A/N: Another piece with Gioffre Borgia, this set after my previous chapter with the lad. In this chapter Lucrezia and her husband Alfonso visit Squillace. Is it for family vacation or political scheming?
I honestly think the show creators made a mistake in "forgetting" Gioffre entirely after season 1. They should have used a growing Gioffre as a moral compass working opposite his dark, ambitious family. But maybe that's just my thoughts.

Spoilers: 3x07, also the Gioffre-chapter of this story, vaguely references 2x10

When In Squillace

"Welcome to Squillace, brother!"

Alfonso smiled widely. Upon hearing his sweet sister's dulcet tones, his feet brought him up the last few stone steps in great speed, as if they had angel wings. Sancia stood before him outside the castle walls with a brilliant smile on her fair features. The young woman with her long, dark locks was beautiful as a moonlit night dressed in white and gold beside her husband, Gioffre Borgia. It had truly been too long since Alfonso had last seen his sister and his heart pounded joyfully as it anticipated their long talks about everything that had transpired since their last meeting.

"Sister," Alfonso greeted as he kissed his sister's tanned cheeks with tender affection.

Beside him, his wife, Lucrezia Borgia, stepped up to greet her own brother. Lucrezia, dressed in deep red with black trims, shone like the sun as her hair reflected the heavenly lights and her smile burned warm and gentle. Her delicate hands barely grazed Gioffre's broad shoulders as she stepped close to him. Alfonso could not help but notice she kept a distance to her younger brother which she did not with her elder brother, Cesare. Lucrezia kissed her brother's bearded cheek with affection. "Brother... How I have missed you."

The younger Borgia's smile was polite as he, too, kissed his sister's cheeks. Though there seemed to be nothing amiss on the surface, Alfonso was aware of the difficulties which had passed between Gioffre and the rest of his family. The warmth in their eyes, grey meeting grey ones across the short distance, only proved how great actors the Borgias truly were. "And I you, Lucrezia. Welcome to my home."

The couples, joined together by both marriage and thickest blood, stepped back to gaze up at the splendid castle and its breathtaking surroundings. The old, tarnished stones created a medieval palace up on a hill and far below in the distance they could see the vast ocean extend its watery arms over the world. A light breeze carried the salty scent even up to the hillside and had a soothing effect on their minds.

"Oh, look, Alfonso," Lucrezia breathed suddenly as she pointed a graceful hand towards a small sea-side village far in the distance. "A fishing village by the coast… How charming it all seems."

"The south of Italy has many wondrous sights, milady," Sancia said. "But none as wondrous and splendid as the Vatican in Rome, I dare claim."

"In either case," Alfonso began as he noticed his wife's attention still lingered on the distant village as if she could not quite draw her eyes from it, "the splendor of Squillace far exceeds Naples. Do you not agree, dear wife?"

"Hmm? Oh yes," the blonde woman said as she turned back to the conversation. "I love Squillace already, Gioffre. I cannot believe it has taken me this long to visit."

"I can believe it," Gioffre spoke but even though his words were cryptic, his grin remained warm and understanding. With a fluent move, he extended his arm for his elder sister and glanced ahead at the grand gates to his home. "Shall I show you the rest?"

With an eager, childish humor, Lucrezia took her brother's arm and Alfonso watched in awe at how all his wife's worries seemed to fade away in the salty, sea air. He was no stranger to his wife's latest quest of interfering with the line of succession and knew it troubled her mind constantly. Lucrezia's greatest fear remained to be parted from her son once more, and it was a worry Alfonso was certain could never leave her mind. Therefore, he could not help but wonder if her carefree features now was another facade.

Alfonso had come to realize that the woman he had first met, whom had smiled warmly at him with the grace of God, was not the woman he had married. He had never known any person so adept at masking her true thoughts as Lucrezia Borgia. Sometimes, he was certain she was even able to fool herself with her honey words. Still, since she did such a perfect impression of serenity and grace, Alfonso could not be certain of anything. What was false and what was not, he had yet to learn.

"Brother?" Sancia's dulcet voice brought him back to the present and he glanced down at the expectant woman by his side.

"Forgive me, Sancia. My mind did wander," he excused himself and together they followed the Borgia siblings further into the palace.

