If it were possible, Contessina de'Medici would run away. She had thought about leaving Firenze more than a few times, but if it were not for her friends, she would have left a long time ago. She had known for some time now that her cousin was looking for a good suitor for her, one that would complement her as well as treat her with respect. The only problem was, most men treated their wives like property. If she were to be sold to the highest bidder, it was going to be to some family that Lorenzo de'Medici knew well enough and also supported him in his endeavors for Florence.
As it was, she was still unmarried at the tender age of seventeen. Most families married off their daughters at a younger age to men well into their twenties and even thirties. Contessina knew that if she were to marry now, she would be a difficult one to match. Thankfully, the one thing that most men worried about in their future brides was still intact. Her virtue was completely safe, even though by Vieri de'Pazzi's standards, was perfectly ripe for his taking. As if Vieri could get within feet of her without causing some kind of trouble. It was no secret that the young Pazzi was actively looking for a bride himself, but she was off limits. She was Medici and the Medici were at war with the Pazzi. Such a union would do nothing to strengthen the ties between the warring families. It was bad enough that Bianca had eloped with Vieri's uncle.
The only thing Contessina wished was to be free. She did not want to be trapped within the confines of a home that belonged to the man she would someday marry. She was too wild and stubborn according to most. If it were not for her golden blond hair and sky blue eyes, most of the suitors Lorenzo considered a possiblity would stay far away from her. Contessina was opinionated and bold which was a trait that was considered undesirable. Of course, Lorenzo often said that she should never change, but her mother Ginevra hated that her daughter was unbecoming.
As Contessina walked down the halls of the Medici home, she could hear the bustling of activity from the servants as they prepared for a dinner that evening. One of the servants bowed their head and gave her a letter before moving on. Popping the wax seal on the folded parchment, she opened the letter to read its contents as she walked.
Contessina,
I hope you are doing well Mi Cara. I am writing to let you know that at any moment my father will allow us to be married. Any moment. I have been waiting most of my life to see us bound together in passionate harmony...
The young woman stopped reading and crumpled the letter before walking over to the nearest fireplace. She felt satisfied when she threw the parchment into the fire. As it burned she could not help but to smile at the ridiculous nature in which Manfredo Soderini sent letters to her. She despised the man's attempts at courting her. He would often send her gifts, which she often sent back as a refusal to engage with him.
"Another love letter from Manfredo?" She heard her cousin Giuliano's voice from behind her and turned around to see him standing there with a cup of wine in his hand.
"If it weren't for his gambling and cheating, he would be a good man, but I'm afraid he is mostly drunk all the time like you." Contessina replied. "What do you want Giuliano?"
"Lorenzo and your mother would like to speak with you before you go. Something about important business." The dark blond man said before taking a sip of his wine. "If you ask me, I think they found you a match."
"This doesn't surprise me. Mother has been hounding Lorenzo about it lately, so much I think he became exhausted with her barking." She grabbed the cup of wine out of Giuliano's hand and took a sip herself. "Tell Lorenzo and my mother that I will speak with them whenever I choose to." She handed to cup back to her cousin and strode towards the door.
"There is nothing wrong with being drunk all the time!" Giuliano yelled after her.
The blond Medici girl walked briskly out of the Palazzo Medici and into the bustling streets of Firenze with a purpose. Contessina would not let her mother control her life, or Lorenzo either. If she was going to marry someone it was going to be on her terms, nevertheless she was going to listen to them. She was opinionated, but she did know how to listen before saying no. She would hear what her mother and cousin had to say before agreeing to anything. Contessina was not opposed to marriage, she was only opposed to who she was going to marry.
"Contessina!" She turned around to look for whoever called her name. "Contessina over here!" She smiled as her eyes landed on Ezio.
"Ezio, what are you doing here?" She had just made it to the market when he called for her attention. "I thought you would be with Cristina."
"I thought we could walk together since I am your friend and all." He gave her a grin and she noticed the bruise on his cheek.
"Have you been fighting with Vieri again?" Contessina asked as she put a hand on his cheek to look at the damage.
"No. Well, I mean yes." Ezio gave her a bashful look. "It is not my fault. He was saying things about you and Cristina."
"Ezio, you do not need to defend us if it gets you hurt and certainly not my honor. We are good friends." She took her hand away with a smile on her face. "Did you win?"
"Of course!" He said as she began to walk in the direction of Cristina's home. "Vieri is a codardo. He has his lackey's do all the fighting for him."
"I know, I just don't like to see my friends get hurt over something as silly as defending my honor." Contessina walked beside him with a sad smile.
"Contessina." Ezio said noticing how she seemed to sulk. "You were not there to defend yourself and it was the right thing to do." He put a hand on her arm in comfort. "I made the choice to defend you."
