"Contessina!" Ezio called after her as she stormed through the halls of the palazzo. She had never been so embarrassed in her life. "Contessina! Wait!" Her footsteps echoed through the building as she ran towards her room; barely making it to the door before Ezio caught up to her and grabbing her. "Contessina, stop. Tell me what is going on?"
"They were all staring as if I were some prized broodmare auctioned off to the highest bidder." She pulled away from Ezio and started to pace in the corridor. "Is this how it is? Is this how it feels to be...betrothed?" She stopped and faced him looking for answers.
"I do not know." He sighed. "All I know is that everything has changed and I am not sure how I feel about it. At first I was angry and then all I felt was heartbreak. I had to break Cristina's heart."
"I am sorry, Ezio. If I could do anything, it would be to see you two together and happy for the rest of your lives." She put a hand on his arm and squeezed. "This is all a mess." Contessina said with a helpless sob as she started to pace again. "I don't know what to do. I don't know if I can sleep or eat." Ezio stopped her by grabbing her hand and pulling her away. "What are you doing?"
"Distracting you." He said taking her to the kitchens and grabbing a bottle of wine before pulling her out of the door. "Come on." Ezio told her as he pulled her along to the side of a building. "Can you climb?"
"Ezio, I am wearing a dress." She knew he was very good at climbing, but she was very rooted to the ground. "How do I climb in a dress?" She asked him as he stuck the bottle of wine in his belt.
"Come on, I'll show you." He held out his hand to Contessina and she hesitantly took it before he showed her where to grab on to the window seal. "I promise I won't let you fall." She did not believe him at first, but the look in his eyes told her that he was not lying. Contessina did as he asked and pulled herself up, not without resistance from her dress.
The young woman went slow so that she could place her hands in the same places Ezio did before her. She watched him carefully as he pulled himself up to the next window, securing himself before looking down at her. When he saw that she was struggling, he quickly descended to help her. Once on the roof he pulled her up and helped her get her feet under her, but the way she stood surprised him. There was that look of awe and wonder on her face, something he had never seen on Cristina's face before.
"What is it?" Ezio asked her as she slowly stepped forward across the tiles on the roof of the palazzo. He looked around and then realized what she was seeing for possibly the first time in her life. The skyline of Firenze. "Oh."
"It's so beautiful." She managed to mutter out as she took in the view of Firenze in the moonlight. "The Duomo is more beautiful at night." She looked out towards the walls of the city and saw the rolling hills over Tuscany as the stars sunk below the horizon.
"I forget that you have never seen Firenze like this. Federico and I see it so often that we really don't pay attention to it." Ezio said as he moved to sit down on the peak of the roof. "Not anymore at least." He held out his hand to her and she sat down next to him.
"I had no idea Italia could be so beautiful." She rested her elbow on her knee and rested her cheek against the palm of her hand. "It is like a dream." Contessina watched as Ezio pulled the bottle of wine from his belt and putting the cork in his mouth to open it before spitting it out. "Have you ever brought Cristina up here?"
"No, she is afraid of heights." Ezio said before taking a sip. "This isn't bad. Lorenzo de'Medici has good taste." He handed the bottle to her and she followed his lead. "You are the first person I ever brought up here. I had a plan to bring Cristina up here when I could finally ask her to marry me, but that has changed."
"My mother is to blame, you know." She took another sip before handing the wine back over to Ezio. "She convinced Lorenzo marry me off as soon as possible. She said any woman who carried the Medici name was going to suffer a horrible life, so she convinced Lorenzo that your family was the best choice. Why? You may ask, because she knows you will take care of me."
"I will take care of you." Ezio said ignoring the fact that Ginevra was to blame for this fate. "Contessina, I told you before, I will do what is right."
"Do you remember when we were children how you believed with all your heart that you were Sparticus?" She changed the subject on him and he nodded. "I believed you were Sparticus too and that I was Queen Boudicca. I remember always riding in to save your troops from defeat at the hands of Julius Ceasar, Pompey, and Crassus."
"Those were the days. We never had to worry about marriage or politics." Ezio smiled when she leaned closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "All that mattered was changing history and defeating the Triumvirate."
"Sparticus and Queen Boudicca lived to see their people free again." She waved her arm across the stars. "We had such fun adventures in the garden. I remember that time where we were setting sail for Troy after reading the Iliad. You were Odysseus and I was Helen of Troy."
"Even though Helen was kidnapped by Paris and never fought in battle." Ezio laughed at his friend.
"I was a child. I could bend the rules." She swatted him on the chest. "Let me have my fun." She continued. "I had such courage then." Contessina sighed.