A few hours later, as the sun was casting colorful rays of richest red and darkest purple across the endless skies, Gioffre found himself alone with his sister on one of the smaller balconies that faced the vast sea below. Though they were far away, the man could practically hear the waves crashing against the shores and the sea gulls in the distance beckoning to the sailors.

As they stood side by side, the young man took the opportunity to inspect Lucrezia's impassive profile. It had been almost a year since he'd split with their father and solemnly promised never to return to Rome. During that period of time, he had not heard a single word from any of his siblings, nor had either he or Sancia been invited to the marriage of Lucrezia and Alfonso, despite their evident ties to the event.

All of this combined had made Gioffre both suspicious and surprised when he had received a letter written by his own sister's hand. In the letter, she had assured him of her love for him and expressed a desire to visit her youngest brother, especially now that their blood ties had strengthened through yet another marriage. By the persuasion of his wife, who had long missed her brother, Gioffre had set aside his hesitation and welcomed Lucrezia and Alfonso to his home.

Her dull eyes now were blank and empty, as if there was nothing inside her body and soul to occupy them. He knew she had been through much since their last meeting, yet the emptiness of her had even Gioffre concerned for her heart. He remembered their childhood and her genuine warmth, but knew none of that innocence existed any longer within her tarnished soul.

With a slow, confident sip, Lucrezia drank from her wine and then turned to gaze up at her younger brother. The woman arched a slender eyebrow questioningly as she noticed her brother's curious gaze upon her.

Gioffre stood tall and pondered how best to approach the topic which both knew to be inevitable. In the end, he knew that when it concerned his family, frankness was always the simplest solution.

"I know why you are here, sister. What you are truly here for."

"Oh…?" Lucrezia asked and her voice was touched by a bitter humor as a faint grin spread across her full lips. "Can't a sister simply visit her younger brother without an ulterior motive?"

"A Borgia cannot," Gioffre pointed out.

The smile on his sister's lips simply widened as she boldly glared up at him. "Then you must tell me, dear brother, why am I here?"

"Because you are an ambitious soul, Lucrezia," the man spoke and his eyes held his sister's captive as he continued, "Just like father and Cesare. I hear our brother is threading a dangerous path for his own evolution, as it is... I used to think it was not your fault. Father always did ask much from his children. Sometimes, I believe, too much."

"You think I'm here because of father?"

"No…" Gioffre shook his head once and glanced up to the horizon and the setting sun. As the light disappeared from the surface of their grand world, the young man's clarity and inner illumination seemed to strengthen. "If you had come here a few years ago, perhaps. Now you're here because of your own ambition."

"And what ambition is that?" Lucrezia asked in a playful tune, as a cat might play with a mouse soon to be killed, and her eyes glistened in the vast array of colors from the sun.

"I am your brother, Lucrezia. I will not play games with you. I leave that to the lost souls who cross our family's path," Gioffre breathed harshly. "… Since I left Rome for good, the whispers of our family have increased in my proximity. They've dared tell me everything they did not before. How Cesare murdered your first husband, how you had King Ferdinand of Naples killed, as well. With a heavy heart, I've even heard the rumors that say Cesare killed Juan. I heard about the Banquet of Chestnuts and all the other sordid affairs in the Vatican…"

"I cannot confirm any of that."

"You don't have to," Gioffre snorted in bitter amusement as he beheld his sister in the waning light of day. As the shadows crept over the world, they seemed to expand not from the waning light of day, but rather they seemed to be born from his sister's dark eyes. "Last time I told father he was driving this family to Hell, and I now fear you are all balancing on the brink of the bottomless pits."

"Do you see a way for us to return to heavenly light then?" the blonde woman asked with contempt dripping from her voice as if it was sweetest honey.

"I do not," Gioffre confessed as he once more turned his gaze from his sister. It broke his heart to see her so fallen from grace. "Though I believe that is because you do not wish to return. You do not see the evil in what you have done, do you? What you are bound to do should you not turn from this path?"

Lucrezia pondered his question briefly before she spoke in a dark voice that reminded Gioffre more of their eldest brother, "I see a vast gap between light and darkness where I dwell. Neither hell, nor heaven."

"Neither? Or both?"

