Ezio pushed open the door to the Hideout with such ferocity, that it rattled against the wall. Some of the recruits, who were dining at the table, looked up startled, prompting Ezio to control his anger or risk having a breakdown in front of the men and women who looked up at him.
Without another word, he passed the hall and made his way to the stairs. His hands were trembling with rage while his heart was breaking at what had just happened a moment ago. Never had he thought that he would have to face such a betrayal and that too from his own sister.
"Ezio!" Caterina called, coming behind him.
He went inside his room and paced agitatedly. He wanted to break something, smash a window…do anything with his hands to stop them from shaking.
"Ezio." Caterina said, entering the room. Stefano was coming up behind her, concern and pity on his young face. "This shouldn't have happened. I can't imagine what you must be going through. Who would have thought that Claudia…"
"Basta!" Ezio said, gruffly. "I don't want to hear another word."
"Ignoring the problem won't make it go away." Caterina said and put a hand on his shoulder that Ezio pushed away.
He went to stand by the window, grabbing at the red curtains and contemplating ripping them with his hands.
"What is this commotion?"
Ezio clenched his jaw when he heard La Volpe's voice. He just wanted to be left alone. Why couldn't anyone get that?
"Ezio? You're back." La Volpe said. "Is he dead? Did you kill Juan Borgia?"
"No." Ezio said, without turning to look at his associates.
"What?" La Volpe asked in surprise. "Don't tell me they were ready for you. You shouldn't have discussed your plan in front of Machiavelli. I told you…he's the…."
"He's not the traitor!" Ezio screamed at him and then grabbed a chair and hurled it at the wall with such force that it broke into pieces.
"La Volpe, now is not the time…" Caterina started to say and Ezio got even more irritated. He couldn't hide this information forever.
"Machiavelli is not the traitor." Ezio said, through clenched teeth.
"Then who is?" La Volpe asked. "We can't keep losing out to our enemies because of this one person. We must find him and kill him Ezio. People who betray us, cannot be allowed to live."
"La Volpe…" Caterina warned, but Ezio stomped towards the thief and stood face to face with him.
"It's Claudia." He said, the name breaking his heart and making him choke on tears. "She's the one who was supplying information to Cesare."
"What?" La Volpe looked shocked and stumbled backwards. "She's your sister. One of our own!"
"She betrayed us! She betrayed the family!" Ezio tried to hold back his tears. He wouldn't allow himself to weep for a traitor.
"Why would she do that?" La Volpe said. "No, Ezio. It is impossible. Cesare must be blackmailing her."
"No." Ezio said and fell to his knees as the pain of betrayal gnawed on his insides. "It was my sister. She married Cesare. She's his wife now."
"She married him?" La Volpe sank down on the small bench and put his hands on his head. "Ezio, are you sure? Are you saying she's a Templar?"
The words bit into him and Ezio stood as rage pulsated rapidly into his vein. His sister was a Templar?
He stormed out of his room and made his way to Claudia's room.
"Ezio, wait. Where are you going?" Caterina asked.
"It is my fault!" Stefano wailed. "I should have told you all what I had found out in Monteriggioni."
"What are you talking about?" La Volpe asked.
As Stefano told the thief about Claudia's secret meetings with Cesare, Ezio burst open the door to his sister's room and then paused.
The room was furnished with simplicity. There was just a cot, a bedside table, a small cupboard and a wooden chair in the room. There was ample space in the room that was only partly covered by a rug. This is how Claudia had wanted the room. She said she wanted enough space to practice her fighting skills.
Ezio made his way to the cupboard and opened it.
"What are you doing?" Caterina asked in shock.
"There has to be a clue as to why she's doing this? Of why she did this to me and our family?" Ezio rummaged through the folded dresses and then pulled out a drawer that had hairpins in them.
"Ezio, La Volpe is right." Caterina said softly. "Claudia couldn't just betray us. Perhaps she is being coerced by the Borgia."
"Why did she marry him?" Ezio said, opening up a small wooden box. Inside he found a few pieces of jewelry and an eagle feather. He picked it up and looked at it. Their younger brother Petruccio had a fondness for bird feathers and Ezio and his older brother Federico had made it their mission to find their young ailing brother all the feathers he wanted.
"I don't know." Caterina said. "I just don't think Claudia could betray us."
