"No!"

"Why not?" Claudia asked and then followed him around the Bottega as he rummaged through the shelves in search of something.

"You asked and I said no." Leonardo said and pushed back a few bottles to pick up a pot of black paint.

"I am pleading with you to help me." Claudia said and then had to run behind him as he walked to the other side of his store room with speed.

"And again, I am refusing you." Leonardo said.

"Do you have a reason?"

"Si." Leonardo picked up a rag from another shelf and headed back to his worktable. "I do not want to get involved."

"Machiavelli would be better off without me. But he would never break his promise and leave me on his own. But if he thought I was being unfaithful…"

"No!" Leonardo repeated.

Claudia pouted at him and stood across him. "He does not want me."

Leonardo gasped in shock. "He said that?"

"What? No, of course not."

Leonardo shook his head. "No."

"You're my friend. How could you not want to help me?" Claudia almost whined.

"I am your friend and that's why I'm not helping you with this ludicrous idea."

"But it's the only way for him to be happy."

"And you?" Leonardo picked up one of his paintbrushes.

Claudia hesitated and couldn't think what to answer.

"Your silence has answered for you."

"I would be happy if he is."

Leonardo put down his brush and rubbed his forehead. "I refuse to be a part of a love triangle that you are trying to form."

"Love triangle? Love?" Claudia asked in amazement.

"Si, you and your love for your husband."

"I am not in love with him." Claudia said weakly. "He's my friend."

"No, Claudia. I am your friend. He's the one that you are clearly in love with."

"No I'm not!" she replied and wondered why she was feeling so irritated by the suggestion.

"Don't you see it?" he asked and spread his hands. "All you ever do is talk about him. Machiavelli this and Machiavelli that. Not to mention the numerous times you complain about him not spending enough time with you."

"He is my friend Leonardo!" she cried. "That's what friends do. He married me because he was being a friend."

"I am your friend, Claudia, but even I wouldn't marry you."

Claudia bit her lip because at that moment, she had only felt bubbles of laughter as Leonardo said that. "That was rude." She managed to say.

"What I mean is, that I wouldn't have married you. You're my friend and I am concerned about you. But marriage is something else entirely. Machiavelli did not marry you out of pity."

"And you have a theory about that too?" Claudia crossed her arms.

"I haven't put my theory to test so it has yet to be proven as a fact."

"So if Machiavelli did actually mean to keep his vows, tell me this, why has he been staying away from me?" Claudia asked.

Leonardo drummed his fingers on the table thoughtfully and almost dropped the bottle of paint. Claudia reached out to grab it before it spilled on the table.

"You'll have to ask him." He replied.

Claudia pushed the bottle of paint towards him. "I know why." She said in a soft voice. Her throat burned with the words but she had to convince Leonardo to help her. "He doesn't want anything to do with me. As soon as we were married, he left me. He didn't write to me and didn't come to see me. When I finally did, he was with a courtesan."

"That mascalzone!" he muttered. "I will speak to him. No, I will punish him for having an affain with another woman."

"No!" Claudia said, pushing Leonardo's hands away as he reached for a dagger in his drawer. "He explained that he had to keep them happy so that he could gain information. He did say he hadn't done anything…he shouldn't have."

Leonardo grumbled and then shook his head. "And there is no reason to suspect him of lying?"

Claudia shook her head and then looked at the small dagger. "Why do you have a dagger?"

"Protection." He replied nonchalantly. "The guards can be rather abusive sometimes."

Claudia frowned. Why hadn't Leonardo told her that? She would make sure he wasn't harassed ever again. Then she reminded herself to focus on the problem at hand. "Will you help me or not?"

"No." Leonardo said without blinking. "I am not interfering in your married life especially since you are so obviously in love with him."

"I am not!" she said, feeling her anger returning. "I have never thought of him that way."

"Why not?"

"You are being incorrigible. I'll say this again. There is no love between us."

"I don't believe you." Leonardo said and picked up his paintbrush and returned to his canvas.

"Ugh!" Claudia grunted. "I…I'm leaving this very instant!"

"Claudia." Leonardo relented. "It is getting late and the guards are on high alert. Stay the night. It wouldn't be safe for you to leave."

