Author's Note:

As I have been watching the series again over the past few days, I realised during "The Wolf and the Lamb" that Micheletto has not had as much story time as he would have had screen time, so here's a little interlude of a chapter before I return to Caterina and Forli featuring Micheletto and Lucrezia, whose relationship I have wanted to explore further for a while.

Chapter XXI - Unlikely Friends

Two months later…

"Do you love my brother, Micheletto?" Lucrezia asked her shadow.

Micheletto was taken aback by his lady's question, but he had known her for a long time now by Vatican standards where it was uncustomary to know anyone for long if at all. He knew that Cesare would not have disclosed his sexual preferences to his sister, so the suspicion that the Lady Lucrezia meant did he love her brother physically and sexually was fleeting.

"Do I love your brother?" Micheletto countered, "I am unsure as to your meaning, my lady."

Lucrezia eyed him closely, sure that he was deflecting and that he had understood her perfectly, "I ask you if you love my brother, your lord, the Duke of Valentinois, Cesare Borgia. You have served him for many years, have you not? So, I surmise that it must be something other than silver that binds you to him."

"Indeed, my lady, you are correct in that. I do hold his lordship in the highest esteem and I do his bidding for more than the gold that lines my purse."

She was growing weary and impatient with his evasion of her questions. She could feel her child within her turn and kick with every passing moment and she was getting very little sleep now that she was well into her seventh month of pregnancy. She was no longer permitted to leave her chambers and although it was highly unconventional, Micheletto had been given leave by His Holiness at the urging of her brother to remain at her side as her stalwart guardian. She was relieved that in Cesare's stead, Micheletto was with her for her maids were insufferable harpies whom she could not bear to be forever swarming about her, plumping cushions and smoothing down her hair. If she did not converse with the manservant he merely sat at the foot of her bed keeping watch over her while she rested or slept and even if she was awake but silent, he did not press her for conversation, taciturn man that he was. He was the ideal companion for her during her confinement.

"Why do you not confide in me, Micheletto? We are friends, are we not? You may trust that whatever you reveal to me will be kept in confidence, I swear it."

He wiped his face roughly with his hand, "I am grieved to have caused you to doubt my faith in your ladyship, for it is not my wish to do so. I simply chose to keep certain matters to myself lest they weaken your confidence in me."

Lucrezia was unsure if it was her current condition or just the way in which the assassin's tone moved her that was the cause of the tug on her heart which occurred as she heard his pitiful words. They were words rife with the caution and suspicion that his trade had thrust upon him, for weakness and careless faith were the downfall of men such as Micheletto Corella.

"Nothing you could ever tell me, Micheletto," she began strongly, "would ever shake the faith that I have placed in you, or that which my brother has and we both know that Cesare Borgia is careful with his affections and trust. I know what you have done for our family, what you have sacrificed and I would not have you believe that you are uncared for or taken for granted by us Borgias, for we value you highly, both in your capacity as assassin and most trusted friend. I was wary of my brother's decision to reveal the true nature of our relationship to you, but I was foolish to consider you a danger to our happiness and for that I ask your forgiveness. Cesare informed me that his last order very nearly severed the ties between you and us-"

"My lady, what did he tell you precisely?" Micheletto interrupted, suddenly entrapped by the fear that he had overestimated Cesare Borgia's trustworthiness.

Lucrezia laughed as she rose from her couch, "Do not fret, Micheletto. All that I have told you is all that my brother saw fit to divulge to me, so he has kept your secrets whatever they may be, for he in turn is grateful that you continually keep ours. Anyway – as I was saying – I would be of some comfort to you, Micheletto, for I have been told that you have no one in this city of ours other than my brother and I, so I would have you treat us as your true friends."

Micheletto was beginning to see just how far this great lady, who was proclaimed callous and a venefica throughout the whole of Italy, cared for those about her: her family, her lovers and it seemed, him. He was not so stupid as to believe her affections were merited or steadfast but his cold heart was warmed by her kind and gentle words towards one whom it would have been excusable and usual for her to disregard as one of her many attendants and bodyguards.

"My lady is too kind to me," he said, bowing as she approached him, "I am unworthy of such benevolence, however, I do wish to serve you and have been commanded to do whatever you will and if you wish me to reveal to you the inner workings of my bloody and black heart, then I shall do so honestly."

His lady smiled, much gratified by his acquiescence to her request and nodded to prod him into his confession, for she would know him as well as her lover did, for he had served them both well for many years. He had aided Cesare in his efforts to keep their family safe and he had saved her son, her mother and her from Caterina Sforza's assassins who had almost succeeded in their sordid mission and he had accompanied her to Naples, where he had candidly removed the obstacle of the Neapolitan king who had obstructed her plans to bring her child to her and then placed her son in her arms and dared the entire royal court to attempt to separate a mother from her beloved child again.

"My lady, you know that blood stains these ugly hands. You have yourself witnessed them commit grievous acts of violence," he told her directly, holding said hands out to her but was careful not to touch her with them, "and they have done many, many more heinous deeds both under My Lord Borgia's orders and those of other employers. I met your brother outside your mother's villa where I was ordered to go to assassinate you and the rest of your family. Trust me when I tell you, milady, that if I had not come upon your brother and seen myself reflected in him, then you, your mother and your brother would all be dead and your father would no longer be the Pope of Rome. When I saw his face, I saw raw ambition, perilous ruthlessness and one who would win at any cost and I knew in an instant that we both would be best served if I changed my allegiance to your family."