"You lost it when you fell from Giuliano's horse." He remembered that day well. She had begged Giuliano to ride the red stallion, so he put her on the mild mannered horse and lead her around the streets of Firenze. At some point, the horse became skittish and bolted. In it's panic he ran into a wall before flipping over onto Contessina. She survived by the grace of God some would say, but not without injury. The worst injury she sustained was a broken leg and a knock to the head, but she recovered fine. To this day she will not go near a red horse.
"No, I don't think so. I still ride." She argued.
"Well, when did you lose it?" Ezio was curious and she held back a certain truth she wanted to keep burried forever.
"I don't really know." Contessina hid her face from him so he could not see the blush on her cheeks. "When I figure it out, I will tell you." She said quietly.
"Ezio! Contessina!" Giovanni Auditore called up to them from below giving the blond girl a chance to recover herself. "Come down, it is time we return home."
"Si, Father." Ezio said standing up and offering his hand to his bride to be. "Soon enough, we will have all the time in the world to talk about it." He smiled to Contessina to her feet.
Once safely down on the ground, Contessina looked to Giovanni and gave him a curtsey before going inside to get out of her dress. Ezio looked at his father for some reassurance in this whole affair. Giovanni put his hand on his son's shoulder and pulled him into a hug.
"I am sorry, Ezio. I am truly sorry."
A few days later Contessina was walking through the streets of Firenze towards the Vespucci home. She was going to attempt to speak with Cristina about her marriage to Ezio in the coming weeks and what she had in mind as far as their relationship. Contessina knew that she and Ezio were expected to consumate their marriage on the wedding night, but this did not mean that it was going to happen. She thought it rather strange to perform wifely duties to her dearest friend, but at the same time, she almost wanted to do her duties as his wife. However, she was also willing to share Ezio with Cristina. As his friend, she owed him that much. She owed them both this much because she was the center of the chaos. She was the reason why they could not be together.
As she walked, she could feel eyes on her; following her to where Cristina's home was. When she entered the corridor where the Vespucci house was located she quickly went to the door, only standing in front of it was none other than Manfredo Sodorini. He was surprised to see her there when he turned around to her footsteps.
"Contessina! Mi Cara! Have you come to tell me you are not marrying that Auditore boy?" He opened his arms wide and gave her a grin, but she did not return it. "Contessina?"
"Out of the way Sodorini or are you here to try and win Cristina's affections since Ezio is not in the picture anymore?" She pushed him aside before turning to look at him. "You know what? Don't answer that." She moved forward to knock on the door. "Cristina, I know you're there." She said after waiting a moment.
"What do you want?" Cristina's voice came through the heavy wooden door. "To mess things up even more?"
"No. I came to talk to you. To make sure you are alright." Contessina leaned up against the door and sighed. "Please, Cristina? I want to explain." She waited a moment before the door opened and she almost fell over.
"Alright, you have five minutes to explain." Cristina opened the door and crossed her arms. "And I don't want to hear how this isn't your fault."
"Fine, I won't say anything of the sort." Contessina matched Cristina's stoic face. "I know you love Ezio. I did not intend for this to happen, but I am not going to fight you if you want to continue in your relations with him. I will be his wife in name only, if that is what you want." The blond said trying to make things better for the both of them.
"You are willing to subject yourself to slander and ridicule because you care so much about my relationship with your betrothed?" Cristina uncrossed her arms with her face going from stoic to angry. Contessina did not see the slap coming, but when she felt it, her heart shattered into a million pieces. "You are such a bitch for coming here and rubbing it in my face. You were always selfish and now to pull something like this to 'make amends'? I would have never guessed you'd stoop so low. You always wanted him to yourself. You were always jealous of us so you had your mother and Lorenzo de'Medici conjure up this engagement so you could finally have him."
"Cristina...No, that is not what..." Contessina tried to talk but Cristina slapped her again.
"No!" The brunette was crying now. "I hope the Pazzi send your family to the grave!" Contessina stood up strait and put a hard glare on her face.
"Cristina Vespucci, I came here to give you some sort of comfort in all of this, but I can see now that the Pazzi family has been whispering in your ear. You were my friend, I loved you like a sister, but now you are just a bitter woman." The blond said trying to hold the flood of tears back until she was out of Cristina's presence. "I hope that one day you get what you always wanted." With that she turned around and walked away as fast as her legs could carry her without breaking down in the streets.
She had no idea how, but she ended up at the palazzo Auditore and had only made it to the gates of the courtyard before she saw Giovanni walking out of his study. She stopped for a moment before he saw her and when he saw her face he walked up to her. The floodgates opened then and there was no holding back the sobs that were trying to break the surface.
"Contessina, pacina, what is the matter?" He grabbed her in a hug as any father would do for their crying daughter. "What has happened?" Giovanni held her still.
