The room was suddenly too quiet. Marietta was glaring at her and Claudia couldn't understand why she was angry with her when it should have been the other way around. Marietta had an affair with Machiavelli after all.
Marietta had her hand on her hips and seemed to be contemplating something. Her eyes were wide and angry and her mouth pressed in a hard line. But her hand on her hip was tapping and then she looked away.
The door to her tiny house opened then and Claudia instinctively reached for her dagger.
"It's Marcello." Marietta told her.
A tall thin man entered. He was dressed in red pants, a dark green shirt under a brown vest. His hair was long till his shoulders and he had a thin wiry moustache. His grey eyes lit up when he saw Marietta and then squinted when he noticed her with her dagger in one hand.
He drew out his sword and Claudia stepped forward with her dagger. Marietta quickly stepped between them.
"This is Claudia. Claudia Auditore." She said.
The hostility in Marcello's eyes disappeared. "Davvero?" He turned to her, put his sword back in his belt and bowed. "E 'un onore conoscerla. I have heard so much about you."
Claudia kept on holding her dagger, looking at Marietta then at Marcello. Who was this man?
"This is Marcello." Marietta said, apparently reading her thoughts. "I am engaged to him."
Claudia felt the dagger slip from her fingers and fall to the floor with a clatter. She gaped at Marcello and Marietta and couldn't believe her words.
"Let me explain." Marietta said.
"No time." Marcello said, taking off the cape he was wearing on his shoulders. "I need to see Machiavelli. I have the information he was seeking."
"What's going on?" Claudia asked, her mind was freezing up and unable to process the words she was hearing from their mouths. It seemed that Marcello knew Machiavelli and was working for him or with him.
"I need to tell her." Marietta told Marcello. "She thinks that Niccolò and I were having an affair."
"Che e ridicolo!" Marcello exclaimed.
Marietta sat down on the chair opposite her and put her hands on her head. "This is all my fault."
Marcello put a hand on her shoulder. "No. It is not anyone's fault."
Marietta put her hand over his. "She broke off her marriage to Machiavelli because of that…kiss…" Marietta looked pale and filled with remorse as she said that. "That kiss meant nothing. It was a mistake. On my part."
"How do you mean?" Claudia asked, pulling out a chair and sitting down herself.
"It all began when I came with Niccolo to Roma. For work." Marietta said quickly. ""While he was on one of his meetings, I wandered off to explore the city and came across a market. I was buying bread and fruits and vegetables, when…" She blushed then and her eyes went over Marcello.
"She was buying apples and we both picked up the same one." Marcello said. "I instantly fell in love with her."
"As did I." Marietta said shyly. "We talked and the next day, we met again and spent some time together."
"I was waiting for her by the market, hoping to see her again." He smiled.
"After two weeks, we finally admitted our love for each other." Marietta continued. "But there was a problem."
"I was a guard of the Borgia." Marcello said.
Claudia looked up in surprise and then eased back in her chair.
"When Niccolò found out what he was, he told me everything about the Assassins and Templars." Marietta said. "I decided then that I would never side with the Templars, even if it meant breaking up with Marcello."
"I didn't know Machiavelli was an Assassin." Marcello said. "When I saw him with Cesare, I assumed he was friends with him. Then I found out why he was really in Roma."
Marietta crossed her arms and looked down at the table. "Niccolo is a man with secrets. But I found out why he was keeping them and why he had to." She looked up at Claudia. "For you. He put himself in peril for you."
"I realized what the Templars were doing was wrong, so for my love, I decided to quit." Marcello said. "That was when Machiavelli came up to me and told me that the Borgia would never let me quit. Anyone who went against them was killed."
"So he came up with a plan to help us." Marietta said. "He said the only way Marcello could get out was if he feigned his own death."
"We stayed apart for days so that the Borgia wouldn't catch wind of the fact that I was to leave." Marcello said. "To prove my love to Marietta, I even became a spy and gave important information away to Machiavelli."
"I had been so afraid." Marietta said. "When Machiavelli told me what the Borgia did with deserters and what they did to you, I was frightened. Then one day, he came to me and told me that his plan had worked and that Marcello was safe and going to come to me."
Marietta shook her head disappointedly. "I was so happy that I kissed Niccolò without thinking. I had just been so relieved that Marcello was safe, that I didn't even think about it."
Marcello sat down next to Marietta and put an arm around her. "Marietta told me what happened and I didn't think anything of it."
"Then how could you?" Marietta cried. "I am sorry."
Marcello stroked Marietta's arm comfortingly. "I can understand how you must have felt." He said. "Machiavelli was sworn to secrecy. He had found out that there was a traitor in the Assassin Order and couldn't risk this information coming out."
"He's a true friend." Marietta said.
Claudia felt herself starting to cry. She wanted to scream and curse herself for ever thinking that Machiavelli could ever betray her. He had been helping his friend and she had suspected him. No wonder he was so angry at her, because even though she had told him several times that she trusted him, when it came down to it, she had let herself be swayed by La Volpe.