"That was all it took? One look at Cesare's face?" Lucrezia asked, mystified by her brother's effect on this hardy man before her.

"Indeed it was. From that day on, I have been loyal to his cause and no one else's. I was born in Forli and I shall not enter into the details of my childhood and youth, Lady Lucrezia, however, I will tell you what my lord knows, which is that it was my hand that stole the life from my father. He was a vile creature – I cannot even bring myself to call him a man – and he was deserving of such an end."

Upon learning such an intimate detail, Lucrezia put her arm to his shoulder and coaxed him to walk back to the couch with her and sit beside her as he continued his tale of woe and wretchedness.

As he sat, he took up his story once more, "When I was a young man in Forli, I sought women out and everyone attributed that to my father's blood coursing through my veins, yet once I discovered what an uncouth man my father was and the horrors he inflicted on those he took to his bed or violated without mercy," he had to stop for a moment as he tried to staunch the tears that were threatening to flow from his eyes as he recalled the death of his sister, "I have never been with a woman since that day, my lady."

"Truly? You have not taken a woman since your youth? I cannot believe that! It goes against everything I know of men."

"I will not deceive you, my lady. It is the simple truth. That is not to say, however, that my appetite has not been satisfied elsewhere."

Micheletto knew that the moment of truth had come upon him. He knew not if Lucrezia Borgia had ever had reason to know that some men favour the company of others in a romantic way (or in his case, at least a sexual way) but he knew from Cesare's fury at Giovanni Sforza and the state of Lucrezia when she returned to her family from Pesaro that she had suffered greatly at the hands of men on account of their sexual desires and unquenchable sexual appetite which did not heed her unwillingness or – in the case of her first husband – lack of preparation for the conjugal bed and its activities. Therefore, he deemed her a kindred spirit and an acceptable person in whom he might confide his sexual deviance.

"I have always loathed those men who force women to open their legs and subdue them with violence, thus I went elsewhere to find my pleasure. There is no man who would not be able to fend off another who desired to take him. I have laid with men, my lady, even though it is against the code written in The Bible, but I have always thought that sodomy would be regarded lightly when I am judged by the Almighty alongside the wealth of other crimes and sins I have committed."

"You are a sodomite, Micheletto?" She asked calmly but her eyes glinted with curiosity.

He nodded curtly, reluctant to explain his trysts with Augustino and Pascal to her in more detail, but he knew that as a Borgia she would not allow such a revelation to pass unchallenged and unquestioned.

"How many men have you…" she fumbled for the right term, "been with?"

"Only two, my lady," he replied, glad that his list of sexual partners was barely that, "and I doubt I shall ever have another, for one is in Forli and has recently taken a wife and does not wish to be an adulterer as well as a sodomite and the other is 'the sacrifice' you mentioned. I took him into my room and maintained him after he followed me to Rome from Milan, but it turned out he was in the pay of Caterina Sforza and King Frederick and was feeding information concerning my lord's movements to Naples. I discovered him and it was how your brother managed to go to Naples in order to rescue you, but you had already succeeded in that endeavour."

Lucrezia frowned, "Micheletto, I know this already. You are telling my story now. I only wish to hear of your life and experiences. There is no need to relate my own life to me."

"Forgive me, I meant no offence," he apologised but then did as he was bid, "once I had realised that the one man whom I could have truly loved, as I had already began to open my heart to him, was by my side because Rufio had paid him to be there, my heart broke. I was burdened by the guilt that through his association with me, My Lord Borgia's plans and actions were related to his enemies, so I did what I thought was my last task for him and killed Pascal, my lover, and took my leave of the city and his service."

Micheletto had to pause in his tale, for the lady beside him was quite beside herself and was weeping into a handkerchief, "My lady, are you well? Shall I fetch someone? Surely, you do not shed your tears for me?"

The wailing woman threw herself onto his shoulder and clung tightly to him as she tried to calm herself along with letting Micheletto know her heart was also weeping for him as her eyes were. He was shocked at the usually strong and unyielding Borgia woman as she bawled over him, but all he found he could do was pat her on the back uncertainly until she managed to stop.

Once she assured him that she had quite recovered from her outburst and nothing was amiss, she settled back into the couch, her hand resting on her enlarged stomach and invited her companion to tell her more.

"It turned out that my time in your family's service was not to be over so soon, so I was sent back by Signor Machiavelli and here I will remain now until My Lord Borgia decides I must go."

She nodded, understanding that his story had reached its conclusion and satisfied that she knew him much better after it, rose from her position beside him and waddled carefully over to her bed. She would not confess it but hearing his story had greatly tired her and she felt the need to rest awhile although the sun was still high in the Italian sky and bearing down on those who were still going about their day.

As she was falling asleep, she looked once more at Micheletto and murmured just loudly enough so he could hear, "I think we are firm friends now, Micheletto. It cannot be disputed."

"I would not think to disagree with you, Lady Lucrezia." He said back to her, returning to the foot of her bed, where he was accustomed to sit while she was sleeping.

"Lady Lucrezia, my friend," she prompted gently, "and do not forget it."

"Very well, Lady Lucrezia, my friend." He replied with a serene smile turning up the corners of his lips.