"You know, Ezio, I think you are wise beyond your years sometimes. Its rare, but you do have your moments." She gave him a smile before removing his hand slowly. "I appreciate your friendship."
"I do too, but Contessina, something is bothering you. What is it?" He asked as they made it to the other side of the market.
"Lorenzo and my mother may have found a match for me." The young woman said softly as she picked at the crimson fabric on her sleeve.
"Do you know who it is?" He asked her.
"No, not yet. Hopefully, it is someone I know." She replied. "I do not think I could live with a stranger."
"I can't say I don't agree with that thought." He said thinking about how she felt. "I know for a man to take on a beautiful woman is a pleasure, but for the woman I don't know if it is hell on earth, or..."
"Prison." Contessina finished for him. "This is why I am happy for you and Cristina. You both have the luxury of chosing who you want to be with for the rest of your lives. Lorenzo sees political advantage in marriage. He has already married off his sisters to wealthy families all across Italia, but I am the last eligible maiden in his household. If my father were still alive, I would have been married of years ago." They continued to walk through the streets together.
"Lorenzo has been kind to you." Ezio said knowing that Contessina left out her cousins generosity. "He may be kinder still."
"Maybe." She said with a soft tone in her voice.
"Contessina, if you ever need anything, all you need to do is ask." He stopped her by putting his hand on her shoulder. "I'm serious."
"I know Ezio, I know." She looked up at him with a happy glint in her eye at the offer. "You have been a good friend since we met years ago. You and Cristina. I cannot think of what it would have been like if I had never met either of you."
"I'm sure it would be dull and boring." Ezio told her as they started walking again.
Contessina thought about how much she treasured his friendship along with Cristina's. It was only a few months ago that Ezio had started courting the Vespucci girl and she was happy for them. She had known Ezio since she had been sent to live with Lorenzo at age ten and it was not until a year later that her mother returned from Ferrara to stay in the Medici household. Ezio was just a boy that ran around in the streets looking for trouble. He thought himself to be the great Sparticus, fighting an invisible enemy in the garden of the Palazzo Medici.
He had come with his father, Giovanni, just days after Piero de'Medici died. She had only been there for a few months, but seeing Ezio playing with his wooden sword in the garden and yelling at the invisible Roman forces.
"What are you doing?" She asked as she came around the corner to find the boy in a pose. He had just finished his speach to all the rebellious gladiators.
"I am making a speach to my troops. We are about to fight the Romans." He relaxed his posture. "Do you want to play? You could be the warrior queen Boudicca."
"I do not have a sword." She said. "Besides, Boudicca never fought along with Sparticus."
"It is just pretend. You can be whoever you want." The boy said as he looked for a suitable sword. "Here, you can use my sword, I can use this stick." He handed her his wooden sword.
"Are you sure?" She asked and he nodded.
"All hail Queen Boudicca!" He yelled out and the imaginary gladiators hailed their new queen. She smiled for the first time in months since coming to live with the Medici. "I am Ezio Auditore da Firenze." He grinned holding out his hand. "Sparticus to my troops here."
"Contessina Giulia de'Medici." She said grabbing his hand and giving him a little curtsy.
From that day on, she and Ezio were best friends. Their relationship had always been platonic, never anything more than that. She had met Cristina through Sandro Botticelli a couple years ago and the two young women had become fast friends. It was not until the year before that Cristina had let Ezio court her after a very awkward encounter. Federico had told Contessina all about it after being invited to dinner with the Auditore family a few days after. She was shocked to be sure, but also happy for her two friends.
As the two friends came to the door of the Vespucci house, they saw Cristina tending to the small pot of blooming jasmine. She was very attached to that pot of jasmine as it had been a gift from Ezio for her birthday. Contessina remembered going with Ezio to find the dark haired beauty a gift and he had made a good choice. With the young Auditore, gifts like jewelry are meaningless.
"Cristina." Contessina called out her name and the young Florentine woman turned around to see her. "Care for a walk around the piazza?"
"I'm sorry, but I cannot. My father insists I stay away from Ezio." This caused Contessina and Ezio to look at one another. "I wish I could." The sadness in Cristina's voice echoed through the street.
"Perhaps, you should go to the market and take care of that errand your father wanted you to do." Contessina said putting a hand on Ezio's arm and giving him a sly look. He knew what she was thinking.
"Perhaps I should." He winked at Contessina. "I'll be back later." The young man said before leaving the two women alone with each other.
"So, can you go for a walk now that Ezio is not here?" The blond asked her friend with a smile.
"Certianly." Cristina smiled knowing that the blond girl was very cunning. She looped her arm with Contessina's and they began to walk slowly towards the market. "I heard from Sandro that you may be getting married."
