Thanks to everyone who had read my stories, I feel very honored! Please leave a comment or a review if possible, I want to know if ya'll are liking whats going on. Also, as previously mentioned in a different chapter, if there are real life people mentioned I will post them at the end of the chapter, which in this one there is!
Everyone in the room remained quiet. Rnama and Lin's mouth dropped open without them realizing.
"Your-your-sister?" Stuttered Kaira as she stood up.
"That's my sister in there."Antonietta pointed to the room. She was still angry, but not as much as before.
"But you don't have any sisters." The Oracle gasped.
"Pure blood line sisters, I do not have. I am the only female daughter recognized by Lodovico Sforza." Antonietta shared.
"Then how are they your sisters?" Xichel asked.
"My father had a mistress, her name is Cecilia Gallerani. That's Ernesta Galerani in our room." Antonietta shared.
"How did you find out?"Rnama asked.
Flashback
Seven year old Antonietta was wondering around the house as usual. A lovely little girl who was everything Beatrice and Lodovico hoped for in a daughter. She was the most loved little girl in her home; her large sea green eyes captivated all who saw her, and her beautiful smile warmed many hearts. She was the youngest of the three Sforza children and the only daughter; she was also Lodovico's ticket to a permanent association with the French Crown. During her first years of life, she did not display any sign of her Asthma or Attention Deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
As Antonietta skipped around the halls in her ruby red dress, she started hearing her mother's voice come out of her father's study. She seemed upset and Antonietta hated seeing her mother upset, which was rare. She sat down next to the doors of her father's study to get a better listen.
"How could you do this to me, Idiota!"Beatrice shouted.
"You were but a child when I married you, you were not a woman. I needed a woman." Lodovico shot back.
"You should have married Isabella then, is that who you not wanted in the beginning?" Beatrice yelled.
"You know well she was engaged, so I took your hand instead. You were 15."Ludovico admitted.
"So that's why you had to go with that-that whore Cecilia!" Beatrice asked.
"Yes, yes and it was the best nights of my life." He responded. "She is more of a woman than you ever will be."
"You pig!" Beatrice then responded after a slap was heard. Antonietta covered her mouth from shrieking.
The room became silent.
"How many years?" She then asked again, her voice was now breaking. He did not respond.
"How many years Lodovico?"She asked again.
"9 and they are both female." Lodovico answered.
"They are here with her, are they?"
Silence
"Are they?!" She repeated once more with a stronger tone.
"Yes, yes they are."
"I cannot believe this, and under my nose!" Beatrice cried.
"What do you want me to do then?" He asked.
"So help me God I will end your political career if you do not kick them out of this house." She threatened.
"You would not dare do such an idiotic thing Beatrice!" Lodovico roared.
"I am the one who represents you when I go to business trips to meet with the other dukes of Italy, I am the daughter of the D' Este family, If I ruined you I would not ruin myself only your family. Get them out of this house now Lodovico." Beatrice threatened.
"But they are my children, my blood runs through their veins." Lodovico told his wife.
"Your only children are Maximilian, Francesco, and Antonietta."Beatrice pointed out. "Anyone else apart is a bastard."
Antonietta was shocked, she had sisters, Antonietta always wanted to have sisters! She got up from her spot and began to run across the halls to find Cecilia, which was a lady in waiting for her mother. To Antonietta, she didn't understand that her father had been unfaithful to her mother, in her eyes it had been a great occurrence in her life to find out she had sisters. As she ran down the stairs, she accidentally bumped into Cecilia.
"Watch where you are going you blond headed brat." Cecilia hissed.
"I'm terribly sorry." Antonietta looked down in fear and then she suddenly remembered that she actually wanted to speak to her.
"Guess what Cecilia?" She then asked.
"What is it child?" Cecilia coldly replied.
"I'm having sisters!" Antonietta shrieked with joy. Cecilia's face looked puzzled.
"Sisters? Is your mother pregnant again?" She asked.
"No, mother told father you brought my mother 2 sisters." Antonietta shared.
"Where did you hear this?" Cecilia got on eye level with Antonietta. She held her by her shoulders.
"My mother and father were just talking about it, she did not seem so happy about it though, maybe because the children you brought were not male? But daddy said that they are his children." Antonietta spilled.
"Your mother knows!" Cecilia looked frightened.
"Yes! I must go now before my mother comes!" Antonietta then trotted away.
Years later
Time had passed and Antonietta was now 14 years old, one year younger before she would set on her life changing event. She was now growing up to be a beautiful woman and her beauty was the envy of those that new of her existence. By this age, Antonietta had now been diagnosed with a wrong disability and therefore her name had to be hidden from the publish eye to avoid such a "disgraceful" occurrence to the Sforza family. Being shut out from society only pushed her to want to get out of her home and explore her estate, while her parents went on business trips and her brothers were always out of their home too.
On a particular day, Antonietta walked back home and was about to enter her home when she saw two girls coming towards her. They had dark brown hair and looked a little older than her. They wore commoner's dresses of dark blue and green. Antonietta had never seen these girls around her house so she was naturally curious.
"Can I help you, are you lost?" Antonietta yelled from a distance. Both girls kept walking towards her until they were right in front of her, their eyes were the same color as Antonietta's but were not as welcoming.
"Antonietta Sforza." One of them said.
"How do you know who I am?"Antonietta seemed puzzled and cocked her eyebrows.
"Do you not remember us ." The other replied, her eyes became slits.
"No."
"We've been watching you for a long time." Emiliana played with her braid.
"What? Who are you?" Antonietta asked, she started feeling uneasy.
"We should be in your place, that name should be ours."Ernesta growled, she took out a small dagger from her shawl.