Ezio put the feather back in the box and clamped it shut. He tossed it back into the cupboard and then walked over to the bedside table. He pulled open the drawer and found a pouch of medicine and two smoke bombs rolling around.
Caterina sat down on the bed and touched his shoulder. "And you know it too. Or else you wouldn't be looking for clues to her innocence."
"I'm not." Ezio said, slowly closing the drawer so that the smoke bombs wouldn't go off. Claudia had always been so careless. "I'm looking for more evidence to prove that she is guilty."
"You're lying to yourself Ezio." Caterina said. "You're hurt and I can understand that, but you have to trust your instincts. Claudia is your sister. She is an Assassin and she has done everything she could to help us. If she wanted to betray us, she would have never agreed to become the Madame of a brothel and put her reputation at risk."
"Of course we use the courtesans to gather information about our enemies." La Volpe said. "I wonder if that is why Claudia wanted to take charge of them?"
"Everything is against her." Stefano agreed. "Her sudden decision to become an Assassin doesn't help."
"What do your instincts say, Ezio?" Caterina asked.
Ezio looked down at the leg of the small bed and narrowed his eyes. Kneeling, he pulled away the corner of the rug to find a loose floorboard. Prying it open, he reached a hand inside and found a ring.
Ezio brought it out and studied it. He saw the Templar insignia engraved on it and when he turned it in his fingers he saw the writing inside.
"To my beloved Claudia." He said in a numb voice and then before Caterina could take it from him, he flung it across the room and then put a hand on his head. "How could she do this to me. She's my little sister. I trusted her!"
Caterina turned to the others. "Leave us alone." La Volpe and Stefano nodded and walked out of the room. Caterina, slid down beside him and put an arm around his shoulders. "I don't know what to say, Ezio."
"I don't know how I'm going to tell Mother." He said. "It would kill her if she found out her daughter was betraying us all and shook hands with the enemy. Claudia knows that the Borgia was behind the deaths of our father and brothers. How could she still…?"
Caterina put her head on his shoulder and hugged him. "I am so sorry you had to go through this Ezio."
Ezio put a hand on Caterina's arm, saying nothing. He looked out the window and leaned his head back on the wall.
No matter what, he would never forget her betrayal. Claudia would have to pay for breaking his trust.
*/*/*/*/*/*
When they reached the bridge, Cesare helped her down and took her down the grassy patch and then helped her on the boat.
Claudia was only vaguely aware of where she was. She kept replaying Ezio's reaction over and over. She remembered the hurt in his eyes, the shock and then the hatred. Her brother hated her. Ezio, hated her!
Tears pooled in her eyes and before she knew it, she was crying again. Cesare rowed them quietly across and then offered a hand to get up on the docks. Claudia turned to look at the river and considered drowning herself in it.
Ezio hated her. He would tell Mother about what he had learned tonight and then she would hate her too.
"Claudia?" Cesare said.
She wiped her tears, but still couldn't muster the energy to get up. She heard Cesare sigh and then put his hands under her knees and back and raise her.
"Don't touch me!" She hissed.
Cesare ignored her and led her through the doors. She turned her head to look for her uncle and then realized Cesare was taking her through a dark passage. At the end of it, he climbed the stairs and then put her down. Flicking a switch, Claudia heard the rumbling of a sliding door and then blinked as light poured in.
"Come on in." Cesare said, stepping into his room.
Claudia turned around and then back at him. "I want to see my uncle."
"Not tonight." Cesare said and took her arm.
Claudia tried to pull free, but Cesare dragged her in and closed the hidden door behind her. "Now this is your room too." He said.
Cesare walked over to his desk and loosened a few buttons of his coat. He eyed her revealing dress with distaste and then frowned. "Didn't I give you my cloak?"
"I must have thrown it somewhere." Claudia said angrily and then tried not to show him that she was shivering.
Cesare raised an eyebrow at her and then walked over to the windows and closed them. "Must you be so stubborn all the time?"
"Why did you do it?" She asked, wrapping her arms around her.
"Did what?" Cesare asked, closing the last window.
"Why did you make Ezio believe that I was the traitor?" She asked.
Cesare sighed. "I did it for you." He said, looking through the window. "You were falling ill because you were stressing too much about traveling back and forth to meet me. I made things…easier for you."