She was breathing heavily and wanted to break something or slam doors, but Leonardo's offer had managed to calm herself a little. Leonardo was her friend and she shouldn't be mad at him, considering he was only trying to help. Besides, he did have a point. Where else would she go at this time anyway? To Sister Teodora's?

Grumbling, she headed towards the stairs and stomped upstairs. Once inside the room, she slammed the door and unbuckled her weapons belt to throw it in the corner.

Why wouldn't Leonardo help her? She could already see it: Machiavelli would find her in Leonardo's arms, think that she would prefer being with him and offer separation.

Claudia fell into the bed and buried her face in the pillow. Separation. The words were like thorns on her heart, pricking the muscle every time it beat.

She turned and lay straight, staring at the ceiling. Would Machiavelli want to be anywhere near her after they separated? He might think her lowly for being with another man and break all ties with her.

She turned to lay on her side and looked out the window. The night sky was lit by hundreds of stars twinkling. The cold breeze made her shiver but she made no move to pull the covers over her.

What Leonardo ha said downstairs, returned to her. He had said that she was in love with him. Was she? Is that why she was always thinking about him?

She closed her eyes. No, she couldn't be. Love was complicated and from what she heard, hurtful. Especially when it wasn't reciprocated and knowing Machiavelli, she was certain that his concern for her did not evolve to that level.

No, she had to find a way to break up the marriage and set him free to pursue a relationship with whomever he wanted.

Marietta? She was a family friend and about Machiavelli's age. Perhaps their relationship would flourish if they were given an opportunity to and who was she to stand in their way?

"Claudia?" she heard Leonardo call softly.

She snapped her eyes open and saw that the sky outside had lightened slightly. Had she been sleeping? She got up and rubbed her eyes. "Huh? What?"

"There is someone to see you." He said gleefully. She noticed his hands had s smear of dark paint and another one on his cuffs. He had been painting and she had fallen in some sort of sleep where she had been aware of her thoughts; her thoughts about Machiavelli.

Claudia swung her legs over. "Who is it?"

But before she could answer, Machiavelli was already opening the door wider and walking in.

Claudia shielded her eyes from the sudden bright light.

"What are you doing here?" Machiavelli asked, anger lacing through his words.

"What?" Claudia tried to blink away the haze in her mind and then saw Leonardo grinning behind Machiavelli.

"You were supposed to meet me at the brothel." His eyes were blazing with fury.

Claudia got up and managed to collect her thoughts. She was about to answer him and then had an idea. Leonardo had refused to help her, but the truth was, she didn't really need him. She could deceive Machiavelli all by herself.

"I did not want to go there." She smiled widely at Leonardo. "I prefer being here. I like being here…with Leonardo."

She saw Leonardo's smile fall and replaced by fear. His eyes darted towards Machiavelli who looked livid at her statement.

"Of course she likes being here." Leonardo said and for a moment, Claudia thought he was finally going to help her. But then Leonardo pushed away all her doubts. "I give her food and let her sleep. Heh! I give her delicious food. You must be hungry too. Do you want some dinner?"

Machiavelli's nostrils were flaring as he turned to Leonardo. "It is very late to have dinner."

"Early breakfast then?" he asked nervously. Claudia frowned. Why wouldn't Leonardo help her? She then decided that perhaps she was being unfair to her friend by dragging him into her problems. It wasn't right to have Leonardo leave his art and his work to help her every time.

She sighed and then took Machiavelli's hand and walked downstairs and then outside to the small enclosure where she trained.

"You know how worried I was?" Machiavelli scolded. "Why have you developed this strange habit of running away? Do you know how perilous it was for me to come out tonight and search for you? After spending hours on the docks, I finally guessed that you must have come here."

"Mi Dispiace. But you should know that I am perfectly capable to look after myself." She replied. "You needn't have been worried."

"Why didn't you meet me at Sister Teodora's?"

"I didn't want to." Claudia said and then turned away so that he couldn't see her tears. She was so angry with Leonardo and Machiavelli, yet at the same time she was confused by the thought that she may have developed stronger and deeper feelings without even realizing it.

"Did it ever occur to you about how worried I would have been? I thought you were hurt." He continued to scold her.

"I just wanted to…I don't know." Claudia replied, feeling even closer to tears.

Machiavelli grabbed her elbow and turned her around to face him. "You cannot be careless, Claudia."

