An: I know this is a little bit shorter than the other chapters, and I apologize for that, but I wrote it quickly, and wanted to post another addition to this story before the week started and god knows what took my time away.

I should let you know that soon, I will be on a one-month hiatus from writing/updating. I made a deal with my Dad that he would buy me $100 worth of books off my Amazon, and I would give him my laptop for a month. :) I like the deal, and I'll still be writing on paper. You'll just have to wait a while before I flood your inbox and you get to read.

If you want to be caught in the loop, follow me on twitter, I usually update there more so than I can on here: twitter(dot)com(slash)alexosaurus.

Enjoy!


Exhausted and barely able to sit up in her saddle, Lucrezia tried to keep her eyes peeled open as their horses plucked along at a casual speed. At her side, Ezio was alert and perfectly awake; sitting with his back straight even though they have been riding for the past six hours. Her eyelids were sore and heavy; her whole body weak and dragging. The moon was giving way to the sun, and soon they reached the top of a hill looking down onto the last place that she expected to be led to.

"Roma?" she whispered, looking over at her lover. "We're staying here?"

"Relax," he calmed, reaching over and holding her hand. "Our capes will keep our faces hidden, and we will be staying at Isola Tiberina. You'll be surrounded by assassins and protected from any danger. It is the only place where I can be sure that I can take my eyes off you for more than two minutes, and you'll still be breathing."

"You don't really expect Alfonso to come running after us with guns blazing, do you? I mean, he got what he wanted. I'm gone now."

"No, he didn't get what he wanted," Ezio muttered, urging Tuono forward. "He wanted you dead, and gone, not just gone. That brunette bombshell he wants to marry, can't be his wife until you are no longer is wife. So, therefore, yes, I do believe he will come after you. I have no doubt in my mind that he would be stupid enough to engage in war with the assassins, which is why I'm bringing you here. He won't stand a chance, and you'll survive."

Cara followed, instinctually trotting forward enough until she was almost shoulder to shoulder with Tuono. Lucrezia smiled and moved forward to slide her hand down Cara's neck; sighing softly as she sat back and her back screamed in protest. "But...your assassins...they've been trained to hate my family. If I step into your hideout, I'll send the tension between you and your people through the roof. Knowing I'm in town will be terrible for everyone. I can find somewhere else to stay if it'll be easier on you."

"My assassins were trained to keep the good of humanity in their hearts," Ezio explained. "They'll know that truth doesn't necessarily exist, and that anything is permitted under the right circumstances. Do I believe that I will have people rise up against me and argue about my decision to bring you to Roma? I can guarantee that I will the second we step through the door, but will they eventually get over it? Yes. Will they protect you in the end? Yes. They might not realize now, but they will eventually know that our fight with the Borgia is over, and that we have a whole new battle on our hands."

"I...are you sure?"

Ezio turned to look at her, smiling and reaching over to hold her hand. "I'm positive," he assured, kissing her knuckles before he gently touched her cheek. "Everything will be fine."

~*~*AC*~*~

"Ezio," Machiavelli greeted as the assassin walked through the door to the hideout early in the morning. "Welcome back to Roma."

"Thank you," Ezio nodded, his hand rising to tear away the midnight black cloak covering his body. "I don't want to sound brash, but I need the assassins to be posted around the hideout as well as circling the city. I need my eyes and ears out in the public, and I need them out there immediately."

"Of course," the philosopher nodded. "But...why exactly?"

"Because I have a guest," Ezio said, motioning to the figure still cloaked behind him. "And she needs to be protected."

"May I ask exactly who your guest is?" Machiavelli asked.

Ezio looked behind him and nodded, standing close to her and resting his hand on her lower back in comfort as she pulled her cowl back and revealed her face to the man in front of them. Machiavelli's eyes widened in surprise, and his back seemed to stiffen as if he was a disgruntled cat. Dark brown eyes blazed with fire, and in a manner of being polite, he opened his mouth and said: "Ezio, would you mind if I spoke with you in private?"

"Yes, actually, I would mind," Ezio said. "I do not want to hear arguments against my decision, because it is such. It is my decision, and it will not be argued against. Lucrezia needs protection, and that is what we do. We protect, and we fight for the good of people. If she were anyone else would you be fighting against my decision to help her?"

"Ezio..."

"I would like an answer, Machiavelli."

Machiavelli sighed and straightened his back more so than it already was. He glanced to the side as if seeking assistance, but having seen none, he steeled his features and faced the question head on. "No, sir, I doubt I would."

"Then why is Lucrezia any different?"

"No offense to the duchessa in person," Niccolo started, nodding towards Lucrezia. "But her name isn't necessarily the most well liked name in this city, and I don't understand how you can go from wanting to kill every person in her family, to instead bringing her into the central hub of the assassins, and demanding that she be protected. Only a year ago if she called for protecting it would be against you. Why did your priorities change so quickly, Auditore?"

