The words of his companions rang in his head. They were sober, and he tried to use them to calm his nerves: Any ambush that could have been planned this way seemed ludicrously impractical. This was almost definitely not a trap. But his nerves still needed to settle.

Ezio had tried to insult these feelings with his actions. He sat out in the opened, on a bench, beneath the orange of the setting sun. He was waiting for a familiar face on a bench in front of the most beautiful building in Venice.

He could use all the allies he could get, he remembered what he had heard the guards inside the estate say; it had uncomfortable implications, that Carlo Grimaldi was in the Doge's Palace. That would make his assassination much more difficult, if not impossible. Would the Assassins insist he keep this target?

Ezio watched the teeming crowd for the one familiar face he had to go by, but so far he had not shown.

Until he did. He saw the man he had met outside the manor, accompanied by a slim, clean-shaven nobleman in red. And no one else, no armed troop as Ezio had feared. Good.

The manor-man pointed to Ezio, and Ezio perked up. He and the noble both began approaching. The Auditore stood. He was soon to make a powerful ally. That was good. His thoughts rushed over what he might hear.

"Nicollo Foscari," the noble introduced himself with a slight and quick bow. He looked to be in his early thirties. "I never got your name."

"That's not important. Not yet at least," Ezio said, still a little cautious, although trying not to sound hostile. "What's your interest in me?"

"My interest is in Carlo Grimaldi. The Councilman. He has cheated the rules of Venetian government, and kept his seat in the Council of Ten for a second term."

"How has he cheated?"

"I do not know. But law stipulates a Councilman may not serve two consecutive terms."

So the Templars were playing dirty again. Good, that made him all the more eager.

"And yet he remains. And this is tolerated?"

"Yes. All others seem too afraid or too in love to oppose him! Ever since the visit from Pope Sixtus' nephew, Girolamo Riario, everyone has been acting strange. He has been elected Capi, the three men at the head of the council, every month since that September!"

The noble was flustered and baffled, but Ezio knew what was behind this. Nicollo was fortunate to not know the dark magics at play, of exactly how powerful his enemies were. But he seemed not to notice Ezio's cool either.

Nicollo Foscari continued, "...it is like since that visit, the minds of the Venetian court have no longer been their own."

Because they were not, though Ezio would not tell him as much. The Assassin darkly mused over what Girolamo had done to them. Nicollo did not know the half of it. And truthfully, Ezio Auditore had only a marginally greater understanding.

Ezio broke the dark silence with a tactical concern. "I have heard he now resides in the Palazzo Ducale. That will complicate things. Make him difficult to access."

"Indeed. The Capi are meant to stay in the palace at all times, a mechanism against bribery and corruption. But also a fantastic way to ensure their security."

"Do you have any ideas how to lure him out...or get a man like me inside?"

"Si. Though Carlo is a wary man...I do have one idea. The others are paranoid, constantly on alert. But I believe if you come to the Palazzo Ducale five days from now, at noon, Pietro here will be able to open the gates." He could they were both asking Pietro to put himself at risk. Though he did not dare shift his eyes to him. "As fortune would have it, Carlo's room is will first you will see upon ascending the courtyard stair case. I do not know what equipment you have at your disposal but-"

"So you expect me to kill him once I'm inside?"

"Yes."

The noble in red knew exactly the kind of man Ezio was, or at the very least, he knew exactly the kind of man Carlo was.

"Then you picked the right person. I will do as you say." Ezio could sense the air between the three was thick with trepidation, but also conviction. Ezio was to enter Venice's forbidden grounds, and slay a governor by orders from within.

And yet even this lucid councilman was blind to the true grandiosity of the battle he played in.

If he was being given access to the palace, maybe he should have greater ambitions than Carlo Grimaldi. But Ezio did not dare bring that up. He would discuss the rest with his fellows in Thieves Guild and Assassin Order.