"I have become a skilled Assassin in these past years. I will not let the Order down."

"That is not what I meant." He said softly. "I have no doubt about your capabilities. I am well aware of your work and your execution."

"How would you?" she asked. "You're never around."

"But I do." He said.

Claudia was suddenly aware that she was holding her breath and that she was standing so close to Machiavelli. His hand was still under her elbow and she could feel his warmth. She bit her lip when she realized that she was losing herself and pushed his hand away gently.

"How could….oh! You have asked your spies to keep an eye on me?" she asked.

"Just when you go out on missions." Machiavelli said defensively. "I had to make sure you were fine and that if you needed any help, my spies could offer it. After you went off by yourself in Venezia and had me worried, I had to make sure that it never happened again."

Claudia gasped. "I do not even know how to respond to that!"

"It is merely for your safety." Machiavelli said. "They were asked to never interfere unless you were in danger of failing."

"How kind of you." She taunted. "I had thought you were confident about me, but clearly that is not!"

"Claudia, you misunderstand me." He said. "You were undertaking missions against dangerous enemies. The Pazzi, especially. You had gone and confronted them without a proper plan. If they had guards with them, you would have been overpowered. La Volpe had his thieves, but they wouldn't have been able to distract the guards for long."

"So that is how you suddenly appeared in the church." Claudia said and then another thought occurred to her. "We weren't married then."

"No. But why do you ask?"

Claudia took a few steps away from him. At first she had thought that Machiavelli had been keeping an eye on her because she was his wife. But he had been aware of her missions longer than that. Claudia couldn't decide if she should be happy that he was concerned about her to such an extent to keep his spies on her trail or angry that he hadn't been doing so himself.

"Never mind." She replied distractedly. Leonardo had managed to confuse her and put thoughts into her head. She wasn't in love with Machiavelli and she never would be.

"Bene. Anyway, I have come to inform you that I shall be leaving for Firenze."

"When?"

"Now." Machiavelli said. "It has been decided that I leave this very instant in case the guards grow suspicious of me.

Claudia held her breath. Would he ask her to come with him? And would she say yes?

"In the meantime, you would have to take care of Emilio Barbarigo and Carlo Grimaldi." Machiavelli produced a letter from his pocket. "They are to meet Silvio Barbarigo and Dante Moro near the Arsenale in a few weeks. The details are in this."

Claudia felt her heart wrench in pain. She was now only a fellow Assassin to him. She took the letter and kept her gaze down so that he couldn't see the hurt in her eyes.

"I trust you shall be able to carry off this mission on your own?" he asked. "You will be aided by Bartolomeo and Antonio."

"Bene." She managed to say.

"I am leaving now." He said.

"Arrivederci." She said in a strangled voice.

"I shall write to you."

Claudia nodded and Machiavelli took her hand, drew her close and kissed her forehead. "Don't disappear again." He whispered tenderly. "I will never forgive myself if any harm comes to you."

Claudia knew she was incapable of answering without bursting into tears, so she nodded and then when Machiavelli walked away, she started to cry.

"Claudia?" Leonardo asked from the doorway. "Are you…?"

She wiped her tears furiously and stormed towards him, intending to berate him for making her believe she was in love when she didn't want to be and then she would tell him that she…

Claudia broke into loud sobs and Leonardo put his arms around her. "Did he say something? Did you say something?"

She sniffed and tried to catch her breath. "I don't want to be in love. I don't want to be in love with him."

"Why?" he asked plainly.

"It hurts." She said between sobs. "I don't want to feel lost when he walks away from me. I don't want to feel like I've been hit hard when I see him with other women and I don't want to feel like I would have to let him go so that he can be happy in his life."

"But Claudia, he came to see you even when his life was in danger. He came out tonight to see you even though he could have been caught by the city guards."

"He was just…."

"Shush!" Leonardo said and stroked her arm gently. "You can think of all the reasons you want, but the only one that is obvious is that if he only cared lightly for you, he would have sent a message through his spies."

"I don't want to receive false hope." She said.

"Then find out if it's true." He told her. "Go after him. Ask him. Be with him."

Claudia broke away from his embrace and stood up. She wiped away her tears and looked down at the letter. "No. I have work to do here."

"Claudia…."

"I have to go now." She said and felt only coldness around her heart when she walked out.