"I appreciate your honesty, Niccolo," Ezio nodded, looking to Lucrezia before he stepped away from her and brought himself closer to his right hand man. "But you must know that my actions towards the Borgia family were not out of malice. At first, yes, they were, but that malice was directed only to Rodrigo. When the years passed and the family gained more power, my eye took in Cesare as a target, but for good reason. He murdered many innocent people and quickly brushed off his sin by believing that he could be forgiven of anything due to his position as cardinal and Pope's son, but Lucrezia...I never held Lucrezia as a target."

"So, she was simply a liability to your malice towards her brother and her father?"

"Sadly, yes," the assassin sighed. "No one is perfect, and I hold myself furthest away from that term. My actions were selfish, and I realized that when I visited her in Ferrara last year before going off to fight Cesare for the last time-"

"I'm sorry for interrupting," Lucrezia jumped in, stepping up to Ezio and turning so that she was facing the both of them. "And I know that in this situation I don't really have the right to speak, but you must hear my input on the matter. Signore Machiavelli, I do not resent the things that I have done by blaming them on other people, for I have done terrible things, and the only person I can blame is myself but, the person you are familiar with is not who I truly am. My past has distorted my mind terribly, and in turn that Borgia sin rushed through my blood thicker than the blood of my whole family mixed together. I grew hungry for wealth, power, and sex until everything went downhill and insanity took me over. You don't have to believe me, but I assure you, I have since changed, and my priorities have changed. I am not the Lucrezia Borgia you resent, for I am now ashamed of my last name."

"Then tell me, why is it that you are here?" Machiavelli asked, raising an eyebrow towards his hairline. "How did all of this transpire? What did you do to need protection."

"It is not what she did," Ezio answered, reaching for her hand and pulling her into his side. "Depending on exactly where you view the situation, it is either what we did, or what Alfonso d'Este did. Do you remember Lucca?"

"Of course I do."

"Well, he worked as a cook for Alfonso before he married Lucrezia. My relationship with her was growing, and he informed me that Alfonso had a tradition for killing his spouse for the newest woman allowing him to use her body at his leisure. Lucrezia was next, and I wasn't going to allow her to be killed, so therefore I went undercover working as a horse trainer so I could protect her and keep my eyes on Alfonso at the same time. Over that time friendship blossomed into more, and so here we are today. Alfonso tried to murder her, uncovered me, and denounced us both before the citizens of Ferrara, while I left with a married woman with whom I care deeply for. So...now...choose who is at fault in the matter, if it so pleases you."

"Even though I am an assassin, I am a philosopher as well," Machiavelli stated, crossing his wrists behind his back. "The wonders of the mind, and the actions of man are the sole reasons that I wake up and keep myself healthy enough to think properly. I am a man dedicated to wisdom, and I recognize that having such a blunt opinion is neglecting me of that. Your heart pulses for this woman. Why...I couldn't possibly tell you, and I'm sure that neither of you could tell me either, but the fact that you have found love within the other is enough for me. I can be no judgment of character if I truly do not know someone, so therefore, what you tell me to do...I will do."

"Thank you," Ezio nodded, holding Lucrezia tighter when her arms circled around his waist. "When the assassins wake, dispatch them in groups. Some will watch the hideout from the outside, and some will circle the city and come to tell me if there is anything suspicious seen coming in to the city. Tonight, once we've gotten some rest, I will come and talk to them all formally. I will then decide what exactly we will do."

"Yes signore," Machiavelli nodded, moving into the next room where Ezio assumed one or two early rising assassins were awake and relaxing. Ezio turned his head towards Lucrezia and smiled at her, letting his hand rise until his fingers hooked under her chin and he could press his lips against her own.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly, smiling when her head settled on his shoulder, and her eyes closed against her own fatigue.

"I am fine," she assured, fighting off exhaustion to remain awake for more than the next mere moments. "I thank you for sticking up for me so fiercely. It's sweet that you would do as such, but I hope that my presence here isn't going to cripple your friendship with Machiavelli."

"Our friendship is fine," he laughed. "We butt heads all the time. It will not cripple our friendship. Now, shall we relocate ourselves upstairs? I have a large, comfortable bed waiting for us after we clean away all the mud we're covered in and check out that cut that you have on your cheek."

"I hope this bed is large enough to hold the both of us," she whispered, yawning and standing on her own for a second before he grasped her hand and started leading her upstairs. "That is, once we clean up."

"I wouldn't allow for anything less," he assured, kissing her forehead in one of the few spots not darkened by mud as he turned and lead her into the barracks and into the first peaceful rest since she was nothing short of a child.