many times before when Ezio was with other women: jealousy. I should have been honored that Cesare secretly chose my name for his daughter, but the only emotion I felt was envy. Envy for a child of two years who had the name I could never have had. I shook these thoughts away; why should I be jealous if I do not even care for Cesare anymore?
"It is almost noon. I have to go deal with Juan's rotting corpse; won't the Assassin worry that you have been gone so long?"
My mind was so filled with Louise Borgia that I did not even care to defend Ezio's name so Cesare took my silence as an opportunity.
He took my hand, placed my palm upward, and put some money in it.
I looked at it and then at him. "What is this?"
"For your services last night. Do not think I haven't done this before. You get a bigger tip then the others would because I understand how difficult it must be for you to go from a Borgia's mistress to a common courtesan who crawls at a vigilante's feet," he said as he took a final look at himself in the mirror before he boldly held my face and kissed me.
"You have quite the nerve, Cesare," I finally replied.
"You have seen nothing yet, my dear," he said in answer as he left the building, leaving me in the dark to gather my things and walk back to the Rosa in Fiore. My walk was quieter than usual; most people were still in their homes. Everywhere I went was quiet, but the Rosa in Fiore was anything but quiet.
As I opened the door to go inside I saw girls running about trying to find Claudia, and she was in turn trying to find Ezio. Bianca spotted me and ran to grab my arm, gasping and panicking like the others.
"The Borgia took Carla! We don't know what to do, we fear they discovered our part in taking the money and they mean to kill her! Claudia cannot find Ezio or Machiavelli and time is running out, oh Louise they will not let me go after her!"
"Nonsense Bianca, you would die if you tried to save Carla. Pray, tell me, which of the Borgia men took her, do you know?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"The Captain General, Cesare," she answered.
"Do you know where he has taken her?"
"Yes, follow me, I will show you the way."
We sneaked out of the chaos in the brothel and ran through the alleys of Rome, some I had never even seen before. I did not know what Cesare planned, but his words from earlier that day only brought fear into my heart. Bianca and I were eventually in front of a building with a big clock tower, but guards surrounded the building.
"Move along, there is nothing to see here!" yelled one guard.
"I know Cesare Borgia is in there, let us through!" yelled Bianca in return.
The guards laughed and one came closer and grabbed Bianca's wrists- an image that made my soul bitter and cruel.
"Let her go!" I demanded, pushing the guard away from her.
"Why you little bitch..." he said, taking his sword out and pointing it at me.
What I did next was shameful and hurtful to my pride, but I had no other choice. I was defenseless against the monsters that Cesare had created and only he could control them, so I screamed for his help, hopeful that the open windows would echo my voice and he would save me.
He did. His head emerged from a window high above the building and he leaned out, looking as two guards held my arms while the other had his sword inches away from my throat.
"You bastardi, what do you think you are doing?" Cesare yelled.
They did not move as they looked up and gave Cesare their answer. "This girl was taunting us and she wanted to see you, and we know you don't like being disturbed."
"Let her go! Please, if the women wish to see me, invite them up to the clock tower. I will wait for them there," he answered, disappearing back and closing the window when he finished speaking.
"You two are going to get it now. Asking to speak with the Captain General is like asking to speak with the devil himself," said one guard as he escorted us up the small flight of stairs.
"Shut up, stronzo, he'll kill us all if he hears you say that," said another guard anxiously.
The stairs stopped and in the small rectangular room was a ladder that led to an opening in the ceiling. We were ushered to climb the ladder and when we were at the top we stood on the roof of the clock tower. The roof of the tower was bigger than the small room we were in, but we were so high up and the only protection from falling was a short fence that bordered the roof. The wind made my legs shake in fear, the thought of being blown off the roof made me cling to Bianca as we stood only a few feet away from Cesare and the rope-bound Carla, whose eye make-up was smudged from the tears she had shed.
"Louise…" she choked in between her quiet sobbing.
"Oh Carla!" I sighed. I tried to reach for her but Cesare blocked my path with his sword.
"Stay back, Louise," he snapped.
"Why are you doing this, Cesare?" I yelled, "Whatever angst you have against me, do not let it out on my friends, I beg of you!"
"Beg all you want," he said as he grabbed a brown sack to cover Carla's head. "There is only one way you can save your friends."
"Anything! I will come back to you, I will live for you and die for you, just please, let her go!" I cried.
He laughed and said, "I do not want you to come back. You have tortured me for so long, why would I bring you back to play at my heartstrings and live a lie? Oh no, my dear, it is my turn to torture you. The only way your friends will live is if the Assassin comes to save them himself."
"Ezio?" I asked.
"Ezio Auditore; shout his name out to the sky and ask him to come save your friends. If he loves you, like you believe he does, he will come before I even have the chance to lay a finger on them. He seems to be good at sabotaging all my other plans that have to do with his cause… but are you one of the things he fights for, Louise?"
I was hesitant in my manner, and the way his eyes squinted told me that he knew this too. "He fights for the greater good, he fights for the freedom of those who have none. He would not let an innocent person die," I answered.
"So be it," was his final reply.
My heart pounded and my mind was racing and throughout the rushing moments, I just suddenly realized that he spoke of Carla in plural form. He did not say "your friend" but rather "your friends". I wondered whom else he had trapped and bound with ropes, until it hit me. I had unknowingly brought Bianca into a blood bath, and now my only hope was that Ezio did love me, and that he would come to save the innocent people he claimed he stood up for. My only hope was that I would hear that bizarre sound of an eagle and see him grab Carla before Cesare threw her off the roof, and stab him before he stabbed Bianca. In those precious seconds, I waited for him to come. I waited for him to open the window and lean out, telling the guards to let go of me.
I waited, but you can only be patient for so long before it is too late. As I stood in the blood that came from Bianca's throat and stared at Carla's small lifeless body on the ground, hundreds of feet below mine, I realized it was too late.