Claudia blinked back tears. "And now?"
"We're leaving Roma." Marietta said.
"Not just yet." Marcello said. "Machiavelli had told me to do one last favor. He wanted to find out who the traitor was and I have finally identified him."
Claudia leaned forward. "Who is he?"
Marcello shrugged. "I don't know his name. I have seen him." He looked downcast then. "I saw what he did with the recruits. He lured them out under false pretenses and had them ambushed. I could not do anything."
Marcello sighed. "I thought we were just going to attack mercenaries. Machiavelli had told me that I should feign my death on one such mission. I promise you that I did not take a life. I jumped off the cliff and landed on the deck below where a boat was waiting for me. The other guards were sure I was dead."
"Who was he? What did he look like?" Claudia demanded to know, pounding her fist on the table. Her anger was burning in her chest.
"I can show you." Marcello said. "He's at the Castel to collect his reward. I can show you who he is."
Claudia got up. "Then let's go."
Marietta stood up too. "I 'll come too."
"No." Marcello said. "You have to stay here. We leave tonight." He looked at Claudia. "We leave after we've repaid our debt to Machiavelli."
*/*/*/*/*
Throughout the ride over, Claudia could feel herself getting numb, until even that numbness started to hurt. She tried to stay focused on the traitor that was going to be revealed to her, but instead she found herself thinking about that day in Venezia when Machiavelli had told her he had loved her.
Why hadn't she believed him? Why hadn't she told him that she had to?
Now all that seemed like a dream so far away that she wondered if it had even been real. He had loved her all this time and not the courtesans or Caterina or even Marietta. And what had she done?
"Here we are." Marcello was saying, and she shook herself. "We should stay hidden."
Claudia looked up to see that they were across the bridge that led to the Castel. The sight had always given her uncontrollable shivers and thrown her back into those painful memories when she had been lying in the darkness waiting for someone to come rescue her. But today, the sight of the dreadful Castel had little effect on her compared to the turmoil of feelings within her.
He loved her. He had asked her to trust him and she had been so very wrong about him.
Marcello got down from his horse and without thinking; she got down too, only to stumble. Marcello caught her in time and she clasped her hand over her stomach.
"Are you alright?" Marcello asked kindly.
Claudia grabbed his hand and nodded. But she wasn't alright. Her head was dizzy and her thoughts were torturing her for being so foolish.
"I have to find him." She said out loud.
"Si. But do we know where he is?" Marcello asked. "He should be here to see the traitor as well."
Claudia walked over to the railings and grabbed it to keep herself focused.
"There." Marcello said, gesturing towards a door that opened at the side of the Castel.
Claudia strained her neck to see three Papal guards walk out with heavy swords dangling from their belts. Behind them she saw Cesare walking with a man, still not in her view.
At the sight of Cesare, her mouth went dry. She was only a couple of feet away from her and if he so happened to look up and see her…
The Papal guards walked back to their position near another gate and Claudia saw the man behind them- the traitor. He was the one who had been responsible for the deaths of their recruits. The man, who had wrongfully accused Machiavelli and even set him up.
Claudia was sure she would faint now. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. The face of the traitor was right before her. Cesare was talking to him and then shaking his hand.
Claudia let out a tiny moan. "No."
"Do you recognize him?" Marcello asked.
Claudia could only see flashes of memories. How long had he been conspiring against the Assassins? She remembered seeing him in Monteriggioni and then in Venezia. He had even been her trainer once. He had hated the nobles since his youth.
Then Claudia remembered the night in Firenze when he had told Machiavelli that his spies had known where she had been held up, but that there had been a mistake.
"We must inform the others." Marcello said. "We have to go before we are spotted."
Claudia remembered how he had wanted to have Machiavelli killed. He had called her husband a traitor and stated that traitors deserved to be punished by death.
"No." Claudia said. She watched him walk down the bridge, as if he had walked this path many times. The other guards bowed in greeting and so did he. They knew him!
Beside her, Marcello grew even more restless. "He'll see us."
She let the traitor walk in the other direction and then followed him.
"This isn't a good idea." Marcello said.
But Claudia was not listening anymore. Her eyes were fixated on the man before her who had betrayed them all and been responsible for all her sorrow.
She saw him calling for a carriage and then taking a few quick strides, covered the distance and put her hand on his shoulder.
He turned around in surprise, his dark eyes growing wide, before his lips curled into a smile. "Ah, Claudia. What are you doing here?"
Marcello came up beside her and he looked at him and then back at Claudia. She glared at him, taking in the way his face registered surprise and then fear.
"You look familiar." He said.
The carriage arrived and Claudia opened the door with one hand, while she kept her other firmly clasped on his shoulder. Without warning, she shoved him inside and he let out a startled cry.
"Claudia, what are you doing?" he asked, rubbing his skinny arm.
"I'm going to prove Machiavelli's innocence." Claudia said, getting in. Marcello opened the door from the other side and got in.
"B-but…." He started to say and she glared at him.
"It is no use, Antonio." Claudia said. "I know your dirty secret."
