Kat's POV

We stare at the soldiers in front of us. I attack low and Ezio attacks high. I slide through several soldiers, detaching their legs from the knees down while Ezio removes their arms. We both then arc our hidden blades up and through the throats of our attackers. Once the fighting ceases, I realise what we have done. Oh my god. I killed people, people with families and lives and people to provide for.

"Requiescat in pace."

"Requiescat in pace."

We promptly get on a coach home. The coach arrives when the moon is at it's highest.

"My son!" Maria runs out and gives us a big hug. "I heard there was a brawl in Forlí, was that you two?"

"Si, madre." Ezio sighs

"I thought I raised you better than that! I'm only joking, although you needed to be a little more covert."

"Not our fault! We were ambushed!" I laugh

"Ezio, Katia. We have a full day of work tomorrow. You need your sleep." Mario yells from the door.

"Night Madonna."

"Goodnight Katia."

"Goodnight mama." Ezio smiles

"Goodnight, my boy."

Ezio and I walk in silence all the way to our rooms.

I have barely undressed when I fall asleep promptly.

The glare from the sun wakes me up. "Gah!" I half hiss.

"Mi dispiace, Milady. The messeres Auditore request your presence as soon as you can. Messere Mario recommended this outfit for today." A maid shows me a loose shirt, breeches, riding boots and a jacket.

"Grazie." I get dressed and pull my hair into a ponytail. Click click! My shoes make me sound like a horse on the marble stairs.

"How nice of you to grace us with your presence, your highness."

"Uncle Mario, she is here now, that's what matters." Ezio cuts in, sharply.

"Ezio, can you please fetch Katia some breakfast?"

"Si. Won't be too long."

"What do you want me to do?" I ask

"Today is the day Ezio's girlfriend, Cristina Vespucci died a few years ago. I want you to make sure Ezio doesn't do anything rash, if you know what I mean."

"I understand."

"Katia, I brought you some breakfast." Ezio grins.

"Thanks." I dig in, starving.

We end up going for a walk with breakfast. The trip goes stale once my breakfast is finished.

"How about we go for a ride?" I ask

"Sure, I'll show you where the horses are kept."

"I know where the horses are, how do you think I rode to you the other week?" I smirk

"Fine. Let's go."

Cold air chills us to the bone as we walk.

"I'll tack up and you get cloaks for us." I suggest

"No, I'll tack up."

"Do you know how to play rock, paper, knife?" Switching scissors to knife so it would be part of the times

"No, teach me."

"Okay. You need to say 'rock, paper, knife' while you pound your hand and after you say knife, you make the shape of one of the three options out of your hand. Rock is a fist. Paper is a flat hand. Knife is two fingers held together. And whoever beats the other gets to tack up the horses. Knife cuts paper, Paper covers rock and rock crushes knife. If we pick the same we do best out of 3 then 5 and so on and so forth.Got all that?"

"Si."

" Okay then. Rock paper knife!"

We both pick rock.

"Rock paper knife!"

I pick paper and Ezio picks rock

"Rock paper knife!"

I pick rock and Ezio goes for knife.

"Ha! Get the cloaks and meet in 5."

"Yes." Ezio runs. The horses are easy to tack up. I hear panting as Ezio sprints back to the stables.

"Cloaks."

"Thanks." Ezio does up my cloak. It's quite quiet as we mount and ride off. The Italian scenery takes my breath away as Ezio speeds off in front of me.

"It's on Ezio!" I laugh loud enough for him to hear as I enter a gallop and swiftly overtook him. We race to Cristina's grave. It's a tie even though I won by a bootlace width. The air turned thick with sadness as we had a moment of silence for Cristina. I quietly started singing. Ezio quietly joins in. Our voices ring out across the Piazza, strangers dropping a few florins at our feet for encores. We eventually mount our horses with our earnings and rode home, nattering about the day. We took the horses into the stables and sat down for dinner. Maria sat at the head of the table since Mario was out on Assassin business. Probably covering up our ambush the other day. Claudia is incredibly chatty. When everyone leaves the table, Ezio takes me to the courtyard and I hear music. "I heard you humming this in your sleep occasionally."

"I'm that loud?" I ask.

"Care for a dance, Bella?"

"Any time."

He takes me into a waltz and we glide effortlessly over the floor. We dance until I complain of sore feet and tiredness and we trudge upstairs. I collapse asleep on my bed as soon as I walk through my door.