"Giovanni?" Maria's gentle voice came from out of nowhere. "Oh, mi cara." Contessina felt Maria's hand on her back already rubbing circles. "I will speak with her, mi amore. I believe this is something that I have experience with."
"Very well. Go with Maria, Contessina, she will take care of you." Giovanni removed himself from the blond girls grasp and allowed Maria to take her into the parlor where the two women could speak about what happened.
Maria Auditore was a saint in Contessina's eyes. She instinctively knew what was going on with the girl, whether it was because she had a daughter of her own, or if she had been in a situation like this before. Contessina did not truly know, all she knew was that her feet had brought her here. Her feet brought her to the only people she could trust right now. She did not trust her own mother, nor did she trust her family. Even as she still sniffled, Maria sat her down in a chair next to the sewing table. Maria had been hard at work stitching the embroidery for Contessina's wedding dress.
"I assume this has to do with Cristina?" Maria did not hold back on her thoughts. Instead she came forward with them in order to get the awkwardness out of the way. The Auditore woman sat down in her chair and took up her needle once again while Contessina tried hard to lessen her crying.
"I tried to compremise with her. To be friends, but she would not have it." Contessina said with a sob.
"I can see that." Maria put her needle down and put her hand on the girl's cheek after seeing the redness. "Can you blame her?"
"No, I cannot. I was doing what I thought was right and it only made for more pain." Contessina said feeling like a child again. "She thought I was doing it out of selfishness."
"My son only thinks he loves her. What he feels is real to him, but the truth is, he is still a boy. I have seen him around Cristina before and I have seen him around you. It is like seeing two different Ezio's and I do not even know where to begin with that." Maria said with a chuckle. "He is lovesick with Cristina, but the complete opposite when you are around. You allow him to think for himself and you also complement him, while Cristina is more demanding and jealous."
"She has never been that way until now." Contessina said not noticing the subtle clues that Maria had seen before she did.
"You are young and inexperienced. If Cristina were the one in your shoes, would you not be jealous?" Maria put up a very good point that Contessina had not thought of. "We are not good at sharing. It is in our nature to be selfish when it comes to a man."
"I told her that I would only be his wife in name only if it ment her happiness." The young woman said finally understanding what had made Cristina so angry with her. It was because she had offered in the first place that she realized it sounded like a trick. "I'm such a fool." She covered her face with her hands and let the tears come again.
"Oh Contessina, you are not a fool. A little naive to the ways of love, but not a fool." She felt Maria's hands pull hers away from her face. The older woman put her finger under the girl's chin to make her look up. "Don't ever put yourself down for this. You showed courage just by going to talk to Cristina. Any other woman would let their rival stew in anger just out of spite. You were willing to compremise for someone else's happiness and that in itself is a rare trait." Maria gave her a smile. "Chin up, Contessina Giulia de'Medici, this is only the beginning of your hardships. However, I know you are strong enough to make it through all of them." Contessina did not hold back and hugged Maria with all her might.
"Grazie, Mona." Contessina said surprising Maria a little with the title and the older woman hugged her soon to be daughter.
When it was time for dinner, Giovanni had gone missing it seemed. Contessina had seen him earlier before Maria had asked her to stay for evening meal, but after that, he disappeared. Something seemed off about it, but Contessina did not question it. Bankers did odd things at odd hours of the night, especailly when the Signoria was concerend. Ezio had come in with a bruised cheek and Contessina pulled him towards the parlor to see to him as any dutiful wife would.
"Was it Vieri?" She said placing a cool wet cloth full of witchhazel to the bruise. Ezio shook his head not really wanting to talk. "Who was it then?"
"Cristina's brother, Marco." Ezio finally said after a few moments of silence. Contessina knew Marco before Cristina only because of Simonetta, the inspiration for Sandro's Venus and Mars painting. However, she knew that Marco's rage against Ezio was likely due to Simonetta's death earlier in the year. "You went to talk to her today, didn't you?"
"I did, but she didn't accept." She took the wet cloth and dipped it in the cool water again before reapplying it to Ezio's cheek. "She slapped me twice and told me that she hopes the Pazzi family send the Medici to their graves."
"I know." He put a hand on hers as she dabbed his cheek. "I also know you were willing to allow me to continue seeing her."
"You love her. You love her more than you could ever love me and she loves you. Who am I to stand in the way of that?" Contessina said and Ezio seemed to grow discontented with her reasoning.
"Contessina, you are the most selfless person I have ever met." He gave her a hard look and then stood up. "But you are also the most foolish girl I have ever met." He said before kissing her on the cheek before walking away and leaving her there in a state of disbelief.