"That may be so, but I doubt anything will come of it." Contessina said.
"You are going to refuse again?" Cristina asked.
"I don't know. If the suitor is someone I know, it is a possibility that I will accept this time. I am to speak with my mother and Lorenzo about it before the dinner tonight." The blond told her friend as they strolled.
"What if it is Manfredo?" Cristina asked with a laugh.
"That idiot had the nerve to write to me again this morning. I didn't make it halfway through his letter before I threw it in the fireplace." She said and Cristina looked at her with an open mouth and a hand on her chest.
"Contessina! How dare you keep that poor man hanging on." The brunette said with a mocking tone. "He only wants your affection and your virtue."
"He can want my affection and virtu all he likes, but he will have to kiss a pig first." Contessina laughed out loud. "The idiot cannot stay sober enough to recognize a pig from a woman anyway."
"How do you know?" Cristina asked.
"Giuliano and he were drinking one night. Manfredo drank so much that when Giuliano was walking him home, he passed out in a pig pen and when he woke up he thought the old sow was a woman and kissed her." Contessina giggled as she told the story. "When he woke up the next morning he wanted to know where the beautiful woman that he kissed was." The brunette bursted out laughing.
"What happened next?" She asked.
"Giuliano said that Manfredo went out looking for her and the farmer who owned the sow wanted to know what Manfredo did to his sow that made her not want to eat her slop that morning." Contessina said between laughs. "The sow was in love with Manfredo!"
"What about Manfredo?" Ezio said walking up to the two young women as they came to the market.
"Remember the story of Manfredo and the sow that Giuliano keeps telling?" Contessina asked him.
"Oh yes." Ezio laughed. "I hear the sow is still in love with him."
"Is she?" Cristina asked the girl standing next to her.
"You will have to ask Giuliano. He is the one who invented the story." She said pulling Cristina to a silk vendor's stall. "Giuliano probably embellished the story quite a bit, but it is still entertaining to hear."
"Indeed." Cristina said as she picked up a bold of blue silk. "This is beautiful."
"It is fifty Florines, Signora. A rare a beautiful color." The vendor told Cristina with a smile. "Though perhaps it would look better on your friend. It would bring out her eyes more."
"I think he is right Contessina, you would look wonderful in this color." Cristina held the bolt of silk up to the blond woman and compared the silk to the color of her eyes. "Mio Dio, it does bring out her eyes. It is a shame I do not have fifty Florines though, I could buy it for you."
"Why would you buy it for me?" Contessina asked.
"Well, if you are to be married, you will need a dress for your wedding dinner." Cristina smiled at her. "I think this would make an excellent gift."
"I appreciate it, Cristina, but...I think I must go." Contessina stated with a small, but sad smile. "I'm sorry." She put an arm on Cristina's hand and looked at Ezio for some sort of sign that he understood.
"Was it something I said?" Cristina asked her and she shook her head.
"No, I need to go talk to my mother and Lorenzo. I need to know who it is they have chosen to be my husband." She said before walking past Ezio. "You two should spend some time together before Messer Vespucci finds you."
Once on her own, Contessina walked back to the Palazzo Medici in no hurry. Cristina had meant no offense in saying she could buy the blue silk, but the notion of it settled deep into her bones. It was more the realization that maybe this time, she was not going to get out of marriage. The last two or three she had sent them home with a bitter taste in their mouths and this time she did not think she was going to get away with it.
She entered the palazzo with a heavy sigh as the servants seemed to be working on cleaning the entire courtyard. She did not know who was going to be coming to dinner that night. One of the servants said it may be one of the many noble families in Firenze, but who knew. The Pazzi were not going to accept any invitation from the Medici, so that family was not on the list. Perhaps it was the Auditore? Ezio would have mentioned it when they spoke earlier. However, she was sure it had something to do with her possible engagement.
"Contessina!" She was becoming tired of hearing her name. "There you are." She turned to see her mother.
"Mother."
"Come, Lorenzo and I have been waiting for you to return. We have something we need to discuss with you." The older woman put her hand gently on Contessina's arm and led her to Lorenzo's study. Once inside she met Lorenzo's gaze and saw the smile on his face.
"Contessina, I think you know already why you are here." Lorenzo did not give her any indication that he was upset or even considering that what he had in mind would not make her unhappy. He seemed more than content with the knowledge of the match being at least bearable. Her mother seemed content with it as well, which made Contessina nervous. "It has been difficult for me to find you a suitor that would take you as their wife. With all of your beauty, you are very strong willed and that makes finding a match very hard. However, I have found a good match. One that benefits both our families."
"Who is it then?" Contessina stood firm hoping that the person chosen to be her husband was someone she knew.