"You're lying." Claudia said, tearfully. "You're not really such a callous bastardo, are you?"
Cesare smiled briefly at her and went on to light a candle near the bed. "Bene. The truth then. I did it because I can, Claudia. And also so that you could see that Templars are far superior to Assassins."
Claudia scoffed. "They are cruel and devious but you are not better than us."
Cesare came forward, still grinning triumphantly. "I just proved to you today how easy it was to turn them against you. The Assassins claim to help the world and better it and encourage freethinking, but when it comes down to it, they are a bunch of inept people who cannot even trust each other."
Claudia turned away from him and blinked back her tears. She could sense Cesare coming up behind her and moved further away.
"I did this, so that you can see for yourself that the life of a Templar will be better suited to you." Cesare said. "I need you to join us, Claudia."
"Are you expecting me to comply with your orders because I'm your wife?" Claudia asked softly.
"Whatever works." Cesare said.
Claudia spun on her heels and faced him. "You can try to poison my mind against the Assassins, Cesare. But you shall never succeed. I will never, join hands with people who killed my father and brothers. You will forever be my enemy and nothing more."
"Legally, I'm your husband." Cesare said. "Husbands and wives are not enemies."
"You can force me to sign a few documents, Cesare." Claudia said sharply. "But I have never thought of you as my husband. And I never will. You can try to turn my brother against me, but I know it in my heart that he would never leave my side. One day, he will learn the truth and that day he will come to kill you."
Claudia pointed finger at Cesare's chest. "And when he stabs you with his sword, I'll make sure to plunge it deeper."
Cesare looked down at her finger and then slapped her wrist away. Angrily, he turned away from her and walked out the room, slamming the door behind him. The minute he left, Claudia rushed to the bookcase and started to look for the switch.
She had seen Cesare pull out a book with strange letterings and searched for it. She picked up the candle from his desk and brought it closer to the shelf.
She refused to stay here a minute longer. She would go free her uncle and take him with her to Ezio. Then her brother would have to believe her that she wouldn't betray him. Once Ezio saw Uncle Mario, he would know the truth.
Claudia found the green book with the strange letterings and pulled it out. There was a click, but the shelf didn't slide back. She tried again and heard a dull click, but the door still wouldn't budge.
"Oh, Claudia?" Cesare said, opening the door and peeking in. "Were you planning to go somewhere?"
Claudia left the book and put down the candle. "Why won't the door open? I need to see my uncle."
"I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that anymore." Cesare said, coming in with his hands behind his back.
"Why not?" Claudia asked.
Cesare brought his hands forward and Claudia saw a pouch of medicine and smoke bombs in one hand and the dagger in his other hand.
"Because of this." Cesare said and then went over to a cabinet across from her and put them in. Then removing a key, he locked the cabinet and faced her.
"I am disappointed in you, Claudia. I thought I could trust you to not play games with me." He said, shaking his head.
"If you hurt my uncle…"
"I've given you my word that I wouldn't hurt him." Cesare said. "You were supposed to not give him weapons."
"I need to know my uncle is alright." Claudia said.
Cesare came forward and brushed his thumb against her chin. "You'll just have to trust me that he is."
"I don't!" Claudia snapped.
Cesare shrugged. "That's too bad. They day you decide to behave, I'll let you see him. Until then, I want you to change your clothes. I don't want to see you wearing these rags anymore."
"I would rather die than wear clothes touched by a Templar." She said with disgust.
"I am offering you exquisite silks and jewels." Cesare said. "Don't tell me you're ready to sacrifice it and for what? "
"My dignity." Claudia said. "At least I have my dignity and I don't want to mar it by wearing Templar clothes."
"Is that your final decision?" Cesare said, growing impatient.
"It is." Claudia said.
"Suit yourself." He said, walking over to the windows. He opened them and then walked towards the front door to beckon someone. One of the servants rushed in and stood with his head bowed.
"Make sure the windows are never closed." Cesare said. "If they are, I'll cut off your hands."
The servant trembled, but nodded quickly.
Claudia threw Cesare a disparaging look and turned away from him.
"I'm having a few gowns sent up, Claudia." Cesare said. "It's your choice to either freeze to death or let go of your false pride. It's your decision to make."
Claudia put her arms around herself and then heard the door close. It was an easy decision to make.
She would rather freeze to death.