"My name?" Antonietta seemed more puzzled, but now she began feeling scared as she realized that she was in a location where no one was around that could help her if they tried to attack her. Antonietta was cornered on the stone wall near her room window where there was a blind spot of the watch tower that guarded the premises.
"We should be the legitimate Sforza children." Emiliana said.
"But you aren't my sisters. I don't have sisters."
"Of course you have sisters. Our father is Lodovico Sforza: the man who made us bastard children by marrying your mother." Ernesta shared with a taunting laugh.
"We were kicked out into the streets when your mother found about our existence. She had no mercy; This should be our home, we should be the duchesses of Milan, not some insane de-valued little hound."Emiliana barked, she was shaking with anger. Her eyes became full of emotion, Antonietta felt she was going to cry.
" Take that back you unwanted bastard!" Antonietta roared in return.
"I would be a little nicer if I was you." Ernesta warned. She kept the dagger closer to captive.
"What do you want with me?" Antonietta asked.
"We want you gone." One of the twins announced.
"What good shall that do for you? All you will accomplish is to kill one child, you will never achieve any respect from my father." Antonietta predicted. "Or the Sforza name."
"Actually, we can get back our father's love by killing his children, we would be the only surviving children and guess who he would turn to if all his children are gone." Emiliana sneered.
"That's not true, you're lying, why should I believe anything you say." Antonietta challenged.
" Because we know that dear old dad took away your right to the Sforza inheritance because of your little problem." Emiliana then harshly poked at Antonietta's right temple. Antonietta slapped her hand away.
"That's not true, I am a Sforza!" Antonietta cried. How could they have known that? She thought. Antonietta knew that there had been a change to his will but she never thought anything of it. She knew her father had drastically changed as soon as she was told her was sick, he became distant and sometimes even hateful towards her. Could these girls be right?
"Oh, he did not tell you?" Emiliana mockingly covered her mouth as if that classified information had slipped. She hid a smirk behind her hand.
"Shut up!" Antonietta couldn't take the thought of what they had said to be true and punched her captive in the gut. Ernesta saw her sister fall onto the floor and swung the knife barely missing Antonietta as she ran away.
End of Flashback
"The captive is waking up." A council member interrupted as he stepped onto the living room. Everyone took their attention from Antonietta's story telling to the council member.
"Thank-you for letting us know, please keep her restrained and we shall be there shortly." The Oracle ordered. The Council member with the long braided bearded nodded his head and disappeared onto the hallway.
"I still can't believe she is your sister." Xichel held her head in amazement. Had this mission just gotten harder for them?
"Oh this is horrible!" Rnama shook her head in disbelief. "She can't see Antonietta then."
"And why the hell not?"Antonietta Snapped.
"Antonietta, she can turn you in to your father." Lin whispered.
"You have the opportunity to go back." Xichel added. Even though Antonietta lived a couple of days travel from the home she had been raised in, they still had not located her. Xichel felt envious at this sudden realization that Antonietta could see her family again, but she was jealous due to she missed her father and mother, especially since they were across an ocean and the probability of her seeing them again was impossible. She loved London, her friends, and new culture she was now a member of but sometimes she missed her old tradition. She especially missed her jade nose plug she could not wear in public due to it looked "uncivilized." She sometimes wished with all her heart she could sail that ocean once more to give a hug to her parents and tell them she was ok.
"You're right I cannot be identified. I don't know if you have realized but, that's not who I am anymore. The moment I ran away, I rejected my life as a duchess and my family. I have a new life right now and it consists of helping save the world from my demonized sisters. If I returned now, that would not be my life anymore because everyone at home went on with their lives when I left; I would go back to strangers, just like you would if you would go back. " Antonietta uttered. "I'm not that scared 15 year old that ran away anymore, I'm 17 years old now."
"But wouldn't you want to see your family again?" Lin asked. Lin did miss her mother and father at times and would sometimes sit out in the garden and wonder what her life would have been like if she would have never been chosen to be a Guardian. She knew they would have ended in a marriage but at least she would have still seen her parents.
"I may have his blood in me but he is no longer my father and I can live the rest of my life being fine with it." Antonietta responded.
"Then do you want Emiliana-or Ernesta, whoever is in there, to see you then, if they do she can turn you in." Kaira said. Kaira knew what everyone was thinking at that time, she had gained the ability to read minds, which was beneficial sometimes and annoying other times. The same thoughts Xichel and Lin were having were similar to Kaira's. She also missed her home sometimes and Antonietta had the opportunity to go back home and she did not select it, well at least she's sure that Ernesta won't turn her in. But if she was to be taken back home, Kaira knew Antonietta would just run away again. She had the ability to bend water, and would be gone as soon as she was locked in whatever place she would be placed at. Antonietta would never know though, that that opportunity was something everyone wished for.
"I don't want to get caught and get sent back home, I've hid so well these past 2 years."Antonietta crossed her arms."I can't get sent back home right now in the middle of a war."
"Actually, I think Ernesta seeing Antonietta could be beneficial." Xichel's mind began turning as an idea sprouted. Ss she began pacing around her wings slightly flapped. "And-and I think she will be able to get information out of her."
Everyone seemed confused at their leader's words.
"This is what we do…"
Real section of our tale (apart from Lodovico and Beatrice):
-The real life Lodovico Sforza did have one of many mistress named Cecilia Gallerani(1473-1536) who gave him a son named Cesare(instead of giving him the made up characters).
-The Real life Beatrice d'Este did find out about their relationship and kicked Cecilia out of their castle.
-Ludovico wanted to marry Isabella d-Este, Beatrice's older sister, but could not because she was already engaged to Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua.
-Maximilian Sforza and Francesco II Sforza were children of Lodovico. He had two other children who were considered illegitimate.