The blonde woman squared her shoulders as she spun around to face her taller brother. The power in her eyes seemed to eliminate any difference in height and, indeed, Gioffre even felt smaller beside her as she spoke with a firm tongue, "Listen to me, brother. You wish to know why I have truly come to Squillace?Now that I am married to Alfonso, you and I have a common interest once more."

The Borgia man scratched his beard as he followed her line of thought. "… So because you have married my wife's brother you want me to help you affect the mind of whoever will become the next king of Naples. Tip the balance of the scale in your favor."

"Does that make me so terrible?" the illusion of a blonde angel asked and Gioffre knew the devil was closer than ever.

The young man sighed as he replied, "Perhaps you ought not to meddle in these things more than you already have. Let Frederigo and Raphael fight for the crown instead… Or do you prefer if it went to your husband?"

Lucrezia lowered her gaze and her face was cast in shadows as she spoke, "I would… But he does not want the crown. Alfonso will not be king."

"… And you will not be queen," Gioffre said with a pointed voice.

"If I get to keep my son," the blonde woman began and raised her chin once more, "I will not care who bears the crown."

The youngest Borgia snorted once more as he looked down at his sister with honest distrust. "A weak lie, sister. Why settle for half, when you can have it all? Crown and child. Or do you covet something else more than a crown these days?"

"Are you insinuating something, Gioffre? I do not believe I've ever heard you insinuate before. It sounds most confusing coming from your lips."

Though he knew her ignorance was an act and a silent command for her brother to back off, Gioffre determinedly explained, "You are head-fast, strong and ambitious. I do not understand why you would settle simply because your husband says so."

"Should I ignore his desires then? Make myself queen and rule through my husband?" Lucrezia asked. Whether it was mockery or a genuine inquiry, Gioffre was uncertain. Certainly it was a question she had asked herself plenty times in these past, unsteady months.

"It is what I would expect from you, knowing who you have become," the man said plainly.

Lucrezia huffed indignantly and at once reminded Gioffre that she, too, was younger than she appeared. "It may come as a surprise to you, brother… but I do not need a crown to be happy."

"Perhaps not…" the young man conceded as he downed the last of his wine and stared down into the empty glass in his hands. "But your husband and child are not enough either, which is why I assume there's something else on your mind. Something or someone."

For a minute, the two siblings merely glared at each other across the growing divide between them. The sun had almost entirely set beyond the horizon now and the shadows grew longer by each passing second. Soon the whole world would be devoured by darkness in what would seem like an endless night. As Gioffre found it harder to see his sister's strong features in the fading light of day, he could not help but be grateful she was slipping from him.

Her voice cut through the shadows with an edge, as she spoke, "I believe I've had my answer to my request."

"I'm sorry it was not to your liking, sister," Gioffre drawled bitterly.

"It makes no difference. I shall still win my gambit, even without you, Gioffre," Lucrezia breathed. "It is getting late, and I am tired. I imagine Alfonso and I shall leave early in the morning so I shall take my leave of you now."

She was suddenly in his personal space and Gioffre leaned down slightly as she placed a tender kiss on his bearded cheek. A farewell gesture that spoke of times not to come. Still she said, "Let us not wait long before we next meet, darling brother."

Amazed by her act, Gioffre could only huff, "I do not believe there will be a next time… Do you, Lucrezia?"

"No…" she admitted and her voice was low and weak. With the most truthful tune he'd heard pass her lips since she'd arrived at Squillace, she continued, "But I'd very much like to pretend there will be."

The man sighed and nodded as he squeezed her slender hand in his own. "Goodbye, sister. Thank you for visiting my home. It was an honor to receive you here."

"Home..." Lucrezia mused. "I must confess that only Rome has ever felt like my home. It pleases me to see you found another."

"As it pleases me," the young Borgia spoke. He felt grateful to finally recognize his sister, and not the plotting, ambitious Borgia bull she was evolving into. Unfortunately, it was all too little, too late. "If you cannot change your path, Lucrezia, you must be careful with those closest to your heart, or I fear even Rome won't feel like home to you soon. For now, I merely wish you have a safe journey in the morning and write to me as soon as you are safely restored in Naples."

"I will. Farewell, Gioffre."

Reviews and your thoughts are always appreciated! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, either way!